Watch Eagles Of Death Metal’s Full Harrowing Interview About The Paris Attacks
"We have a podium because we're in the freakin' band but we represent the fans that did not make it, the people whose stories may never get told."
Though it’s been nearly two weeks since the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, Vice’s interview with Eagles of Death Metal would have taken place just a few days after the incident. The band were back in LA shortly after gunmen opened fire on their crowd at the Bataclan concert hall killing 89 and injuring many more, and it was here they sat down with Vice’s cofounder/CEO Shane Smith in a world-first interview.
Though a portion of the footage was released a couple of days ago featuring founding band members Jesse Hughes and Joshua Homme, Vice have now published the full half-hour talk with the touring bandmates. It’s pretty hard to watch.
At times breaking into tears Hughes, guitarist Eden Galindo, bassist Matt McJunkins and drummer Julian Dorio and sound engineer Shawn London recounted their differing experiences of the night. McJunkins fled stage and sought refuge in the band’s dressing room. Dorio dropped behind his drums. Hughes ran to look for his girlfriend and was at one point struck by a gunman in a hallway.
“I felt so guilty,” he said. “I’d left Matt on the stage and maybe Davey too and I didn’t want anything bad to have happened to them. I really needed them to have gotten off stage because I didn’t see what happened to them when we got off.”
Though the band’s other co-founder Joshua Homme wasn’t there on the night, he was the first person Hughes contacted via text.
“Everyone got shot,” the first message read.
“Everyone got shot, they took hostages. I’ve got blood all over me.”
“Joshua wouldn’t let me think about that,” Hughes said. “I hope you understand baby duck that I love you very much.”
One of the biggest things to come out of the interview was the focus the band want to draw to other people. Hughes speaks about their merchandise manager Nick Alexander who died protecting one of his friends. “He stayed quiet and quietly bled out because he didn’t want anyone else to get hurt,” he said, visibly shaken.
Homme also said, unsure of what to do, he’d been incessantly writing down the victims’ names after the attacks. “For God’s sake, I wish I could just talk to their parents,” he said. “We have a podium because we’re in the freakin’ band but we represent the fans that did not make it, the people that did not make it whose stories may never get told.”
Despite all this, there was some optimism in their final message. They’re going to finish their tour. Inspired by Duran Duran donating all copyright proceeds to charity on a song the band had covered, they’re now asking musicians to cover their own song ‘I Love You All Time and prompting music distributors to actively promote it for further royalty donations. They also ask for people to remain defiant in the face of this kind of fear.
“I cannot wait to get back to Paris,” Hughes said. “I want to play. I can’t wait. I want to be the first band that plays in the Bataclan when it opens back up … Our friends went there to see rock ‘n’ roll and died, I’m going to go there and live.”
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To make a donation to those affected by the Paris attacks, visit the French Red Cross website or the Sweet Stuff Foundation.