Ookla the Mok is a

filk Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. Etymology and defi ...

band fronted by Rand Bellavia and Adam English (b.1970). The two met as undergraduates while attending

Houghton College Houghton University is a private Christian liberal arts college in Houghton, New York. Houghton was founded in 1883 by Willard J. Houghton and is affiliated with the Wesleyan Church.

in 1988, and the majority of their performances have been at science-fiction conventions or in their hometown of

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. The band is named after a character from the

Ruby-Spears Productions Ruby-Spears Productions (also known as Ruby-Spears Enterprises) was a Burbank, California–based American entertainment production company that specialized in animation with another branch in Rome, Italy. This company was founded in 1977 by vete ...

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

Thundarr the Barbarian ''Thundarr the Barbarian'' is an American Saturday morning animated series, created by Steve Gerber and produced by Ruby-Spears Productions. The series ran for two seasons on ABC from October 4, 1980, to October 31, 1981, and was rerun on NBC ...

'', created by

Steve Gerber Stephen Ross Gerber (; September 20, 1947 – February 10, 2008) was an American comic book writer and creator of the satiric Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck. Other works include ''Man-Thing'', ''Omega the Unknown,'' ''Marvel Spotlight:' ...

. They provided the theme song to

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's ''

Fillmore! ''Fillmore!'' is an American animated television series created by Scott M. Gimple Pegasus Award The Pegasus Award is the premier award for filk music and is annually hosted at the Ohio Valley Filk Fest (OVFF). Awards The Pegasus Awards were founded to recognize and honor excellence in filking. As science fiction (sci-fi) became better kn ...

s for excellence in

filk music Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. Etymology and defin ...

, and the 2014 Logan Award for Outstanding Original Comedy Song ("Mwahaha"). Ookla the Mok had the most requested song on

Dr. Demento Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941), known professionally as Dr. Demento, is an American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograp ...

's syndicated radio show in both 2012 ("Tantric Yoda") and 2013 ("Mwahaha"). Two of their songs ("Stop Talking About Comic Books or I'll Kill You" and "F. People") have appeared on Dr. Demento CD compilations.

Band members

Current

*Rand Bellavia – vocals, guitar, percussion, trombone, keyboards, kazoo (1992–present) *Adam English – vocals, guitar, keyboards, accordion, trumpet (1992–present) The band consists of a core duo of Rand Bellavia and Adam English, who met as undergraduates at

Houghton College Houghton University is a private Christian liberal arts college in Houghton, New York. Houghton was founded in 1883 by Willard J. Houghton and is affiliated with the Wesleyan Church.

in 1988. Although Bellavia and English continue to perform live with Luis Garcia and Mike Mallory if geography and convention budgets allow for it (most recently at

Windycon Windycon is a science fiction convention held in Lombard, Illinois, on the weekend closest to Veterans Day. ISFiC, the parent corporation that runs Windycon,Pavlac, RossWhat's an ISFiC ISFiC Web Site, retrieved, 2015-11-10 was founded in 1973 in ...

, 2016), performances are generally two-piece sets. By day, Bellavia works as the Library Director at

D'Youville University D'Youville University (D'Youville or DYU) is a private university in Buffalo, New York. It was founded as D'Youville College in 1908 and named by the Grey Nuns after the patroness saint Marie-Marguerite d'Youville. As of Fall 2020 D'Youville Coll ...

, while English makes his living as a caricature and cartoon artist. He previously founded and managed "Adam English's Cartoon City Caricatures" at Darien Lake Theme Park Resort (now

Six Flags Darien Lake Six Flags Darien Lake is a 1,200-acre (4.86 km2) amusement park and resort located in Corfu, New York, off of Interstate 90 between Buffalo and Rochester. Six Flags Darien Lake features a theme park, water park, campground and lodging. ...

), as well as teaching workshops on cartooning in

Buffalo Public Schools Buffalo Public Schools serves approximately 34,000 students in Buffalo, New York, the second largest city in the state of New York. It is located in Erie County of western New York and operates nearly 70 facilities. History The Buffalo Public Sc ...

through the Arts-In-Education program.

