Former NEVERMORE guitarist Jeff Loomis and his band, who are currently touring North America as the support act for SOILWORK, had their van broken into last night while in St. Louis, Missouri.

Comments Loomis: "Last night after our show in St. Louis, our tour van was broken into as we were grabbing a bite to eat before our drive to Dallas. We were parked in a well-lit area in front of the restaurant. In the ten-to-fifteen minutes that it took for us to order our food and eat, all of our personal items such as laptops, cameras, musical equipment, cell phones, passports and money were stolen. We came outside to find the lock on the driver side door popped out of the van, and promptly called the police. A report has been filed and the van was fingerprinted, but the leads don't seem promising. The police stated that this is apparently a common occurrence for the area. We are all in disbelief, but are very fortunate for everyone to be OK.

"After discussing the situation as a group, we would like to try to continue on with this tour. But to be able to do this, we will need your help. We have all taken a huge hit financially, and we cannot continue on without some sort of support. We have set up a PayPal account for any amount of donations to assist us for the duration of the tour.

"Below is the PayPal email to make donations to.

[email protected]

"Any and all support will be greatly appreciated.

"Thank you,"

The special tour edition of Loomis' latest album, "Plains Of Oblivion", will be released on April 16 via Century Media Records.

"Plains Of Oblivion - Tour Edition" features three bonus tracks, in addition to the original "Plains Of Oblivion" disc that was released last year.

Loomis's second solo album, "Plains Of Oblivion", sold 2,900 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 179 on The Billboard 200 chart. The effort landed at No. 2 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"Plains Of Oblivion" was released on April 10, 2012 in North America (one day earlier in Europe) via Century Media Records. The CD was produced by Aaron Smith (7 HORNS 7 EYES) and features cover artwork by Colin Marks of Rain Song Design, who has previously worked with ALL SHALL PERISH, THE END and XERATH.

(Thanks: NJthrasher)