In the aftermath of last month’s horrific attack on Paris, which saw eighty-nine people killed at an Eagles of Death Metal concert at Le Bataclan, artists from across the musical spectrum banded together to show their support. After fans pushed to make EODM’s cover of his band’s “Save a Prayer” the #1 song in the UK, Simon LeBon announced that Duran Duran would be donating their share of royalties to charity.
Additionally, Eagles of Death Metal themselves created the Play It Forward campaign, asking groups to record covers of their song “I Love You All the Time,” from this year’s Zipper Down. The band compiled covers from Savages, My Morning Jacket, Kings of Leon, Florence + The Machine (featuring The Maccabees), Ed Harcourt, Imagine Dragons, Jimmy Eat World, The Dean Ween Group, and more. All of the publishing proceeds from those covers, which would otherwise have been due to Eagles of Death Metal, will instead be donated to The Sweet Stuff Foundation, a charity started by EODM’s Josh Homme in 2013 to provide for musicians in difficult circumstances. Additionally, Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, and TuneCore Distribution will all donate their own proceeds from streamed tracks to Friends of Fondation de France.
Both the Friends of Fondation de France donations and the Sweet Stuff donations will be used to provide aid to the families of the victims of the attacks. Additional participating artists will be announced soon, and those wishing to make additional donations may do so at the campaign’s website.
Additionally, Pearl Jam have made available a cover of Eagles of Death Metal’s “I Want You So Hard” recorded live in Rio de Janeiro, as well as a solo cover of “I Love You All the Time” by the band’s drummer, Matt Cameron. Proceeds from the digital bundle will also go to Sweet Stuff.
Eagles of Death Metal will return to Paris for a headlining show for the first time since the attacks on February 16 at L’Olympia. “The people of Paris have always been incredible to us, and our feeling of love towards this beautiful city and its people has been reinforced a million times over this past month,” frontman Jesse Hughes said in a statement. “Hearing the stories of the survivors, the injured and those who have lost loved ones has been overwhelming. Not returning to finish our set was never an option. We look forward to coming back in February and continuing our mission to bring rock ‘n’ roll to the world.”
