Local Band 'Eagles of Death Metal' Was Headliner at Besieged Paris Theater

Update:

A new report from NBC News indicates that one member of the local Palm Desert band “Eagles of Death Metal” may have been killed in Friday’s devastating terror attacks in Paris.

“Two members of the band’s crew told an NBC News reporter that one of the band members have died in the attack,” the agency reports. “It is unclear which band member was killed.”

Patch is working to confirm this report.

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Members of a Palm Desert rock band who was the headliner at a concert hall where a hostage crisis unfolded in Paris amid a series of apparently coordinated terrorist attacks appear to be doing okay, Patch confirmed with family of the band.

“Eagles of Death Metal” was scheduled to take the stage tonight at Le Bataclan for a sold-out show, according to the theater’s website. The band was in the midst of a European tour in support of its fourth album, which was released last month.

The brother of frontman Jesse Hughes confirmed to Patch, and later via Facebook, that the musician is safe.

“Jesse Hughes is ok,” Ian Hughes posted on Facebook just before 4 p.m. PST. “I spoke to him about an hour ago. The band is ok too... As the situation is still developing, I can not say much else.”

Hughes told KESQ-TV that his brother and bandmates escaped through a back door.

“Jesse told his brother that they were on stage when the gunmen entered the concert; they entered through multiple doors,” the station reported. “Jesse was able to escape through a backstage door.”

The mother of drummer Julian Dorio told the Washington Post that her son and his fellow bandmates escaped the concert hall when the attack began, but the fate of several crew members was unknown.

“It was awful,” Mary Lou Dorio told the newspaper, adding that her son called his wife from a police station.

On the band’s official Facebook page, anxious fans were updated with a similar message:

“We are still currently trying to determine the safety and whereabouts of all our band and crew. Our thoughts are with all of the people involved in this tragic situation.”

French police were reporting that as many as 100 people were believed to be taken hostage at the theater, and officers were met by gunfire as they approached. Reuters reported that two attackers were ultimately killed.

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Authorities in the city were responding to a series of attacks involving explosions and gunfire at the theater, a restaurant and a stadium where the French and German men’s national soccer teams were in the midst of a match. Scores of people were reported dead.

All of the sites were fairly near the site of the Charlie Hebdo massacre that occurred in early January.

Eagles of Death Metal was formed in the Coachella Valley in 1998 by Jesse Hughes and Josh Homme of the platinum-selling band Queens of the Stone Age. Homme was not part of the quintet touring European cities in support of the CD, “Zipper Down.”

— City News Service contributed to this report.