It’s been a while since I’ve done an impromptu “gig for the sake of a gig”, but one of my best mates tells me it’s happening, and so I am there. I know his taste in music, I know that I’ll probably like it enough - enough to traipse through Bristol in the rain for half an hour, hopefully. Pool Kids are playing their first headline show outside of the States, and they are very excited for that. They are fun live if not remarkably unique, either against the genre or even against their own songs, as the bright-toned and distorted tapped guitar riffs frequently employed will attest. They, quite curiously and intriguingly, have some interesting soundscape stuff going on as interstitial material between songs, which is at odds with their live arrangement but does come into focus upon listening to their debut album - a medium in which I do think they fare better. But they’re engaging, the songs are enjoyable, and it was worth the traipse back through the rain. Opening band Suds are good enough, and I very much admire any band who decides that their merch range should include four - four! - varieties of scented candle.