In some ways, I shouldn’t be posting this record. It’s not the sort of thing I expect anyone will be excited to check out. I was a fan of Agent Meecrob, but in that, I was part of the few and far between, and not just because they were an off beat band. They were the kind of band that’s a lot harder to appreciate if you don’t know them personally. I talked about Botchii earlier. Agent Meecrob is the first band of Alex Coffin, who was Botchii’s last drummer.
The band was a trio of goofy high school kids who found more stimulation and common ground in the Chico punk scene than with their classmates. Since many Chico punk bands were perhaps more interested in being uninhibited by social conventions, and didn’t take themselves very seriously Agent Meecrob became a band that made effort to be as unprofessional as possible. Most Agent Meecrob shows saw the band playing a disorganized jumble of improvised punk, often foregoing music entirely to enact epic battles with ‘Doombotz’ which were often made out of random stuff by the band themselves. Simply put, Agent Meecrob was more interested in acting ridiculous than exploring their potential to make music, and while I was able to enjoy that, many people weren’t.
Being a high school band, Agent Meecrob saw the inevitable split when members graduated and went to college. Toward the end, the members had been introduced to marijuana (a move that caused straight-edge bassist Kenny Kelly to leave the band), and the band drastically changed into a driving indie rock exploration. As previously mentioned, drummer Alex Coffin is playing in a number of bands in Chico these days. Bassist Kenny Kelly is also in Chico once more, and is involved in community theater and an improv troupe. I’ve seen guitarist Kevin Emmons around a few times since the band split, but I’m not aware of any musical projects he’s been doing.
As for Agent Meecrob V.S. The Doombotz, the album is everything you’d expect from a home recorded high school punk record and a whole lot more.