Ten Foot Pole has always been one of those bands in which I cannot understand why they don't have more fans. With their signing to Victory, I must say, I was a bit scared and dissappointed. Now don't get me wrong, there are good bands on Victory, but all of the few good bands have a tendency of leaving (except Catch 22), and the thought of Ten Foot Pole on a "Victory Records Tour 2002" with anyone other than Catch 22 is frightening.
They have consistently been putting out the same style of music for a while now, and I know that many TFP fan's worshiped Scott Radinsky, but admit it, Dennis Jagard is not really that bad. Sure, there was a natural progression from Rev to Unleashed to Insider, but hey, all bands do that. TFP's new Victory debut Bad Mother Trucker continues that progression they have been taking, to perfecting melodic, somewhat-pop punk (granted, I would normally considered them pop-punk, but with what is now the stereotypical pop-punk band sounding like every Drive Thru band *except Rx Bandits* TFP really doesn't fit the pop-punk mold).
With that said, Bad Mother Trucker is a great album. TFP's greatest? No. TFP's worst? No (have you heard some *not all* of the old Scared Straight?!). BMT is a somewhat expected album by TFP, not many twists and turns in it.
They released a demo of "Plastic" long before they had a label, and after listening to that song, I was incredibly excited to hear the rest of the cd. Its melodic, and its poppy, not too poppy. This is the sound that Ten Foot Pole has claimed as their own since the days of Rev.
"Giving Gravity a Hand" is perhaps the best example of what the new album sounds like. A little heavier, a little faster, but with just as much melody as one would expect. I think this song has one of the catchiest chorus of any album that has come out lately.
"Armchair Quarterback" is another one of the better songs on the cd. It is a little more poppier than "Giving Gravity a Hand" but that is the great part about this album. They can go switch between heavier and melodic and poppy and less melodic without needing a transistion betweent the songs.
Overall, there isn't a bad song on this cd. Its got everything that any TFP fan could want, plus a little more. Its also got the drummer singing on a couple tracks (he should stick to drumming and leave the vocals to Dennis). Bad Mother Trucker is the best kind of pop-punk. The type that hasn't been ridicoulsly over-saturated by certain record labels. The type that doesn't leave you wondering if the lead singer thinks about anything other than how every 300 of his girlfriends have broken up with him. Its the kind of pop-punk that is fun for the whole family.