We Interviewed the Legend who Caught a Beer during a Crowdwalk

Seen that clip of an absolute legend that caught a beer while crowdwalking…then drank it? His name is David Achter de Molen. His band is John Coffey. This is his story.

You’ve probably not heard of Dutch punk rock band John Coffey unless you’re actually Dutch. They’ve become the Internet’s biggest deal over the last couple days. It’s possible that the applied psychology student and sometime singer’s act of gnarliness during a Pinkpop Festival appearance over the weekend changed the band’s history. But who are they, you ask? Formed 10 years ago and influenced by Every Time I Die, Refused and even Katy Perry, they’ve recorded three albums; the most recent of which, titled Great News, saw release this year. They’ve toured Western Europe extensively with hopes to go global. If David and co. can pull off feats sheer awesomeness wherever they land, they’re destined for even greater fame. Oh, and catching beers while crowdwalking? Never gets old.

Hysteria: Tell us a little about John Coffey.

David: We’re kind of a punk/rock and roll band. It’s what we call it. It’s actually been more than that, but we prefer that kind of genre title. It’s based on a lot of stuff we like, ourselves. We love listening to bands like, Ghost of a Thousand, but also a lot of more grunge stuff. We actually love good choruses. We love our share of Katy Perry songs. I think we’re just combined of all the best ingredients and we love to make that happen into a cool, wild show or something. That’s pretty much it.

Hysteria: Wild show is an understatement; is crowdwalking your usual thing?

David: Not crowd surfing, but walking on the crowd … That was kind of a new thing. That show was so busy. There were like 8,000 people. I thought, “Well, I might be actually able to pull this off,” so I did that and I seen some beers lying around, a couple of times before, but I’ve never caught one. That was kind of new.

I was starting to doubt myself, because I thought, “Well, I think this tastes of beer…”

[DAVID]

Hysteria: It sure was! Was it actually beer? Some fans are asking if it was something less, er…

David: You mean piss?

Hysteria: Yes David, I mean piss.

David: I was starting to doubt myself, because I thought, “Well, I think this tastes of beer,” but I wasn’t sure even after, because I saw all kind of discussions starting. It was beer, because we talked to the guy throwing the beer and basically, he could confirm it. He just had a new beer and he thought, “Well, let’s throw this.” I liked it. I think it’s, “I’m going to throw him a beer.” It was his, after all.

Hysteria: Do you play sport to hone those legendary reflexes?

David: A bit of Krav Maga but that’s just to stay in shape, a little. I don’t do baseball or anything, no.

Hysteria: It’s only been 48 hours and you’re suddenly the most talked about band in rock n’ roll. What’s that like?

David: It is pretty weird, because we’ve worked ass off for like 6 years or something to get some attention for our band. Then you occasionally catch a beer and everybody calls and wants to talk to you. That’s kind of weird. I guess it must be something good for the band, so that’s cool. I’m trying to stay realistic and you just get something, like a little bit of a high and something else will happen and be forgotten soon. It’ll probably be next week. I don’t think I’ll hear a whole lot about it, anymore.

Hysteria: If your popularity sustains itself, would you look to tour Australia and do it again? We love our beer, doncherknow.

David: We just released a new album, like four or five months ago, and I think the following spring of 2016, they’re probably going to be a lot of touring around the world, so we would love to have an opportunity from Australia. We could probably hit that, also. We’d love to tour with Parkway Drive.

Hysteria: What’s next for John Coffey?

David: We have a lot of little spots during festival season, coming up right now. Actually, it’s already started. There’s a lot of Germany, Belgium, Holland and England that we’re playing. I think one Austria show. That’s coming up. We’re going to do a cool club tour in the fall, but mostly it’s Europe. That’s pretty much it for now. A lot of touring. Maybe Australia…who knows!

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WATCH: John Coffey’s video for most recent single Relief