Rising Stars: Meet Joe Schicke

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Schicke.

Hi Joe, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
My family moved to Memphis, TN when I was six years old, and I started playing guitar soon thereafter. By middle school, my parents would take me down to Beale Street so I could play with legends and mentors like “Big” Joe Turner (bassist for Albert and B.B. King) and Larry Lee (guitarist for Al Green). Larry even played with Hendrix at Woodstock!

During high school, I immersed myself in all styles of blues and Sun Records music, and soon thereafter, I began my first professional gig with the Reba Russell Band. After all kinds of adventures, sharing stages with legends like James Cotton, Eric Gales, and Tower of Power, and collaborating and writing music with friends and colleagues in Memphis, I moved to Ft. Collins in 2007 for a change of scenery.

Today, I have a day job teaching English at Colorado State University, and I write, perform, and record with my band West Side Joe & The Men of Soul. We put out the album Keep On Climbin’ in 2021, and we’re currently writing new music and playing gigs. I’m pretty psyched about the Ft. Collins music scene, and I love collaborating with other bands such as The Catcalls, Erik Lunde, Bevin Luna, Nic Clark, and others.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
One of the workplace hazards of being a working musician is alcohol. I don’t have anything against the stuff… we just don’t mix well, let me put it like that. Soon after moving to Ft. Collins, I realized my life was going nowhere fast. Years and years of partying before, during, and after gigs was killing me, because I was partying in between the gigs, too! Alcohol put me in sketchy situations, and I wasn’t happy. So I decided to sober up, and I have been for almost 15 years now!

Today, my biggest challenge is giving myself rest. I am one of the busiest people you will meet because I am a parent, I work full time, and play music. It can be hard to find times to give my songwriting the attention it needs, so I just take the long view of it. If I write a song in 15 minutes, awesome! If it takes me three months, or a year, that’s cool, too!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m known as a guitar player, probably because that’s what I have done since I was a little kid. I like to approach guitar-playing situations from the perspective of the songwriter, the singer, and/or the listener. It is an endless learning experience! You want to get inside the song and complement the drums and bass and keys, and you want to support the vocalist.

I recommend all guitarists sing, even if only once in a while because it gives you such insight into how to approach guitar parts. Some songs need finesse, but some need reckless abandon. The answers are in the lyrics, the singer’s approach, and even the wider social context. We have a song called “Man Down” which was written right after George Floyd in 2020. It’s an R&B song, and it has a bouncy groove, but it’s a song about the place where anger and hope meet.

So for that one, the musicians need to feel the meaning of the song to get it across effectively. I am a huge fan of musicians. I’m biased I guess! But here along the Front Range, we have some INCREDIBLE individuals and groups out there doing INCREDIBLE things!

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I’m happy I’m here! I feel so lucky that I’ve been around positive people who taught me that I should be grateful for what I have. I love playing music – club gigs in the winter, festivals in the summer, a wedding or two, collaboration in the studio, just me and a friend hashing out a new song in the living room…. whatever it looks like, it’s all pretty amazing.

My relationship with my wife makes me happy, too. It’s fun thinking about how she and I are making our way through life together, learning and laughing and figuring things out as we go. I and The Men of Soul wrote a song about that at practice the other day. The chorus is “making it up on the spot!” (And yes, we made the song up on the spot).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://westsidejoeandthemenofsoul.com/home
• Instagram: @bluesgotsoul
• Facebook: @bluesgotsoul
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@westsidejoeandthemenofsoul1258
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/westsidejoe

Image Credits
Backstage Flash and Amy Tesler