Eagles of Death Metal, the US band whose audience was massacred in the Paris attacks, has 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 statement read.

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“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 statement, which was posted to Facebook, attracted comments from people who had survived the concert massacre.

“They tried to kill me and my wife while dancing in front of our favourite band, thankfully they failed,” Maxime Dourlens wrote.

“We saw what no one should have to see.

“Our thoughts are with everyone who lost their lives and their relatives.

The band posted a photo of the French tricolore with the Facebook post. Photo: Facebook

“The healing can now begin, and it starts with listening to EODM again…. Peace, Love and Death Metal.”

The band, which confirmed it had returned home, said it was suspending shows until further notice.

The Sweet Stuff Foundation, a charity in California linked to the band, said it would dedicate all donations until the end of the year to families affected by the attack.

The foundation was created by Josh Homme, a member of Eagles of Death Metal and frontman of Queens of the Stone Age, with an initial goal of supporting 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.

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.

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 label, Thomas Ayad, Marie Mosser and Manu Perez.

Eagles of Death Metal are known for free-spirited garage rock and raunchy humour 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.