The Rundown: Ever wondered what The Offspring would sound like with a different singer? Ten Foot Pole, an Alternative Rock/Punk band from Simi Valley, California, is what you would get, at least with their older stuff. Ten Foot Pole has been rocking out since 1983, though, from ’83 until ’93 they were called Scared Straight. The band has released seven albums and EPs consisting of “Swill” (1993), “Rev” (1994), “Ten Foot Pole & Satanic Surfers” [split EP] (1995), “Unleashed” (1997), “Insider” (1998), “Bad Mother Trucker” (2002), and “Subliminable Messages” (2004).

Ten Foot Pole is made up of Dennis Jagard, Chris Dalley, Keither Divel, and Dan Kelly. The band has gone through a large number of different members, though most notable was when Dennis Jagard took over the lead singing role for Scott Radinsky, who went on to play baseball in the Major Leagues. After Radinsky left the band, the sound changed a bit.

Ten Foot Pole’s early music sounded a lot like The Offspring’s early music, but with a different singer. Personally, I don’t think Radinsky was near the singer that Dexter Holland is, but that doesn’t mean that Radinsky wasn’t good. The band’s best album was, for my money, “Rev“. There were several really good songs on that album that you should know about, like “Never Look Back“, “Nothing to Lose“, “Final Hours” and “Dying Duck in a Thunderstorm“.

As time marched on and the band switched over to Jagard, the sound of Ten Foot Pole went from Punk to more Poppy. While the band always had a small element of Pop to them, it seemed to have gotten more pronounced with their later albums. For example, listen to the song “Never Look Back” from the Rev album and then listen to “Kicked out of Kindergarten” from their most recent Subliminable Messages album (which, in case you were wondering, is not a typo - it’s really “subliminable”) . MarsBands.com is a fan of Ten Foot Pole, both young and old, and thinks you should be too.