Lost Cause Magazine, Volume 1 Issue 8, March 2003 - - -Plate-O-Shrimp has a small label on the liner notes of Brunch of the Living Dead. It reads "Rated: PL, Advisory: Play Loud!" and it's damn good advice.
The album has to be played full-blast to fully appreciate the manic energy of the down-home, hard rock guitar licks, classically frenzied drumming and stripped-down bass-line. Along with the volume advisory, the liner notes should also include a label urging listeners to get good and blitzed before pushing play; Plate-O-Shrimp's bar band punk will sound much better after you knock a few back. On second thought, there's really no need for a pro-booze label when they make their position crystal-clear with songs like "D-R-U-N-K." Anyway, it's truly refreshing to see punk music dealing with such innovative and formerly taboo topics like hard drinking.
Who cares if it's well worn, as long as it's well done, right? If I remember correctly, Plate-O-Shrimp is a winner of the 7th Street Entry's cover song contest and it's easy to see why. Their catchy cover of The Sweet's "Fox on the Run" is one of the best tracks on the album. Which is not to say their originals are too shabby. The band seems to fare better when it breaks away from the "Dude, I am so drunk" material. "Boss of Me," a quick honky-punk ode to nagging women, and "Seven Bad Days," a Ramones-ish rocker complete with shouted chorus, are both standout tracks.
The rest of Brunch of the Living Dead is your standard punk fare, and there's no shame in making hard-drinking mood music. When you just want something really loud while you pogo and spill beer on other people, Plate-O-Shrimp provides.
-Seth Woehrle
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Punk Planet Magazine, Issue 56, July and August 2003 - - -Horrible band name, even though I assume it's taken from Repo Man. The 12 originals and one Sweet cover remind me of a poor man's Figgs. Really well-crafted pop songs and a clean recording make this a nice self-released record.
-Eric Action
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Pulse of the Twin Cities, Nov 2005 - - -They like good beer. They like Lyndale Avenue. And they like marginal pizza. Know what? Sounds like Minneapolis to me. Local trio Plate-O-Shrimp epitomizes the venerable punk/pop sound perfected right here in Minivillie during the '80s and 90's by Husker Du and the Replacements. It's an attitude which simply states: Just rock for the sake of rocking. Like the Huskers, Plate-O-Shrimp can at one moment roll around in the low end of percolating mud pit only to shake off the muck the next moment and proceed airy and unadorned....
-Donny Doane
