Eagles of Death Metal Discuss Paris Attacks in VICE Interview

EODM had been performing at the Paris venue on November 13, when three gunmen stormed the concert hall killing 89 people, including their merchandise manager and three record company employees.

The band members said that they would continue to make music.

“Bro, everyone got shot… They took hostages. I’ve got blood all over me”. I’m counting down the days until I get to finish that concert.

Later in the interview, QOTSA’s Josh Homme – who co-founded Eagles of Death Metal with Hughes but was not present on the night of the attack – joins the conversation, relating how he felt knowing his friends and bandmates were in danger. Another 41 were killed during the series of attacks on 13 November.

Bass player Matt McJunkins said he too sheltered in a dressing room as some fans barricaded the door with chairs, while another brandished a champagne bottle to use as a weapon.

A crew member who was monitoring sound for the band from another part of the venue said he and a group of fans had to “jog over dead bodies to escape”.

“There was a woman in front of me”. “This guy was holding her and keeping pressure on her wound”, he said. And we were anxious because water was-it was up to (our ankles), covering our shoes.

“Instantly, people started dropping to the ground -injuries, death”, he said. It went on for 10 to 15 minutes. Then it would stop and there was this sense of relief, and it would start again.

That explosion turned out to be one of the terrorists blowing himself up. “I bailed off my stool nearly immediately [when I heard shots]…I turned, looked through my drum hardware to the side of an amp and that’s when the second round started”. I was like, ‘Oh, f***’ I could tell (audience members) were following me. And then I realized real quick that it wasn’t, and I recognized what it was.

In a feature-length interview with Vice, lead singer Jesse Hughes appears quite distraught as he explained how the events unfolded.

Vice sat down with frontman Jesse Hughes, guitarist Eden Galindo, bassist Matt McJunkins and sound engineer Shawn London.

He said he ran away as a gunman fired toward him, with a bullet shattering the glass door he passed through to escape.

All of their accounts are frightening and emotional, and Hughes is tearful and panicked at times. “I want to be the first person to play in the Bataclan when it opens up”. “People were playing dead and they were so scared – a great reason so many were killed was because so many people wouldn’t leave their friends”. With Duran Duran sending all copyright proceeds to charity, they want musicians to cover “Save A Prayer” and music distributors to actively promote it. They also ask for people to remain defiant in the face of this kind of fear.