The clever folks over at Spotify Insights recently crunched the numbers to try and figure out how many different genres of metal there are. They eventually came up with a list of 91 total genres, including Gothic Symphonic Metal and Neo Classical Metal.
One genre that was conspicuously missing was Ned Flanders metal. We guess the Spotify eggheads have never heard of Phoenix, Arizona’s most neighbourly heavy metal outfit, Okilly Dokilly, aka the world’s first Ned Flanders-themed metal outfit.
They wear glasses, they have moustaches, they look amazing in a green sweater and pink polo top combination, and they pen metal songs whose lyrics consist mostly of direct quotes from the mouth of iconic Simpsons character Ned Flanders.
“Myself and our drummer (Bled Ned) were in line at a grocery store, entertaining ourselves by coming up with really cutesy names for really hardcore, brutal bands,” frontman Head Ned recently recounted for Rip It Up.
“The name Okilly Dokilly came up and was very funny to us,” Ned added. “We ran with it. I contacted a few friends (Red Ned, Thread Ned and Stead Ned), and here we are. Most of us have played in other bands around our hometown. This is definitely the heaviest-sounding project any of us Neds have done.”
So where does the band fit within the greater spectrum of heavy metal? “Not as fast as Bartcore, and a little cleaner than Krusty Punk,” Head Ned explained. “Not as heavy as Homer J.ent- Nedal is a happy medium in the Simpscene.”
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Surprisingly, however, the band is not entirely left-handed. “I am,” said Head Ned. “The other Neds aren’t so lucky. It made writing ‘All That Is Left’ pretty fun. It’s our homage to the Leftorium, and the bridge is entirely left handed puns.”
Readers can check out Okilly Dokilly’s demos below. According to Rip It Up, the band’s favourite pastimes include “watching the Simpsons” and “plenty of Futurama” and “politely asking for the return of our power tools, usually with little success”.
“In reality, this is all just an over-the-top attempt at getting Matt Groening’s autograph, even if it comes on a cease and desist letter,” Head Ned conceded. That sounds like as good of a reason to start a band as anything.
