Musicians Pay Tribute To Eagles Of Death Metal Merch Manager Nick Alexander, Killed In Paris Attack

Tributes are flowing in for Nick Alexander, the Eagles Of Death Metal merch manager who was shot dead when gunmen attacked the band’s concert in Paris on Saturday night.

Alexander was one of 118 people killed at music venue the Bataclan, along with 43-year-old French music journalist Guillaume B. Decherf and international product manager for Mercury Records, Thomas Ayad.

Here is Nick Alexander, a British man killed at the Bataclan last night. And a statement from his family. pic.twitter.com/OmzsXk7Eea

— Callum May (@callummay) November 14, 2015

Alexander was the first British citizen confirmed dead following the gut-wrenching terror spree across the city of love, and according to the BBC, the 36-year-old was a staple in the touring circuit, having worked the merch stand for EODM as well as a handful of other bands, including MGMT, Alice In Chains, Best Coast, Fall Out Boy and The Black Keys.

Keys’ drummer Patrick Carney has shared fond memories of Alexander in a new interview with Rolling Stone:

“I spent a lot of time with Nick, but the thing about the touring merch job, it’s one of the more thankless jobs,” he recalled. “You do it because you just want to travel and you’re interested in meeting new people and it’s really hard work. It’s not the job you take if you’re into partying.

“So he was a really organized, super hard worker, really funny. I remember him always very content with being on tour. It was what seems to make him the happiest. After shows, when everyone would go wild or whatever, he would also be really reserved. He was just a sweetheart, that guy.”

“I remember he looked more like a rock star than anyone else on the tour, in the best possible sense,” Carney continued. “He never complained. He was more interested in touring than anybody else that was on tour at any given point.”

You are and always will be the love of my life, Nick Alexander #fuckterrorism #ParisAttacks #Bataclan pic.twitter.com/C2pxvLwCth

— Polina Buckley (@polinabuckley) November 14, 2015

Carney’s Black Keys bandmate Dan Auerbach was in Paris at the time of the attacks with his other group, the Arcs, and told Rolling Stone that he was still in shock over Alexander’s death.

“We’d been working with him for years. He was just a familiar face,” Auerbach said. “He was part of our family basically, one of those guys we’d see every time we come over here for these big European experiences we’d been having for 10-plus years.

“He was always there, really nice guy, always with his mod haircut and his big smile … He was just a really nice guy. Always. Just loved rock and roll. He was just an absolute rock and roll guy. Lived for it.”

Alice In Chains have also paid tribute to Alexander via Facebook post, saying he was “a great guy and a true professional. It was an honor and a pleasure to work with him”.

Elsewhere, Helen Wilson, who was with Alexander in the Bataclan at the time of the terror attack, has described the horrific events leading up to his death in an interview with the UK’s The Telegraph:

“We heard a couple of noises outside and people started running into the club. We didn’t know what was going on. Then maybe five, six guys came in with machine guns and shotguns and just started shooting people. It was mayhem. When anyone started running, they would shoot them down. So we got down on the floor,” she said.

“Nick was in front of me when we were lying on the ground and somebody moved and they just turned round and started shooting us. His back was to me and I couldn’t see what happened and I tried to keep him talking and then I tried to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and [the gunmen] were just sort of in the shadows and they would shoot if anyone said anything. Then he couldn’t breathe anymore and I held him in my arms and told him I loved him.”

Wilson sustained multiple leg wounds in the deadly attack, which terror group ISIS has since claimed responsibility for.

129 people have been killed and around 350 injured in the series of coordinated attacks, carried out across the French capital.

Meanwhile, Friends of Alexander have set up a GoFundMe account for the music lover’s memorial fund, which has already more than doubled its campaign target of $25,000.

Other musicians whose lives have been touched by Alexander have also offered up touching tributes across social media, including Best Coast, Motion City Soundtrack, Crowded House, Billy Talent, Godsmack, Smashing Pumpkins, Fall Out Boy’s Joe Trohman, Blur’s Damon Albarn and MGMT.

Check them out below, and donate to Alexander’s memorial fund, here.

https://twitter.com/SmashingPumpkin/status/665748432628408320 https://twitter.com/trohman/status/665575510982832129 https://twitter.com/DamonUnofficial/status/665913082733051904