Eagles of Death Metal give first interview since Paris attacks

While reporting on last week’s horrific terror attacks in Paris, we realized with shock that the band playing at the Bataclan, the venue where 89 rock fans had their lives taken, was the Eagles of Death Metal.

You never expect the people you know to be caught up in such things, but the Eagles are a band we’ve interviewed many times before and Jesse Hughes, the lead singer, hosted a video series on VICE’s music channel, Noisey.

While Jesse and the band thankfully survived, some of the people closest to them did not. They include the band’s merchandise manager, Nick Alexander, as well as three colleagues from their record label, Thomas Ayad, Marie Mosser, and Manu Perez.

This week VICE founder Shane Smith sat down with Jesse and bandmate Joshua Homme to talk about those they lost, what happened that night, and to try to figure out what it is that they—and we—can do next.