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YORK: Eagles of Death Metal, the US band whose audience was massacred in the
Paris attacks, on Wednesday called for "love and compassion" and put its shows on
hold.
The California rock band, in its first full statement since Friday's bloodbath, said it
was "horrified" and "still trying to come to terms with what happened."
"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 band said
in a statement.
READ ALSO: Belgian-born Abdelhamid Abaaoud 'identified as mastermind' behind
Paris terror attacks
"We would like to thank the French police, the FBI, the US 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," it said.
The band appeared eager to preserve at least a touch of its tongue-in-cheek spirit
after the tragedy, posting pictures on social media of the California-style hand
greetings that appeared on the cover of its debut album "Peace, Love and Death
Metal" and placing them over the tricolor French flag.
"Vive la musique, vive la liberte, vive la France and vive EODM," the band wrote,
playing with France's slogan of "liberty, equality and fraternity."
The band, which confirmed it had returned home, said it was suspending shows until
further notice.
The Sweet Stuff Foundation, a charity linked to the band in their home of Palm
Desert, California, said it would dedicate all donations until the end of the year to
families affected by the attack.
READ ALSO: New Isis video shows militant group celebrating Paris attacks and
threatening more violence
Josh Homme, a founder of the band alongside Jesse Hughes and also the frontman
of Queens of the Stone Age, had set up the foundation to support musicians,
recording engineers and their families when they fall on hard times.

Three suspected Islamic extremists opened fire as the band performed at the
Bataclan concert hall, killing 89 people before dying from their suicide vests.
The concert venue experienced the deadliest carnage in a series of simultaneous
attacks around Paris that left a total of 129 people dead and more than 350 injured.
Eagles of Death Metal are known for free-spirited garage rock and raunchy humor
but are not generally known for politics.
While it remained unclear whether the band was singled out, Eagles of Death Metal
had earlier defied boycott calls and performed in Israel.
The band members themselves left safely but the statement mourned Nick
Alexander, a British merchandise vendor for the group who was killed, as well as
three slain employees of its Universal record group, Thomas Ayad, Marie Mosser and
Manu Perez.
Ayad was prominent in music circles as a France-based international product
manager for Mercury Records.
"Words cannot express the horror of what happened in Paris," said Rolling Stones
guitarist Keith Richards, who posted a picture of himself with Ayad on social media.

Pop star Justin Bieber, whose latest album had come out hours before the attack
also hailed Ayad.

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"He was a part of the team for years and I wish I would've had more time to thank
him. Make sure to appreciate people while you have them," Bieber wrote.

Since the tragedy, British fans have led a drive to bring "Save a Prayer," which the
band apparently had just played before the assault, to the top of the chart.

Duran Duran, the pop legends who wrote the original 1982 song, said the band
would donate royalties from increased sales to charity.
The bench, however, ruled out the proposal for fixing qualification criteria for judges
saying it has already been prescribed in the Constitution and cannot be changed. It
said the issue of bringing reforms in the collegium system has to be decided at the
earliest in view of large number of vacancies in higher judiciary.
The Attorney General also submitted that the collegium must start functioning as
vacancies have gone up to 40 percent.
On November 5, the constitution bench had taken the unprecedented step of
inviting views of general public for improvement of the collegium system which has
been widely criticized for being non-transparent. The SC took up the task to improve
the collegium system after striking down the National Judicial Appointments
Commission, terming it unconstitutional.
The apex court had wrested from the executive the constitutional power to select
judges through two judgments in 1993 and 1998. In its 1998 judgment, the SC had
evolved the collegium system. This is the first occasion when the SC has involved
the general public in its affairs, especially in the critically important issue of
selection of judges.