M.I.R.V.

M.I.R.V. was a band based in the San Francisco, California, Bay Area. Founded in 1993, it initially consisted of the band's namesake guitarist and singer, Marc "Mirv" Haggard; bassist Craig McFarland; drummer David Kobza; Jeff Gomes former Fungo Mungo drummer replaced Kobza in 1994 and recorded "Feeding Time on Monkey Island "and "Dancing Naked in a Mine Field "before Joining Bay Area thrashers Mordred and MoFu! In 2014 After leaving the band in 2012 Guitarist Bryan Kehoe, who also contributed vocals and keyboards. Kehoe left the band in 2001 to form The Kehoe Nation and was replaced by Spent Poets singer Adam Gates, aka The Filthy Ape. Recently, the band has been playing shows as a 5-piece with both Kehoe and Gates. Gates, formed Madame Blavatsky Overdrive with McFarland & Gomes and recorded w/ engineer Craig McFarland the Debut album "Idiot Jones will Have His Day". MIRV's musical style is diverse, and includes elements of hard rock, heavy metal, funk, country, opera, experimental, electronica, and polka.

Kehoe-era M.I.R.V. shows often featured songs punctuated by interludes of lunacy, usually featuring a verbal interchange between Haggard and Kehoe. Often Haggard would announce a contest for the women in the audience, after which the winner would be cajoled into grabbing Kehoe's groin, causing him to sing in a high pitched operatic voice. Kehoe would often sing the Neapolitan standard "'O Sole Mio" following the antics. M.I.R.V. shows would regularly feature Haggard playing an electric saw during portions of the concerts.

M.I.R.V.'s first album Cosmodrome was written and recorded mostly by Haggard and featured a character named Granddad, later revealed to be Primus' Les Claypool, who also put the record out on his own Prawn Song label. The album features songs interspersed with skits and is generally regarded as a concept album. The next two records were released on Poison Eye, M.I.R.V.'s own label, and feature primarily music. It was these later two albums that saw the band form into a four-piece touring outfit, as opposed to a studio project.

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