Splashdown (band) - Splashdown's Rise and Fall

Splashdown's Rise and Fall

Splashdown consisted of singer/pianist Melissa Kaplan, electronic programmer Kasson Crooker, and guitarist/bassist Adam Buhler. The trio increased in size to a five- or six-piece group for live shows; these line-ups frequently included drummer Jason Sakos and guitarist Trevor Shand. Buhler and Crooker were in another female-fronted band in the mid-1990s, Sirensong. After the demise of this band, Buhler's then-wife Cynthia von Buhler (née Carrozza), with whom Adam co-owned Castle von Buhler Records, introduced him and Crooker to singer Kaplan, who had previously been a back-up singer for Cynthia's band Women of Sodom. With Cynthia as their manager, Splashdown was formed in 1996, playing their first live show on March 29, and their 7-inch vinyl record Pandora / Deserter was released the same year.

Their first full-length album, Stars and Garters, came in 1997, featuring nine tracks, including "Pandora" and "Deserter". That same year, the track "50%" appeared on Nigh, a compilation album released by Castle von Buhler. This was followed by the Halfworld EP in 1998, which contained four new songs and a reworked version of the Stars and Garters track "Beguiled", entitled "Beguiled Mark II". After their initial studio and tour success, Splashdown was signed to Glen Ballard's Java Records, an imprint of Capitol Records, which released a five-track EP in 1999, Redshift, that quickly sold out. Yet for reasons largely unknown, although troubles between Ballard and Capitol are partially to blame, Capitol never released their next full-length album, Blueshift. This album, co-produced by the band and engineer Bryan Carrigan and featuring two songs co-written by Ballard, included the five songs on Redshift, five old songs with new mixes that did not appear on Redshift (including "Games You Play", a reworking of the Stars and Garters song "Paradox"), and six all-new songs. The problems Splashdown endured with Capitol prompted the band to independently compile another full-length album, Possibilities, which included demos and previously-released work that was not owned by Capitol. Blueshift and Possibilities are now widely available from numerous download sites. Unfortunately, fearing Capitol would own any future songs and lacking energy after their fight with their label, the band members announced in 2001 that they were on an "indefinite hiatus" and later stated that their time as Splashdown had ended.

While they were together, the band played on the second stage at many shows on the East Coast leg of the Lilith Fair tour in 1999. One of their songs, "Karma Slave," was featured on the soundtrack to the film Titan AE. Many of Splashdown's fans credit the Lilith Fair gigs and "Karma Slave" for helping them discover the band. In addition, the song "A Charming Spell" was featured on an episode of the TV show Charmed, and "Games You Play" was heard in an episode of Angel. The band's music also appeared in Ballard's movie Clubland.

Splashdown gained some fame from airplay on a number of college and alternative radio stations, including WBCN in Boston (in 1997, the band participated in the WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble) and WOXY in Cincinnati. However, they were most popular on WBER in Rochester, New York; on that station's year-end countdowns of top songs as voted on by listeners, "Ironspy" was ranked fifth in 1999, while "Mayan Pilot" was fourth and "A Charming Spell" tied for eighteenth in 2000. In addition, Splashdown once headlined the city's Lilac Festival, and when the band held a contest in 1999 to see who could sell the most Splashdown albums to their friends, all three of the top finishers were from Rochester.