So I always love a good supergroup, and more often than not, I love pop-punk. If you deduced, then, that I was going to be into the Scrapped Plans album, you'd be very right! Half of you reading this right now already know who all these people are, and half of half of you already own a copy of Buddy Buddy Belgium. That means I'm ultimately writing this review to entertain existing Scrapped Plans devotees and to intrigue those of you enjoy pop-punk but aren't necessarily super-fans.
First let's have a roll call. Grath Madden (House Boat) and Michelle Shirelle were half of The Steinways, and they're on guitar and vocals. Fraser Murderburger is also on guitar and vocals. Kieron Jordan (Don Blake) is on bass and vocals. Mikey freaking Erg is on drums and vocals. Even by supergroup standards, that's an impressive lineup. Scrapped Plans are like the Traveling Wilburys of pop-punk. These cool cats met up in rural Belgium last fall and recorded this album in a barn in just two days. The album is exactly what you'd expect it to be: a top-notch pop-punk record that has the feel of a bunch of friends getting together to have fun. I might argue that Grath Madden is the single most underrated figure of the post 2000 pop-punk scene (I lost much sleep over my decision to relegate The Steinways' Missed the Boat to an honorable mention on my list of my top ten favorite 21st century pop-punk albums). Anything with him on it is going to be good, but of course he's just 20% of the equation here. It's super cool that all five band members get to sing lead and bring something unique to the table. Clocking in at a little under 16 minutes, Buddy Buddy Belgium will appeal to fans of efficient songwriting and music geek inside jokes (such as the album title and cover art — a true stroke of genius). Sometimes a band like this could end up with too many cooks in the kitchen, but all this talent comes together nicely. As a collection of songs, Buddy Buddy Belgium is cohesive and satisfying. There's a nice mixture of humor in sincerity in the lyrics, and of course these tunes are soundly-crafted and destined to get stuck in your head. I don't know if 2024 is shaping to be a special year for pop-punk or if I just wasn't paying close enough attention to what was coming out in previous years. But I feel like I'm more into pop-punk right now than I've been in a long time, and Scrapped Plans have contributed to that feeling.
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