In addition to his academic work, Adam Mestyan has a long-standing life in music and poetry.

He was the bass guitarist of the Hungarian underground band the Galloping Coroners (VHK, Vágtázó Halottkémek) between 1996 and 2014, and established a number of other Hungarian bands, including Yava Folcore Punk Brigade and the hardcore group Dereng.

Mestyan has also published two award-winning books of poems in Hungarian — The Rules of Hungarian Orthography (2006) and The Perfect Absence of Compassion (2010) — and continues to write poetry.