Starting off with the short instrumental Tying Up Loose Ends, Nervous Tick introduces his self-penned, self-played, self-produced project as one that seems to pull from the Golden Era of American Punk Rock, let's say 1979-1983. Power chords are allowed to ring out to a full physical effect while underneath it a steady rhythm section chugs along at a quick pace. Things don't so much thrash as they jump, and the energy compressed within the track's 40 seconds set the stage for the rest of Gotta Bleed.
Paranoia abounds on the next track, Haunting and Taunting. High pitched guitar riffs scream underneath the lyrics' frightened visions, shouted out by Nervous Tick in his gruff Punk Rock manner. More of that astute, moving drumming, more 4/4 than 2/4, pushes its energies toward a screaming concluding riff, once more with that scream, and quickly out.
Fluid Exchange follows, introduced by kool Cold Wave synthesizer sounds, which embellish the tight guitar/bass/drums riffing throughout. The resultant atmosphere takes Disaster Amnesiac's perceptions to dark, Goth places, ones that tinged so much of said Golden Era, particularly in California. As those winds rage, the lyrics would seem to deal with the seamier side of things, but, as they're somewhat buried in the mix, it can be tough to tell. Sounds as if someone is washing away something.....sticky.....there at the end.
The pace quickens a bit with What a Spooky Evening. Is this a tale of a person stranded at home underneath a clock, or trapped within some space that he doesn't want to be in? No matter which, it would seem that its chorus would make even a political prisoner smile a bit as they tapped their toes (assuming that they hadn't been lobbed off) to very crisp hi-hat tapping at the drums. Cool screams from Tick as well.
Twinned guitar riffing launches Shoot the Moon off into its quickly paced zone; they unite into a huge riff before devolving into skittering noise. This song has the kind of energetic harmonies which would surely start people 'a pitting, as, indeed, their sounds are exciting without fail. That solidly simple drumming doesn't hurt with this. Like, one minute later, and it's all over, man!
As Disaster Amnesiac has listened to I Don't Make the Rules (I Just Love 'Em), I can't help but feel that Nervous Tick has written the Official Anthem of Society post 2020. Y'all know why. As Nervous Tick says here, "feels nice and cozy in my little place", yeah, ain't that just about everyone's steze now and (God help us) in the future? Well, at least we get the message wrapped into more of that speeded up physicality that is evinced all over Something's Gotta Bleed. One could presumably take solace in that as they jack into Meta, I guess.
The tape finishes on a rumbling, tom-tom pounded note with Wake Up Grumbling. It feels as though any person over the age of 40-ish that has taken the inevitable lumps dished out by society will be able to resonate with Nervous Tick's lyrics here. "I know I'm not essential/that comes as no surprise/got nothing important to offer/I know how I look through your eyes". Highly relatable, man. All this pushed by some jangling Street Punk guitar and a cool solo into a fade at the end, nice.
Disaster Amnesiac would love to see Nervous Tick and the Zipper Lips become a full band. There's a dive bar about two miles from my house in north western Tucson where they'd fit in fucking grandly. Hit the road, dudes!
