John Splithoff talks music, family and his musical beginnings

 

Interview: John Splithoff talks music, family and his musical beginnings

Interview conduct at The Park in Phoenix Arizona on October 18, 2018

by Mary Andrew

BBVA Compass and AEG have partnered to create opportunities for emerging musical artists at various cities in the US. The Park in Phoenix Arizona was the location for a full experience that happened live on social media and at the venue.

John Splithoff and Molly Kate Kestner were the featured artists for the music sessions on October 18. Both artists delivered superb 45-minute performances that were powered by AXS. The sets will be streamed on YouTube and AXS’ Facebook page.

The 28-year old singer/songwriter has two of his songs, “Show Me“ and “Sing To You,” that have gotten 60 million plays on Spotify. He mentioned during the show that those songs have changed his life. Splithoff has a new deluxe version of his new record, Make It Happen, that will be released soon. A new single is being released on October 19 called “Vices.” He is presently on tour with Andy Grammer and he will be headlining a tour in December.
We were able to catch Splithoff after his set for an interview. Here are the highlights.

Mary Andrew: You’ve been on quite a journey. You are originally from Chicago and went to college in Miami. How did that happen?

John Splithoff: I knew I wanted to go to school for music or performing arts. I even considered acting. I auditioned for a couple of schools. I was accepted in Miami. I visited down there and realized that the weather was pretty cool. There were good people there. Also my dad lives in Fort Lauderdale and it was really nice to have family close by. I also got a scholarship. It just seemed like the right choice.
It was nice to break off from the Midwest and go to a place completely different.

After school, you relocated to New York City. What influenced you to go there?

 

I went home to Chicago for a couple of months. I had visited New York a lot because my brother lives there. A bunch of my friends from college lived there. People said, if you are going to do music, go to either LA or Nashville or New York. I just had the most experience with New York.

Chicago has a very vibrant music scene too.

It definitely does. I am inspired by a lot of songwriters there, too. I just wanted to do something different. I wanted to go the school somewhere else and live somewhere else that was different from Chicago. I am at the point in my life that I am very thankful for doing that. I think that at some point I think going back to Chicago might be a good idea.

New York is a very vibrant city. It seems like it could be very distracting.

There are a lot of distractions in New York. The distractions aren’t just music, but everything. It’s a place where people come to visit from all walks of life. It’s very typical for people that I haven’t talked to in years to call and say ‘I’m in town for a few days. We’ve got to hang out. Let’s go to Times Square for a little while.’

How did you get interested in music?

 

My family really got me interested in music. It was always playing in my house. My older brother mixed tapes. My father burned CDs. My stepbrother really got me into classic rock. By the time I got into middle school, my dad got me a guitar. I learned how to play guitar from him. My dad is a hobbyist and he has all the guitars I wish I had. We still play guitar together to this day. We jam. I really got into music in high school because sports didn’t work out for me. I tried my luck in baseball.
I come from a family where I watched my older (eight years) brother play baseball, football, basketball in high school and college. I was trying to do that. It didn’t work out so I said, ‘okay, maybe I’ll find something else.’ So, I found music.

Do you have a musical muse?

Yeah, I feel at this point I’ve been writing about relationships and my experiences and my analysis of being in love with someone and falling out of love with someone. I examine specific relationship dynamics. I can’t really say like one name. I think that my experience with love and falling in and out of love has been the biggest contributor to writing music.

You’ve written a song called “Raye.” Who is Raye?

Raye is a dear friend of mine. I wrote that song as a tribute. Sadly ‘they’ passed away a couple of years ago. I wanted to write something that wasn’t really on the nose. I wanted to write something that was semi-hopeful without being too melancholy. It’s a love song wishing them the best wherever they are.

Are you married?

No I’m not married. I’m not married yet.

Are you signed to a record label?

 

I’m signed to Asylum records. David Geffen started the label. I have released a six-track EP called Make It Happen. It was released two months ago. I have released singles from that EP. They have been successful.

What is your songwriting method?

First it involves sitting down. Sitting for a long time and either an idea comes to you at a most random time or when you are out with friends or in the shower. You hear like a riff or you hear lyric or something. You then take a voice memo or write it down. At some point you just sit down and try to make something out of nothing or an idea you already had. It either takes a long time or no time.

If you weren’t a musician, what would you be?

I probably pursue acting. It’s a very steady fall back job. I’m kidding of course. It’s the opposite of stable. So between being a musician and an actor, I’m really setting myself up for stability, right?

What is the best advice you have ever received?

Make sure that I’m happy with whatever I am doing. Listen to what others have to say, but trust my instincts in the end. That was advice that came from my older brother. He gives me a lot of opinions though. He’s the person I send all my music to and he gives me his opinions.

What is the worst job you’ve ever had?

 

I’ve never had a bad job. I’ve been very lucky. I was a camp counselor for a couple of years back in college. It was really fun. The camp was called Fun Quest. We just had fun.
When I first moved to New York, I taught kids guitar, piano and singing lessons. That was tough for me because I don’t think I’m a great teacher. I was a teacher at the school of rock when “Frozen” came out. I taught “Frozen” to a group of girls between the ages of seven and twelve. It was the same song all the time. That was a dark time for me.

If you could only listen to three albums in a year, what would they be?

Frank Ocean’s Blonde album, Tame Impala’s Currents and I’m going to go with D’Angelo or Prince’s Sign o’ the Times.

Splithoff’s music is available everywhere, including Spotify, iTunes, and Apple Music.
Get tour information at https://bnds.us/qfv0yg

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