I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: July 28, 2023] Pool Kids

Wow was it hot in The Ukie Club.

After two bands (and the inability to buy water at the bar–I can never catch a bartender), I splashed water on my face in the bathroom and prepped for Pool Kids.

The band set up, left the stage and then moments later came on stage to a familiar song that I realized I had no idea the name of.  And you probably don’t either.

It was “Sandstorm” by Darude.  You know it.  Everyone knows it. When I looked up the song the top comment on YouTube is “This song would have well over a billion views if people could actually find it”  And it’s true no one knows the name of it. [The video is quite good too.]

Anyhow, the band came out to it, getting everyone pumped, and then the song slowed and wavered as they kicked into the opening chords of “Swallow.”  There’s some great guitar lines on this song and even though there’s some mellow middle parts (on record–live it’s much heavier), the crowd immediately started slam dancing.  Several people who were up front headed for the sides and I moved over a bit to let them get their dancing out.

They followed it with the wonderful math rock intro of “That’s Physics, Baby.”  I can’t get over how popular the band is with these weirdo math rock components–it’s great!  And the whole room sang along to the screamed “I’m telling you what I…NEED!”

They followed this with two songs from their debut.  I didn’t know “Erso” but I love :$5 Subtweet” with its oddball time signature and Christine Goodwyne tapping out the guitar lines while singing.  I also need to mention bassist Nicolette Alvarez  who plays some amazingly complicated parts but is less flashy about it.  If I see them again, I’m going to have to be on her side to see just how much she does.

Things slowed down a bit for “Further” and “Comes in Waves” although once again they were faster and heavier than on record.  And the crowd approved, singing along to the “waves” part while jostling to get up front and leap off the stage into the crowd.

Andy Anaya plays amazing leads and is more or less the hype man for the band as he was enocuraging everyone to get rowdy and tear the place up.

“I Hope You’re Right” has the best slam dancing chorus: “You want to start a fight!”  It’s mellow on record but much more intense live.

Then they properly slowed things down “you’ll get to rock all the way until the end after this one.”  They very chill “Pathetic” let everyone catch their breath, (except for the ripping guitar solos) but not to cool down as it was so hot.

They shifted to “Arm’s Length.”  There’s some great screaming in this song–and great opportunities for sing along.  And followed it with my favorite song of their “Conscious Uncoupling” a song with a great build up of rocking and screaming vocals (and great guitar harmonies).

They ended with “Talk Too Much” which had guest vocals from Sweet Pill’s Zayna Youssef.  And then Goodwyne crowd surfed to the middle of the room to sing the end of the song.

They took a brief break (it was way too hot to leave the stage for an encore pause) and said they’d do one more.  They played the lovely “Borderline.”  It’s one of their longer songs and toward the end, Anaya jumped into the crowd and played some wicked solos while drummer Caden Clinton played one of his many cool, complex patterns.  Sydney Sprague came out to sing a verse on this one as well.

A great show all around.  I’m bummed I missed Sweet Pill as I’ve just check out their record and it is great.

But when I walked outside, the rain had started and it cooled everything down wonderfully.  So even the ride home was delightful.

⊗ Music to Practice Safe Sex To (2018)
¶ Pool Kids (2022)