Former

*Luis Garcia – drums, vocals (1994-1998) *Michael Mallory – bass (1996-2003, 2010-2013) *Doug White – bass, guitar (1997-2001) *Chris Gajewski – drums (1999-2003) *Joe Pepper – drums (2005-2007) *Wolfram Neff – bass (2006-2009) *Jeremy Stock – bass (2014-2015)

Musical style

Although Ookla the Mok has released many songs about more universal topics like relationships and lost love, they are best known for "

" songs that cater to the interests of listeners at

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

and

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

conventions, where the band makes the bulk of their public appearances. For example, their song "Arthur Curry" from ''Less Than Art'' pokes fun at

Aquaman Aquaman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in ''More Fun Comics'' #73 (November 1941). The character is a pastiche of Namor. Initially ...

and the way his super-powers do not seem to compare favourably with the rest of the

Super Friends ''Super Friends'' is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes, which ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of ...

. Another example is "Stop Talking About Comic Books Or I'll Kill You" from ''Super Secret''. "Song of Kong" from ''Smell No Evil'' takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the relationship between

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

and

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film ''Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produc ...

. "W.W.S.D.?" from ''oh okay LA'' asks its listeners to ask themselves "What would Scooby do?". "Mr. W" from the same album paints a nightmare scenario of Mr.

Worf Worf, son of Mogh is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. He appears in the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (''TNG'') and seasons four through seven of '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (''DS9'') as well as t ...

being in command of ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

''s starship ''

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterprise ...

''. "Spot The Cat" from ''Dave Lennon'' sets to music a poem originally read by ''Star Trek''s

Data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted ...

(written by Clay Dale). Tribute songs about celebrities

Gary Coleman Gary Wayne Coleman (February 8, 1968 – May 28, 2010) was an American actor and comedian. Coleman was the highest-paid child actor on television throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. He was rated first on a list of VH1's "100 Greatest Kid S ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

, and

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

also appear on ''oh okay LA''. A song in the 2013 album ''vs. Evil'' is dedicated to the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

character

Kang the Conqueror Kang the Conqueror (Nathaniel Richards) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is most frequently depicted as an opponent of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. A time-traveling entity, seve ...

Other appearances

Bellavia's voice and English's keyboards can be heard on the international top five hit "

Cupid's Chokehold "Cupid's Chokehold" is a song by American rap rock band Gym Class Heroes, featuring the vocals of Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy. The song relies heavily on the music and chorus from Supertramp's hit song "Breakfast in America" written by Roger ...

" by

Gym Class Heroes Gym Class Heroes was an American rap rock band from Geneva, New York. The group formed in 1997 when Travie McCoy met drummer Matt McGinley during their high school gym class. The band's music displays a wide variety of influences, including hip h ...

Performances

Ookla the Mok were the musical guests of honor at the 2007 MarsCon in

Bloomington, Minnesota Bloomington is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, on the north bank of the Minnesota River, above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 89,987, ma ...

, the international guests of honour at the 2009 British Filk Convention, and the music guests of honor at the 2014

FenCon FenCon is a literary science fiction and fantasy Science fiction convention, convention with filk held each year on or around the fourth full weekend of September in or around Dallas, Texas. The name is derived from "fen", the fannish plural of "f ...

Discography

* ''Poor Man's Copyright (album)'' (1993) * ''Less Than Art'' (1997) * ''Super Secret'' (1998) * ''Sucking Out Loud: Ookla the Mok Live at Windycon 25'' (1999) * ''Smell No Evil'' (2001) * ''oh okay LA'' (2003) * ''Sketched Out (Adam English solo EP)'' (2005) * ''Dave Lennon'' (2005) * ''Less Than Art 10th Anniversary Edition'' (2007) * ''Nerdvana EP'' (2012) * ''vs. Evil'' (2013) * ''Live at Windycon (double album)'' (2017) * ''The Way of Beauty (Via Bella - Rand Bellavia side project)'' (2018) * ''The Tips of My Fingers (Rand Bellavia solo album)'' (2021) * ''Lukewarm'' (2022) * ''The Elbows EP (Rand Bellavia solo EP)'' (2022)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ookla the Mok Rock music groups from New York (state) Filkers