It starts with a kickdrum, snare, and a hopeful but reckoning rhythm that is combined with upbeat keys and a subdued guitar accompaniment, all in a sense of light in the dark.
A song of hope that stays with you after listening should be repeated. This is the feeling the band wanted the song to convey.
They want their music to convey a message that touches the soul in ways words can’t. Each song’s lyrics are similar to a poem.
Hope is better than suicide awareness.
A 51-year-old art teacher at Edinburg North High School and lead singer and rhythm guitarist of The Ticking Clocks said that one of his bandmates wanted to accomplish something.
There wasn’t enough awareness about the month of September being the national suicide prevention month.
Lifeline came to be that way.
The song was called Lifeline when it was written. After the crisis hotline 988 was established on July 16, 2020, Manny suggested adding the number to their song title in order to let people know that there is a place they can reach out to.
Andy said that he agreed with him about giving them the lifeline.
Since the release of their song, they have had people reach out to them asking about the new hotline “so, we feel it’s doing its job”
Andy said his idea was inspired by his concern for students who may have suffered from mental health struggles during the COVID-19 epidemic.
The Valley was not the only place where shelter in place orders were imposed at the beginning of the Pandemic in 2020. Kids used to going to school were stuck at home because of this.
Then in-school learning began. It was about a year or more before some semblance of normal was achieved but not before mental health concerns had already set in for some.
“Right now in this era of mental stress and high anxiety, I want to somehow make my song — my first song that I bring to the band — be something that is going to be helpful to my students,” Andy said.
The man on the keys said that he is always looking for ways to help his students.
Andy wants to give a song to his students to help them deal with suicide. Something that will teach them how to reach out.
The goal of the song is to remind people that they are not alone.
There are people in Hawaii, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and here in Texas listening to us. “It’s moving around.”