The Eagles of Death Metal recollected their experience during the Paris attacks, recountig the horrific ordeal that happened when armed assailants killed 89 people and held hundreds of hostages there.
The Eagles of Death Metal is a rock band from California formed in 1998 by Josh Homme and Jesse Hughes. The band's current line-up includes Hughes, Dave Catching, Eden Galindo, Matt McJunkins, and Julian Dorio. They band was performing at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris on Nov. 13. Josh Homme wasn't present at the time during the Paris concert.
For the first time after the attack they spoke to Vice in a video interview. The band's front man, Jesse Hughes, broke down in tears several times while describing coming face to face with one of the gunmen and thinking about the fear that their fans endured. But he vowed the band would return to France.
"I can't wait to get back to Paris," Hughes stated. "I can't wait to play. I want to come back. I want to be the first band to play in the Bataclan when it opens up again. Because I was there when it went silent for a minute. Our friends went there to see rock 'n' roll and died. I want to go back there and live." - Jesse Hughes
While Hughes and the band were performing onstage for an hour when three masked gunmen went in and blasted the crowd randomly with automatic weapons.
The band's guitarist Eden Galindo said that at first he thought the noise was just a problem with the PA system but he quickly realized that it wasn't. After Jessee ran towards him they then went to the corner of the stage.
Three of them Galindo, Hughes and "Boot" a crew member managed to escape while the gunman reloaded his weapon. They then went to look for Hughes' girlfriend, Tuesday Cross, and when she couldn't be located Hughes opened to hallway door to look for her.
During the attack they were all left blank and had no idea of what they were going to do next.
Mr. Hughes and Josh Homme spoke about Nick Alexander, the band's merchandise manager, who was killed in the attack. Through tears, Mr. Hughes said that Mr. Alexander behaved valiantly, never calling for help in the fear that people who came to aid him might get hurt.
Hughes, Homme and the band has vowed to support and donate to the victims. The also challenged Itunes, Spotify, Amazon to get on board with them and donate to the victims.
The band praises their fans of the bravery to help one another even though most of them were wounded. The band also stated that they will be there to support their fans to help them get through the traumatic experience.