THIS IS THE VERY BEST TIMELINE: They Started a Ned Flanders Metal Band. Then ‘The Simpsons’ Called.

What started as a joke between friends four years ago has now become official Simpsons lore (and maybe even canon, a la Armin Tamzarian). Just hours after the episode aired, Okilly Dokilly shared the news with a sold out crowd at their Chicago show, and the morning after, the band’s frontman, who goes by the stage name Head Ned, says he’s still in shock.

“I’m very much in disbelief. It’s like this is just a strange alternate universe and I’m gonna wake up the next day and it’s just like, ‘No, you didn’t start the Ned Flanders band, you still work in accounting,’” Head Ned tells Rolling Stone. “And I’ll be like, ‘Well alright, at least my imagination knows how to have a good time.’”

The idea for Okilly Dokilly came from a conversation between Head Ned and the group’s original drummer, Bled Ned, who were trying to imagine the most ill-fitting name for a death metal band. After hitting upon Okilly Dokilly, the duo continued to spin the joke out: What if the frontman was dressed like Ned Flanders, what if everyone dressed like Ned Flanders, what if it was a “Nedal band” not a “metal band,” what if all the lyrics were Flanders quotes. The dream began to materialize when Head Ned realized they not only had access to a pink Flying V guitar, but his job at a clothing company allowed him to buy green sweaters in bulk.

Video (not bad) at the link.