Ex-Cop Gives Up The Badge For Music
Chris Dickscheid
Chris Dickscheid put bad guys away for 28 years. Now, at 54, he just wants to write, record and perform his music with his band, Side Project Skip. “Age truly is just a number,” he maintains. “It’s never too late in life to get out there and pursue something you’re passionate about, or maybe just curious about trying.” The Scotch Plains resident grew up playing drums in New Brunswick punk bands, picking up guitar in his twenties. “So I taught myself a few chords,” he says, “and started writing my own music.”
As John Lennon once wrote, “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” Chris got sidetracked from his music by a few little things like marriage, kids and law enforcement. For 15 years, his drum set and guitar went untouched. But at 44, he saw his guitar in its case, picked it up, and six years later, in 2021, he recorded an EP. Four years after that, just a few weeks ago, The Friday Night Detour was released.
“I like to think there’s a raw emotional component to my songwriting that I hope listeners will connect with,” he says. “I try to write lyrics that of course are personal to me in some way, but will also resonate with whoever is listening. Hey, we all deal with the same fears, insecurities, loss, love, hope and a lot of what I write is about just that.”
Enter Side Project Skip. It was 2019. Chris was rocking out in a power pop band part-time. But he yearned for more. So he formed a band, became the drummer, and wrote all the material. It was heavier, guided by harsh electric guitar, and informed by the bands he was listening to like Gameface, Jimmy Eat World, Foo Fighters, Counting Crows and Dashboard Confessional. Then came the overpowering sensation of wanting to write, needing to write, more introspective quieter, more profound, compositions. That kind of itch doesn’t disappear. His lyrics became more thoughtful, more emotional. The pandemic forced a shift, the band was silenced, but his voice was born anew.
https://sideprojectskip.bandcamp.com/track/the-lost-generation