In his first interview since the Paris attacks, Eagles of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes says he wants to be the first person to perform at the Bataclan concert hall when it reopens.
Three gunmen stormed the gig they were playing at the venue in Paris on November 13, killing 89 people.
Speaking to Vice, Jesse Hughes said he “cannot wait to get back to Paris and play”.
“Our friends went to see rock and roll and died. I want to go back there and live.”
Members of the EODM rock band have described – in detail – what happened on the night of the attacks.
Jesse Hughes says he came face to face with one of the gunmen as he was trying to escape.
“I saw the shooter,” he said.
“He turned and brought the gun down on me but the barrel hit the doorframe.”
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In an emotional interview, Jesse Hughes said: “I want to be the first person to play in the Bataclan when it opens up.”
All band members escaped unhurt.
Guitarist Eden Galindo said he initially thought the gunshots were the PA “cracking” but then realized “pretty quick” that it wasn’t.
“Jesse ran towards me and we went into the corner. We weren’t sure if they were targeting us.”
Bassist Matt McJunkins said he found himself trapped in a room with some fans who were also trying to get out.
“As soon as we get there [the room], there’s a few people who’ve been shot and who were bleeding.
“We had some chairs to barricade the door and a mini fridge. Someone had left a bottle of champagne bottle which we could have used… as a weapon.”
He described a woman in the room with him who had been shot.
“This guy was holding her and keeping pressure on her wound. He was trying to keep her comfortable and her blood was running out on the ground.”
Matt McJunkins said the gunfire went on for 10 to 15 minutes and was getting closer to where they were hiding.
He then described an explosion which shook the whole room. It was one of the gunmen’s suicide belts.
Julian Dorio, who was playing drums, said the initial shots were so powerful that he “bailed” off his stool almost immediately.
“The gunpowder hit my nose. I saw two guys up front and they were relentlessly shooting into the audience.
“I stayed on my chin, crawling to the side of the stage.”
Eagles of Death Metal were formed in 1998 by Jesse Hughes and Joshua Homme.
Joshua Homme wasn’t at the Paris gig but showed the interviewer, Shane Smith, one of the texts he received that night.
It said: “Everyone got shot. They took hostages. I’ve got blood all over me.”
Members of Eagles of Death Metal described the horror of the Bataclan concert hall massacre in their first interview since Paris attack.
Eagles of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes has recalled the horror he witnessed inside the concert hall as three gunmen opened fire, killing 89 people during the November 13 massacre.
Jesse Hughes said a group of fans who hid in the band’s dressing room were found by the gunmen and killed except for one who hid under Hughes’s leather jacket.
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In a clip from the interview with Vice News to be released in full next week, an emotional Jesse Hughes said: “A great reason why so many were killed was because so many people wouldn’t leave their friends. So many people put themselves in front of people.”
“Several people hid in our dressing room,” Jesse Hughes told Vice.com from Venice, California.
“And the killers were able to get in and killed every one of them – except for a kid who was hiding under my leather jacket.”
The assault on the Bataclan concert hall was the deadliest of six coordinated attacks that left 130 people dead in Paris. Among those killed inside the venue were the band’s merchandise manager and three staffers from its record label.
Following the attacks in Paris, EODM canceled the remainder of its European tour and flew back to California.
Five days after Paris attacks, Eagles of Death Metal said in a statement: “While the band is now home safe, we are horrified and still trying to come to terms with what happened in France. Our thoughts and hearts are first and foremost with our brother Nick Alexander; our record company comrades Thomas Ayad, Marie Mosser, and Manu Perez; and all the friends and fans whose lives were taken in Paris, as well as their friends, families, and loved ones.”
The members of American rock band Eagles of Death Metal, whose concert at the Bataclan concert hall was stormed during last week’s Paris attacks, have made their first statement since returning to the US.
The rockers said: “While the band is now home safe, we are horrified and still trying to come to terms with what happened in France.”
Eagles of Death Metal (EODM) members said they were “bonded in grief with the victims, the fans… and all those affected by terrorism”.
Gunmen killed 89 people at the band’s gig at the Bataclan concert hall.
Among those who died were Nick Alexander, a man selling merchandise at the venue, and three employees of the band’s record company.
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“Our thoughts and hearts are first and foremost with our brother Nick Alexander, our record company comrades Thomas Ayad, Marie Mosser, and Manu Perez, and all the friends and fans whose lives were taken in Paris, as well as their friends, families, and loved ones,” Eagles of Death Metal’s statement reads.
“Although bonded in grief with the victims, the fans, the families, the citizens of Paris, and all those affected by terrorism, we are proud to stand together, with our new family, now united by a common goal of love and compassion.
“We would like to thank the French police, the FBI, the US and French State Departments, and especially all those at ground zero with us who helped each other as best they could during this unimaginable ordeal, proving once again that love overshadows evil.
“All EODM shows are on hold until further notice.”
Eagles of Death Metal members escaped uninjured in the attack on the Bataclan, part of an orchestrated series of gun and bomb attacks that left 129 dead.
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