What Is It Like to Be a YouTube Rock Star in Holland?
Inside John’s voice and Bas’s guitar savvy.
Ever wonder what it’s like to be a YouTube stud?
Don’t ask me: ask John van Heiningen and Bas Moerland.
The dynamic duo behind this viral YouTube video among others both grew up in remote villages in the Netherlands. Bas now lives in Amsterdam whereas John lives in another village in Holland. They were both in a band together and for fun started making YouTube videos of rock covers.
I first discovered John and Bas when I was jamming to Pearl Jam and wanted to see Black live. Their cover was the very first result not sang by Pearl Jam.
When I opened and watched the video, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This tall dude sitting in some backyard in the Netherlands literally sounded like Eddie Vedder. What. The. Fuck. !!!
And Bas, his comrade sitting next to him playing Black acoustic, doesn’t even miss a chord!
Knowing me, of course I had to reach out to them. I found them on Facebook and eventually we had a Skype call. We recorded a podcast out of it, which is now on YouTube and you can watch it right here.
After our interview, we had another half-an-hour conversation that could’ve been another podcast. Even John and Bas acknowledged that. That’s the power of podcasting: you get super deep into the content.
Since we last spoke, John and Bas took the initiative to create their own YouTube channel and already shipped out a bunch of content. They redid their cover of Black (the redo already has almost forty-thousand views) among covers to Like a Stone and Snuff.
Before you watch the video, we asked John and Bas for their musical inspirations and wrote down some fun facts.
Who are your musical inspirations?
“My playing style is inspired by: System Of A Down, Children of Bodom and Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters for electric guitar. Then I got a lot into acoustic guitar with Radiohead and the Beatles. Last year I [was] more influenced by bands that combine electronic music and guitars to sound more other-worldly like for example Tame Impala or Monolink.” — Bas Moerland
“My influences are: Shinedown, Pearl Jam, Five Finger Death Punch, Nirvana, and Linkin Park of course.
“Shinedown especially because of their musical journey.
“Their older songs are about addiction, depression, and all sorts of dark stuff.
“Their latest album Attention Attention is quite different. [It] has a real positive vibe And also on their shows they are spreading positivity out.
“This journey is interesting for me too, since I am obviously doing a lot better than I did at the time of our Black video from 2012.
“I’ve had some dark times in life. But music really helped me through these times.
“I hope can I be an inspiration for others struggling with life.
“Persevere, believe in yourself and never give up!” — John van Heiningen
Fun Facts
- They’re both from tiny villages in the Netherlands
- John and Bas first met each other in a popular cover band
- Their fan base, for some reason, is largely located in Brazil
The Riff’s interview with John and Bas. Stream here!
