Eagles of Death Metal get a lift

SPH Brightcove Video
The California-based band whose Paris gig became a bloodbath is back in the US and says it's suspending all further shows.
Fans of Eagles of Death Metal are leading a campaign to boost downloads of their new track, Save A Prayer, in an effort to show solidarity after the terror attack at the band’s Paris concert (above).
Fans of Eagles of Death Metal are leading a campaign to boost downloads of their new track, Save A Prayer, in an effort to show solidarity after the terror attack at the band’s Paris concert (above). PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

LOS ANGELES •Fans of the California-based rock band Eagles of Death Metal, whose Paris show was turned into a massacre by gunmen who stormed the concert, have mounted a social media campaign to boost downloads of the band's newly recorded track, Save A Prayer.

A Facebook page titled Eagles Of Death Metal For No. 1 was launched over the weekend, according to the site, by a handful of British-based "regular giggoers" with no ties to the band's organisation, their management, marketing or music label.

A companion Twitter page was also established. They urged fans to show solidarity by purchasing Save A Prayer, a cover version of a 1982 Duran Duran single, from music sites such as Amazon.com and iTunes and by playing the track on the Spotify music-streaming website.

Organisers said they were aiming to drive the song to the top of the British pop singles charts this week and that the track had already hit No. 1 on Amazon and iTunes rock charts within 24 hours.

Save A Prayer is the 10th track among 11 songs recorded by the band on its fourth album, Zipper Down, which was released last month to mostly positive reviews.

Zipper Down ranked No. 6 on Amazon's United States roster of best-selling rock albums and at No. 3 on iTunes' equivalent chart on Monday - an impressive showing for a release that, according to Nielsen SoundScan, had sold a meagre 12,000 album downloads and CDs in the US before last Friday's tragedy.

The band, which also go by the acronym EODM, were on stage last Friday night at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris when gunmen opened fire with automatic rifles, killing scores of people in the largest loss of life in the attacks across Paris.

A brief video clip taken inside the hall as the assault began was posted on Instagram and has since been shown on television.

In it, three EODM musicians can be seen on stage in the middle of an instrumental performance as gunfire erupts, prompting the drummer to duck for cover while one guitarist flees the stage and another stands frozen.

All the musicians escaped unharmed, according to relatives reached by Reuters over the weekend. But at least one member of the band's entourage, merchandising manager Nick Alexander, 36, was killed, his family said in a statement last Saturday.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 18, 2015, with the headline Eagles of Death Metal get a lift. Subscribe