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John Coffey, a power rock band of five, are quickly breaking borders outside their native Netherlands; becoming among the most recognized bands in Europe within their genre. Having established themselves at home, the band boasts sold out shows in iconic venues such as Melkweg, and has been featured in a number of summer festivals. Most recently, John Coffey played a packed show in front of their most dedicated Belgian fans at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels, and will be continuing on to play at Dortmund’s FZW on March 18th.
Welcome to AB, guys! Could you tell us a bit about yourselves – What are your names and what do you play?
Hello, we’re John Coffey from Holland. We’ll introduce each other: this is David, he’s the lead singer with the beautiful voice. That’s Alfred, he’s the guitarist and singer. Carsten plays the drums, Richard is the bass player and singer, and Cristoffer plays the guitar.
What about your name – why “John Coffey”? What is your particular relationship with his character from “Green Mile” (1999).
After seeing the movie, we were really impressed with the character of John Coffey. In a way, we relate to him; he’s accused of this terrible crime, and then ends up being the sweetest, kindest guy you’ll ever meet. So we thought “hey, we’re sweet guys – and we make this awful noise. We’re not so bad”, and that’s how we relate to him as a character.
You’re all known for your energetic live performances. How do you connect with the crowd this way?
Well there are really two things we go for when we play live somewhere. The first is that when we get on stage, what we want to do is inspire the little kid all the way in the back to call his friends and say “hey, let’s start a band together”. We want them to think “what those guys do is awesome, let’s do that”.
Second, what we really want is for people to just party; to forget about their week and do crazy head-spins in the audience, crowd surf, and sing their lungs out. We love doing that. If we can get people to get into the moment, then our work is done.
You’ve been touring Europe around for some time. What are some of your favorite venues and shows you’ve played recently?
That’s a bit personal for each of us I guess. Last week we played at Melkweg in Amsterdam. That’s the venue where many of us saw our first big concert when we were kids. The feeling we got when realizing that we just played on that very same stage in a completely sold-out show was crazy.
Another place where we love touring is Germany. We played one show there in the summer and everyone there was incredibly welcoming and we were very well taken care of. There was also that one venue in Solothurn in Switzerland that was super nice. Although the venue and the stage were really small, the management was amazing; they baked us a cake with our faces on it. It was so sweet.
So it’s somewhere where you’re made to feel at home?
Yeah exactly! For us, the band, what makes a good venue is the backstage; when the management takes care of you with good food, and you know… vegetables, some bread, juice, and coffee. We love it when they make us feel happy and when they’ve made an effort to get organized. Today we walked in to AB and not only was there amazing catering and drinks, but there was a call sheet with our schedule on it, and that’s a sign that whoever invited us wants us to feel taken care of.
You’ve already built a very strong fan base in the Netherlands – but what’s the difference in your performance and preparation when you’re playing a show somewhere you’ve never been and where you’re just not that well known yet?
We can’t say we do anything particularly special when we’re preparing to play a show abroad; but then again, we are constantly aware that we’re not home and that we’re in front of a different audience. Therefore, we need to give so much more energy.
Being on tour is a continuous experience. When we’re playing at home, we always see friends, family, and familiar faces and individually give them attention. Abroad, we’re always a team. When you’re at a new place, like in Germany playing for 100 people, you want to make sure that next time, when you come back, there will be 200 people in the audience. It’s still amazing to see that when you’re 1000 km from home and there are even one hundred people in the audience. We always think, “Wow, these people came to hear us play”.
On that note, what do you think can help take you across borders? Are initiatives like Liveurope the answer for artists’ international touring?
Problem with Dutch bands is that for a large majority of them they’re never abroad and never get a chance to make it internationally. If there is a network like Liveurope that targets this and helps bands tour more countries, then that’s perfect and so important. We’re good on the grid in the Netherlands, but we need more infrastructures in other places.
From another point of view, the platform is great because if an agent or booker knows that someone sells out 750 capacity venue and have a way of communicating to promote this band, it can be very valuable to both the artist and the venues.
Europe has so much talent focused on a small continent. There should be a platform that lets bands grow in Europe – continentally. Bands that are starting out shouldn’t let borders stop them from performing abroad. Emerging artists could really use an initiative like this.
