Ten Foot Pole Insider (1998) Epitaph

Ten Foot Pole really established themselves as being one of the better pop-punk bands around with Unleashed, an album which remains an essential purchase to this day, largely due to Dennis Jagard's highly recognisable and, in my opinion, awesome vocal style and the fact that they are a very solid live band too. Insider was the follow up and also their most succesful release during their time with Epitaph, and it surpassed Unleashed in terms of songwriting and melody.

"The Getaway" is a song anyone will have trouble forgetting after they've heard it, and it really is TFP at their very best, with excellent drumming and nice changes in tempo throughout its 3 and a half minutes. This sets the standard for the remainder of Insider, and all the songs are consistently good, especially "Another Half Apology" and "Nothing To Lose" - the former is more subtle while the latter is played at breakneck pace, however anybody with even a passing interest in pop-punk will enjoy and appreciate these tracks as being terrific examples of the genre when it's done right. The only really slow song is "Late At Night" but even then you have to take notice of how well-crafted it is.

Ten Foot Pole, while being pretty well-known, are nowhere near as popular as they really ought to be, which is a crying shame because during their 15-odd years together they've delivered some superb material, however for me they really hit their peak with "Insider". The fact that they've had numerous line-up changes and record company switches is irrelevant, because TFP will always create short but sweet songs regardless of circumstances, be they serious ("Still Knee Deep") or goofy ("Officer I Swear She's 19") and for that they earn my respect.

(Joe)