Just as “The Simpsons’” eternally cheerful, devout neighbor Ned Flanders has his Homer Simpson, the members of the world’s first “heavy Nedal” band Okilly Dokilly have their detractors.

The Phoenix five-piece, whose members all dress in Flanders’ trademark gray slacks and green sweater-pink shirt combo onstage and perform songs made up of the character’s quotes, shot to internet fame shortly after forming and releasing a home-recorded, four-song demo in 2015. The novelty attracted positive attention from “Simpsons” showrunner Al Jean, who responded to the band on Twitter, and someone claiming to work for “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening reached out to the band with praise.

Fortunately, the band has heard nothing from Fox or “Simpsons’” legal departments yet. But internet trolls jumped on the band, as lead vocalist Head Ned told GO! Magazine recently.

“A lot of people have something to say about the band — that’s what I always thought was funny because we didn’t really expect anybody to pay attention,” he said from home, a few days before heading out on the band’s first national headlining tour with support Beatles/Metallica mashup/tribute Beatallica. The tour hits Volcanic Theatre Pub on Tuesday. “But it seems like everyone is either for us and defending us, or we definitely have some Homers who are out there kind of trashing us — it’s all about the gimmick and whatnot. It’s funny to hear that, and for me, I’m just flattered that anyone took time to actually look at the band or care to listen to the music or care to pay us some attention.”

And people who criticize Okilly Dokilly for its shtick don’t really have a leg to stand on.

“As far as the gimmick of it overshadowing the music, we’ve almost tried to do that ourselves,” Head Ned said. “We’ve really embraced that. A lot of things that we won’t do, we won’t do unless it’s funny to us. We’ve tried to make things so Ned, like making all of the lyrics Ned Flanders quotes really limits the poetics you can put into anything. We’re not trying to impress anybody with songwriting; we’re just taking Flanders quotes and making them really angry.”

Thanks to all the attention, the band rushed to record a full-length album, “Howdilly Doodilly,” named for another Flanderism and featuring songs such as “White Wine Spritzer,” “Vegetables” and the six-plus-minute epic “Godspeed Little Doodle” (all of which should ring bells for tried-and-true “Simpsons” fans). The group just got off its first national tour opening for fellow gimmick-laden metal groups Mac Sabbath and Metalachi, on the appropriately named Mockstrosity Tour.

It’s quite a journey for a project that started as a joke. “We never intended on actually starting the band or anything,” Head Ned said.

Head Ned and drummer Bled Ned, who had performed together in primarily indie rock bands before Okilly Dokilly, were thinking of joke names for brutal metal bands — unassuming fare such as Your Local Girl Scouts or Creme Puff Boys. Okilly Dokilly was the only one that stood out to the two “Simpsons” fans.

“From the name we realized if we spelled it a certain way, we could fit the word ‘kill’ in there twice,” Head Ned said. “And then the pun ‘Nedal’ came up, and after that, we were just like, OK, so we’ve got these really great puns; what else do we have? I realized that I worked for a clothing manufacturer and I could get polos and sweaters really cheap for a group of people. What sealed the deal was when we realized that our drummer just happened to have a pink Flying V guitar sitting in his garage that he’d had for years. And we were like, OK, yeah, we have to do the Flanders band now.”

The songs came easily at first. As the band — also featuring lead guitarist Dead Ned, synth player Red Ned and bassist Cred Ned — began writing songs for its full-length, a little more research was required. Soon after forming, the group invested in copies of all “The Simpsons” DVD sets available on the market (seasons one through 17, plus 20 — just over half of the series’ now 28-season run).

“When we first started, a few of the quotes like ‘Nothing at All,’ and ‘I don’t want any damn vegetables,’ things like that, I already had considered — I was like, oh, I’m gonna do a song based off of that one,” Head Ned said. “As we delved into it, I’d remember a quote from an episode, or I’d go online and do some research and find clips on YouTube. … I’ll try and keep songs centric on one episode, or just only quotes from one episode. And then from there, once I have a pile of lyrics and things that I want that could be choruses or verses, I’ll just sit down with a guitar and add the music to it. It’s really fun; it’s a fun songwriting process because I get to watch a lot of my favorite show.”

Many “Simpsons” fans have groused about the declining quality of the show throughout its record-shattering run, with common consensus declaring the first 10 seasons the show’s “classic” era. But Okilly Dokilly isn’t passing judgment: Many songs on “Howdilly Doodilly” come from the show’s middle or latter periods, including the metal-meets-square dance “Panic Room.”

“The border is always somewhere around season 10,” Head Ned said. “There’s a ‘Simpsons’ trivia group in Phoenix that only does up to season 10. One of the guys in Mac Sabbath is a big ‘Simpsons’ fan, and he was like — season 12 is where he cut it off, I think; I’ve seen people go all the way up to season 16, they’re like, it was great until then. Part of me agrees — I see that those are definitely the great episodes — but I still enjoy the show as a whole.”

So, is there a defining Ned Flanders episode for the band? Head Ned is partial to eighth-season episode “Hurricane Neddy,” which finds everyone’s favorite neighborino checking into a mental asylum after a hurricane sweeps through Springfield and destroys his house. (Side note: “Neighborino” is also what the band’s most devout fans are known as.)

“Springfield tries to rebuild (the house) for (Ned), and they just do a terrible job and he explodes and yells at everyone — we have a song called ‘You’re a Jerk’ that’s specifically from the scene where Lenny walks up and Flanders tells him, ‘I don’t even know you, but I’m sure you’re a jerk,’” Head Ned said. “… He checks himself into a place called Calmwood Mental Hospital, and there’s bits that go into his past, like about his parents. We’re working on a song about how much we hate the post office, because you discover that Ned hates the post office.”

Head Ned continues to write songs, and the band is working to get some of the original music from “The Simpsons” into its sets (any “nacho men” out there?). But Head Ned isn’t sure how much longer he and his bandmates will continue to hammer the joke.

“If we can get over to Europe — we’ve had some calls for touring over there. Maybe one more record, maybe one more tour,” Head Ned said. “That, or I think it would be hilarious if the Flanders band became like the Eagles and just made 30 studio albums and just kept going and just kept driving the thing home to where it gets to this point where it’s just not funny anymore, and the fact that it’s been going so long makes it funny again. I don’t know if we’re crazy enough to do that, but by the time we’re old and gray and if we still have the mustaches, maybe we’ll just do a Scruffy the Janitor band. I think we’ll call it Boilin’ Toilets, and just make it really hardcore punk and go from there.”

“As far as the gimmick of it overshadowing the music, we’ve almost tried to do that ourselves. We’ve really embraced that. A lot of things that we won’t do, we won’t do unless it’s funny to us. We’ve tried to make things so Ned, like making all of the lyrics Ned Flanders quotes really limits the poetics you can put into anything. We’re not trying to impress anybody with songwriting; we’re just taking Flanders quotes and making them really angry.”— Head Ned, of Okilly Dokilly

What: Okilly Dokilly, with Beatallica

When: 9 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Volcanic Theatre Pub, 70 SW Century Drive, Bend

Cost: $10 plus fees in advance, $12 at the door

Contact: volcanictheatrepub.com or 541-323-1881