Bad accountant on purpose. DJ in the last 15 minutes.
John Walter Schuster (John Summit) — Naperville, outside Chicago — studied accounting at UIUC (Delta Tau Delta), DJed the Red Lion and Canopy Club, nearly billed himself as “Johnny Mountains” at his first show (2015), then worked as an EY accountant in Chicago, taking DJ gigs in the city, until he was let go in March 2019.
The timeline (what actually happened)
2015 — Canopy Club opener for Cash Cash UIUC
First show as John Summit — the booker asked for a DJ name minutes before. His bar gig was mostly Top 40 and hip-hop; the boss let him play what he wanted in the last 15 minutes, and he played house to “maybe three kids shuffling.” Learned to borrow rooms before owning them.
Until 2019 — Ernst & Young accountant, Chicago REPLICABLE
The accounting job funded gear and the studio grind; he left with roughly $5k saved. Quote: “I was a bad worker on purpose, because I didn’t have the balls to leave myself.” Let go in March 2019 — self-inflicted, in his telling.
2019–2020 — Full-time studio grind REPLICABLE
Relentless sessions, edits and demos sent to labels — at least 50 submissions to Defected before a yes. Distribution was still Beatport + DJs.
Jun 2020 — “Deep End” on Defected · Beatport #1 BREAKTHROUGH
Longest-running Beatport #1 of 2020. The SIDEPIECE remix (Oct 2020) became the big streaming version: 225M+ Spotify streams across all versions (as of Oct 2026). Chicago house history (Green Velvet, Kaskade) gives credibility; Defected gives global push. DJs did the early lifting, not an algorithm.
2021–2023 — Single ladder: “Human” (2021), “La Danza” (2022), then “Where You Are” (w/ Hayla, 2023) MECHANIC
“Human” is a US dance #1. “Where You Are” makes Obama’s favorite songs of 2023 and goes RIAA Gold. Each release widens range without leaving house.
2022 — Founds his label + events brand (Off the Grid → Experts Only) OWNERSHIP
Announced March 2022 as Off the Grid — “nothing off limits,” and a platform for up-and-coming artists. A promoter who had used that name since 2015 sent a cease-and-desist; Summit apologized and renamed it Experts Only in 2023. Named SiriusXM Powertools Label of the Year 2025.
2023 — Remixes the canon: Kaskade & deadmau5 “I Remember” CRED LOOP
July 2023: the first official remix of the 2008 track that got him into electronic music. Remixing your heroes is the house equivalent of a fashion co-sign.
2025–2026 — Experts Only Festival NYC (50k+, Randall’s Island) · Ctrl Escape album · arena tour ONE-TIME SCALE
Festival (Sep 2025) with Green Velvet, Kaskade, Cassian and LP Giobbi on the bill. Second album Ctrl Escape (Apr 15 2026); Experts Only Radio becomes a SiriusXM channel (Mar 2026). The arena tour opened Oct 1 2026 at Champaign's State Farm Center — the night after a set at the Red Lion, the college bar where he started. Scale is post-distribution, not pre.
Three facts that matter more than myth
- 1He didn’t leave to go viral. He was let go from EY in March 2019 — a bad worker on purpose, by his own account — with savings to live on, 15 months before Deep End. Job = studio grant.
- 2He didn’t sell his own crowd first. College bars + frat parties + opening slots taught him to read a Top 40 floor, then flip it.
- 3Experts Only is the product. Not a vanity label — it's distribution, radio, and a festival he curates. That's the moat.
Cost sheet
| Cost | What it bought |
|---|---|
| 5 years of bars/Canopy/Red Lion | Crowd-reading, stamina, Chicago lineage |
| Being “accountant-turned-DJ” meme | Press hook that still headlines every bio |
| Tour grind / “when to slow down” | Arena-level demand, but burnout risk |