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Eagles of Death Metal ‘Horrified' By Paris Attacks: We Are United by a Common Goal of Love and Compassion

The Eagles of Death Metal band has addressed the attacks in Paris that saw the venue they were playing transformed into a scene of horror.

"While the band is now home safe, we are horrified and still trying to come to terms with what happened in France," the message, published Wednesday on the band's official Facebook page, says.

The band had been on stage at the historic Bataclan theater in central Paris for about an hour when gunmen overtook the venue and opened fire in one of a series of attacks that rocked the French capital Friday and left 129 people dead. 

While all members of the band survived, merchandise manager Nick Alexander was killed in the theater along with friends and business associates of the Palm Desert, California-based group.

"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 Facebook entry continues. 

Created by childhood friends Josh Homme, 42, of "Queens of the Stone Age" fame and 43-year-old Jesse Hughes (the only two permanent members of the group), Eagles of Death Metal was playing Le Bataclan as part of a European tour to promote "Zipper Down," the band's first album in seven years. Homme was not performing with the band in Paris.

The band goes on to thank the French police, the FBI, the U.S. 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."

Saying they are now "bonded in grief with the victims, the fans, the families, the citizens of Paris, and all those affected by terrorism," the band adds it is proud to stand together "with our new family, now united by a common goal of love and compassion."

After noting that all Eagles of Death Metal shows are on hold until further notice, the message ends on a defiant note: "Vive la musique, vive la liberté, vive la France, and vive EODM."

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