Splashdown: The FAQ

Welcome to the Splashdown "Frequently Asked Questions" list. The answers come "straight from the horse's mouth". Please note that it has not been updated since March 2000.

1. Who is in the group?
2. Where is Splashdown from?
3. Who writes the music?
4. Who plays what instrument?
5. If there's only 3 members, then who are those other people on stage?
6. How and when did the group form?
7. What is Castle von Buhler?
8. What is Open Belly Rescue Feature?

1. Who is in the group?
In alphabetical order, Splashdown is: Adam Buhler, Kasson Crooker, and Melissa Kaplan.

2. Where is Splashdown from?
Boston.

3. Who writes the music?
The songwriting in Splashdown is a fully collaborative effort, with musical arrangements split evenly among the three members. Melissa Kaplan pens the lyrics, with occasional minor assistance from her bandmates.

4. Who plays what instrument?
On all Splashdown recordings (unless noted otherwise in liner notes), bass and guitar parts are handled by Adam, Melissa performs all vocals, and Kasson rocks the beats, synthesizers, and other keyboards. Melissa plays acoustic piano on certain songs (such as "Over The Wall", "So Ha", and "Dig").

5. If there's only 3 members, then who are those other people on stage?
In order to recreate the multi-layered Splashdown sound on stage, the live line-up includes additional musicians hand-picked by the three members. As of the writing of this FAQ, there are two such "hired hands": Trevor Shand (a Canadian guitarist who trades guitar and bass duties with Adam during the shows), and Jason Sakos (a drummer from Boston).

6. How and when did the group form?
The three members of Splashdown were assembled by the artist Cynthia von Buhler in 1996. She arranged introductions between her husband Adam (a guitarist with whom she co-owns the independent label Castle von Buhler Records), a keyboardist she had met on a train named Kasson Crooker, and singer Melissa Kaplan (who had been a back-up vocalist in Cynthia's performance-art group Women of Sodom). The trio immediately began writing music ("Deserter" was the first song they wrote together), and soon appeared on the Boston music scene with a 7-inch record ("Pandora/Deserter") at the end of 1996.

7. What is Castle von Buhler?*
Castle von Buhler is the Boston-based indie label that initially signed Splashdown and put out their first releases. Also known as CvB Records, the company is co-owned by Cynthia von Buhler, Splashdown member Adam Buhler, and designer Clifford Stoltze.

8. What is Open Belly Rescue Feature?
Splashdown's publishing company is called Open Belly Rescue Feature (a reference to a scene from the film "The Empire Strikes Back"). Splashdown's publishing rights are currently shared between OBRF and Warner-Chappell Music.

*CvB has now closed down.