Odysseus: The Guitar.
A guitar’s odyssey, stolen two decades ago, reads like an indie rock fairy tale.
The Cribs’ Ryan Jarman lost his cherished 1978 Fender Mustang after a Leeds show in 2002, a sunburst relic used to craft the band’s early anthems.
It vanished into the ether, until a pandemic-era online interview revealed it hanging on the wall of Dirty Hit label head Jamie Oborne.
The distinctive birdseye maple headstock was a dead giveaway. The trail led to Matty Healy of The 1975, who confirmed, “Yeah, it was my guitar for a bit!” before revealing he’d passed it to labelmate Beabadoobee, who adopted it as her main axe.
Despite forensic efforts, the instrument remains out of reach. “We’re still trying to get it back!” laments Gary Jarman, as the band celebrates their new album Selling A Vibe, a testament to the enduring spark born from instruments, and memories, that never truly fade.
