SACRAMENTO —
Deftones drummer Abe Cunningham should have been on stage at the Bataclan Concert Hall this past Saturday through Monday.
Instead he returned home to Sacramento.
“Honestly this was like, ‘Woah, something’s going down,’ but it didn’t seem very real,” Cunningham said.
Not only did he survive the deadly attacks in Paris, his band was scheduled to perform at the Bataclan one day after dozens of people were killed there.
Three members of his band and crew were at the venue but left just 10 minutes before the violence erupted.
“When I heard the bombing where the president was in attendance, that was pretty heavy and then everything after that was just ‘bam, bam, bam,'” Cunningam said.
The attacks targeted places people were enjoying life, eating, watching sports and music. Cunningham hopes this doesn’t make people scared to do those things.
“I think that gathering is the most important thing, and people should never be afraid to gather,” Cunningham said.
Now this drummer is home, enjoying the fact that he can hug his child and spend the holidays with his family. He’s more grateful knowing terrorism stole those moments from so many.
“I wish the best for everyone involved, and the only way to do that is to live, and unfortunately there are people that are not alive now, and there’s families and friends and that’s where we’re at.. but you must forge on,” Cunningham said.
Deftones had several shows planned in Europe. All of them were canceled following the attacks.
