Ced Schulte
Ned Flanders band Okilly Dokilly take time out of their day to say Hi-Diddily-Ho and answer some of our burning questions.
Okilly Dokilly -The Ned Flanders Band what’s with the name
The “Nedal” band recently had their track “White Wine Spritzer” capture the attention of The Simpsons producers who closed off a recent episode with the track in true Ned Flanders style.
We reached out to see what makes these more or less bearded All-American-Heroes tick?
The Blueberry Scones
The name, it’s obviously “Simpsons” influenced, but who came up with it? Was it a team effort, or did one of you make the executive decision?
Ha, it was a team thing, but I wouldn’t say any ‘effort’ went into it.
We were envisioning the most brutal, heavy, metal show ever and coming up with all the wrong band names for them to say when they walked on stage.
Like ‘Hi We’re ‘The Blueberry Scones’, or ‘Hi, we’re The Wiggliest Worms’. Someone said, ‘Okilly Dokilly’.
We said ‘what if the lead singer is dressed like Ned?’ Then, ‘what if they’re ALL dressed like Ned’.
When we realized Okilly Dokilly could be spelled with the word ‘kill’ in it twice, we kept going with it.
Similarities to “Iwrestledabearonce.”
What bands would you say have influenced your sound? do you see any Similarities to “Iwrestledabearonce.”
I’ve heard that, and yeah, I think there’s some truth to that.
Any band that can both play instruments and survives confrontations with wild animals, as well as that band, can is an honor to be compared to.
What genre would you put on yourself, if you absolutely had to – gun to your heads.
We have a really wide scope of influences, but I think there are two main ones.
There’s a band called Maximum the Hormone from Japan that bounces between really heavy breakdowns and very catchy J-pop within the same song and that’s very fun to listen to.
Sometimes Okilly Dokilly sometimes Ned Flanders Band allways “Nedal”
We were also really inspired by a friend of ours named Kevin.
He was the singer in a local metal band and very proficient at screams and death growls, despite not looking like the singer of a metal band.
We thought that was cool and wanted to be like Kevin.
We’ve always just called our music Nedal. If that’s not an acceptable answer for the ‘gun to the head thing’ I’m just glad my last word on this planet was a weird pun.
Becoming an official Ned
How did y’all get together? I mean it can’t just be “Hey, we’re all, ya know…nice guys n stuff, so how about we get together and just “nice” the shit out of some heavy metal?”
That’s actually pretty much it. I just contacted some friends of mine who were musicians, but not necessarily strictly metal musicians.
I explained the idea and they were interested.
We’ve had a few different members since the start, but that’s generally the process. I find some friends who play instruments, subject them to hours of Ned quotes,
Lock them in a room for 72 hours with nothing but a bottle of white wine spritzer, some high-grade mustache fertilizer, and a book called ‘The Natural Superiority of the Left Hander’ and eventually they become an official Ned.
Apart from – obviously – Ned Flanders, who are your heroes?
Well, I already mentioned Kevin. Him definitely.
We also play shows and work with so many hard-working musicians who tour and tirelessly push themselves in a really tough industry.
Those guys remind us how thankful we are to be where we are.
The local cider fest coordinator falls on our ‘hero’ list as well.
Okilly Dokilly fans
Does any hardcore Okilly Dokilly fans ever show up to your shows in your dress code?
Yep. We call them Bonus Neds.
We play shows in sweaters, which is fairly toasty. Those brave souls MOSH in sweaters. It’s way brutal.
They are the madmen and women we are proud to play shows too.
Coming to our shows dressed as Ned is highly encouraged.
We’ve also had fans come as other characters, like Sideshow Bob, Otto, Comic Book Guy, and Rod and Todd.
The current record for most bonus Neds at a show is 13 and is held by London.
Left handed
Did you ever play any gigs in Europe?
We did a tour of the UK last year with ten shows in England, one in Scotland, one in Northern Ireland, and one non-UK show in Ireland.
It was very excellent. We’re working on some more shows in mainland Europe later this year.
Are any of you guys left-handed?
I am. The rest of the guys are still going through conversion therapy.
Overweight neighbor who loves donuts
One last question for you: do you have a personal Homer Simpson in your life? If so, how do you deal with him? Kill him with kindness, or what’s your stick?
I don’t think I do currently, but back when we were first starting the band before anything was released and while we were still recording demos and taking press photos,
I shared an office with someone who didn’t like the Simpsons and really didn’t like metal at all.
They were really nice and really great to work with, but I would literally spend nights watching the show for quotes, editing band photos, doing practices, etc.
Then I would come into work and spend all day with someone who had absolutely zero interest in the band and thought the idea was absurd.
I just dealt with it by just being a Steady Neddy. and kept going with Okilly Dokilly or Iwouldn’t be doing this interview if I hadn’t.
Not to mention that I also have an overweight neighbor who loves donuts and borrows my power tools all the time, but I don’t think that really fits the question here.
There you have it, folks. Okilly Dokilly shows, that sometimes, a strange idea can still work wonders if executed correctly.
The combination of hard riffs, jumpy hooks, and almost choir-like verses certainly is a niche product, but one that this metalhead here absolutely loves.
Okilly Dokilly Social
Photography Courtesy: Okilly Dokilly/Manny Manson
