Jesse Hughes of Eagles of Death Metal performs at O2 ABC Glasgow. Photo / Getty Images
Jesse Hughes of Eagles of Death Metal performs at O2 ABC Glasgow. Photo / Getty Images
California rockers Eagles of Death Metal want to be the first band to play the Bataclan theatre when the Paris venue reopens after the November attacks targeted their gig.
"I don't want to spend my life trying to appease assholes. I want to spend my life smiling with my friends and entertaining them," Jesse Hughes, the band's vocalist, told Vice in an interview.
"I cannot wait to come back to Paris. I cannot wait to play. I want to come back. I want to be the first band to play in the Bataclan when it opens back up," he said.
"I was there when it went silent for a minute. Our friends went there to see rock and roll and died. I'm gonna go back there and live."
Gunmen attacked nearly simultaneously targets across Paris on November 13, killing 130 people, 89 of them at the Bataclan.
The band sat down for a full interview with Vice.com in Los Angeles after returning to America following the carnage.
Hughes broke down as he spoke of the selflessness of those caught up in the horror, including 36-year-old merchandise manager Nick Alexander, from Colchester in southeast England, who was killed.
He said: "(Nick) stayed quiet and never called for help until he bled out, because he didn't want anyone else to get hurt."
The other bandmates detailed the instant decisions they took to save their lives, and the horrors they saw as the gunmen emptied round after round indiscriminately into the crowd.
Bass player Matt McJunkins said he sheltered in a separate dressing room as some fans rushed to barricade the door with chairs.
A woman who had been shot in the leg was comforted by others who applied pressure to her wound.McJunkins said: "Her blood was running out on the ground. There was a leak for some reason and the whole room was starting to get flooded.
"It started trickling down the stairs and we were worried that might alert someone that there were people in this room."
Sound engineer Shawn London recalled the chilling moment he made eye contact with one of the gunmen from behind his console.When the gunfire first erupted, many people ran to hide behind his desk.
London said: "He looked right at me. He shot at me and missed. It hit my console and buttons went flying everywhere."
The gunman must have presumed London was dead, he said, due to the amount of injured people around him and how quickly he dropped.
Jesse Hughes of Eagles Of Death Metal performs at O2 ABC Glasgow. Photo / Getty Images
Hughes fought back tears as he explained the guilt he felt from leaving his fellow musicians on the stage, and not knowing if they had made it out alive.
He said the hallways of the venue were "like a labyrinth" as terrified concert-goers searched for a way out.
"People just didn't seem to know what to do," he said.
The band had been due to perform across Europe until December 10, but has put on hold all further concerts. A number of French fans have appealed on them online to return to play.
"We don't really have a chance. We have to finish the tour," said Josh Homme, the Death Metal's co-founder who was not in Paris.
"We have a song called I Love You All The Time. If you're a country artist, if you're death metal, if you're a DJ, it doesn't matter, cover that song and we'll donate the publishing (royalties)," he told Vice.
Drummer Julian Dorio said he was "counting down the days until I get to finish that concert".
