PARIS – This Wednesday the Eagles of Death Metal posted on Facebook their first statement after Paris attacks. They suspended all shows and went back to the United States. The California band, attacked by ISIS militants during a concert at the Bataclan Theater last Friday night, expressed their condolences to all fans, families and victim’s friends, reassuring them that “love overshadows evil”.
“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,” the Facebook post states.
One of the shootings and bombings led by Islamic State terrorists took place in The Bataclan Theater, where at least 60 fans were shot to dead and an estimated of 100 were taken as hostages inside the concert hall. Whilst all the musicians could escape unharmed, the band’s merchandise manager Nick Alexander, 36, and three executives from Universal Music Group were killed in the massacre.
The group was on a 32-city European tour promoting the new release of their fourth album “Zipper Down”, but they only played 11 of those dates before the attacks began. Their plan was to end the tour in December with a concert in Portugal.
Eagles of the Death Metal finished its message by thanking French authorities, the FBI and the U.S. State Department, highlighting those who were at the concert hall by the time of the attack and showed solidarity with one another during such a horrifying moment.
A fan-led Facebook group, which had more than 7,000 followers by Monday morning, has been encouraging people from around the world to purchase the band’s cover of Duran Duran’s “Save a Prayer” as an act of “solidarity against terrorism and support for peace”.
They intended to put the popular cover to the U.K. No. 1 spot as a gesture of support not only to the band, but also to all people affected by terrorism worldwide. To date, the song is number three on Amazon and 37 in the iTunes charts, according to E! Online.
Hughes and Homme, the only two permanent members, founded Eagles of Death Metal in the late 1990s in Palm Desert, California. Actor-musician Jack Black and Dave Grohl, frontman of the American rock band Foo Fighters, are two popular names included in the rotating list of the band’s members.
Source: Reuters