Comedic Metal Bands Team Up For Tour
By Dave Pehling
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Two of the more unique metal bands currently in existence team up to bring their outlandish sounds to the Bay Area when The Simpsons-inspired group Okilly Dokilly shares the stage with Beatles/Metallica mash-up maestros Beatallica for two local shows.
When they were founded in Phoenix, AZ two years ago as the world's first purveyors of "Nedal" -- a self-professed style of metal music built around the wholesome mythos of Ned Flanders, the clean-living, devoutly Christian neighbor of the Simpsons -- band members couldn't have anticipated the response they got after just posting a band photo and demos on the Internet. Quickly earning international coverage with their Flanders-themed outfits (all five member dress in identical green sweaters over pink-collared polo shirts and have the requisite glasses and mustaches) and comically extreme sounds, the band was featured in online write-ups for Time, Billboard and the BBC.
Garnering that enviable amount of press before the band had even played a live show may have set the bar high -- Okilly Dokilly made their stage debut the following month in September of 2015 -- but the quintet delivered in spades last fall with the release of their first album, Howdilly Doodilly. Packed with Simpsons references (a solid percentage of the lyrics are actually drawn from lines of Flanders dialog) while offering up catchy guitar and synth riffs on tunes like lead single "White Wine Spritzer," "Press Destruct Button" and the gothic, Tool-esque anthem "They Warned Me."
While Okilly Dokilly recently hit the road in support of fellow schtick-metal masters Mac Sabbath on a brief tour, for the band's first proper national jaunt will pair them with veteran mash-up artists Beatallica. Arguably the most successful comedy/parody outfit this side of reggae-fied '90s group Dread Zeppelin, the Milwaukee-based crew has been crafting is uncanny collisions of the Fab Four and Metallica since 2001. Anchored by rhythm guitarist/lead singer "Jaymz Lennfield" (aka founder Michael Tierney) and his remarkably dead-on imitation of James Hetfield's throaty growl, Beatallica has issued a celebrated string of EPs and full-length albums full of creative wordplay and musical acrobatics that have earned them legions of fans including members of Metallica themselves.
While the dodgy copyright issues kept the band from putting out their recordings out commercially for years (though they made their music available for free download), legal intervention by Metallica on the band's behalf led to a settlement with Beatles representatives with Sony that allowed them to sell CDs starting with Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band in 2007. Though Okilly Dokilly will be appearing on their own Tuesday night at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, the two bands will make for a hilariously headbanging pairing at these two Bay Area shows at the Ritz in San Jose on Thursday and Friday's concert at Slim's in San Francisco.
Okilly Dokilly with Beatallica
Thursday, April 27, 8 p.m. $15
The Ritz
Friday, April 28, 8 p.m. $18-$20
Slim's
