Interview with Lead Singer of the Band Eagles of Death Metal, About The Bataclan Massacre in Paris

"They Fell To Their Faces In Fear, The Way You Would Fall Before a God"

From Taki Mag:

TAKIMAG: It’s hard to talk about the attack without sounding like you’re blaming the victims, but it’s impossible to deny fear of Islamophobia and fear of guns led to a lot of deaths that night. 

JESSE HUGHES: I saw fear fall like a blanket on the whole crowd and they fell like wheat in the wind—the way you would before a god. 

I was totally alert from the very beginning. The first thing I needed to do was find my girl. Fear took a backseat and “where’s my girl?” took over. 

I could smell gunpowder in the backstage area and I knew someone fired a round back there. I saw a guy with an FAL and when he turned to face me his eyes looked like marbles. He was stoned out of his mind, and we now know they were on Xanax and cocaine. I recognized him. I’d seen him earlier in the day and noticed him staring at us. 

TAKIMAG: They were in the venue early. That implies some staff were in on it. 

JESSE HUGHES: I got in a lot of trouble for saying that. I know for sure that they were in there early. I remember them staring at my buddy. I just chalked it up to Arab envy. You know what I mean? When a Muslim sees a cocky American dude with tattoos, he stares at him. I realized later it was Abdeslam and he was staring at my buddy because they thought he was a threat. There’s no denying the terrorists were already inside, and they had to get in somehow. 

During the shooting I went outside and the backstage door was propped open. How did that happen? 

TAKIMAG: I went to Paris after the attacks and was disgusted by the lack of rage. They didn’t blame Islam. In fact, many blamed the Jews. They seemed more concerned with us promoting xenophobia than laying blame on the terrorists. 

JESSE HUGHES: I hung out with plenty of Parisians who were fucking pissed off, but it was mostly cops and military. During the attack, one cop finally realized it wasn’t a hostage situation and yelled out, “It’s a turkey shoot” as he charged in, holding his gun. He got shot right through the hand and into the neck and kept going. He took a terrorist out, chased another one into the hallway, who then blew himself up, and did it to another guy, who blew himself up on stage. Our amplifiers were a gory mess. 

TAKIMAG: Did that cop live? 

JESSE HUGHES: Yes, I met him in triage. I hung out with him. Great guy. You went to the hospital? I had pieces of teeth and human bone pulled out of my face. 

A girl got shot right next to me by the shooter at the top of the stairs who I had met earlier. She stepped one step in front of me and her head just exploded. It blew pieces of her teeth and skull into my face.

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