For 25 years, The Order of the Fly have existed somewhere between horror, punk, industrial, hardcore, and metal, creating a world that feels both theatrical and deeply rooted in the underground. What began in an era dominated by MySpace, physical records, and local scenes has evolved alongside an entirely different music industry, but remarkably, the band’s core purpose hasn’t changed.
In celebration of 25 years, we caught up with The Order of the Fly for a candid conversation about the band’s beginnings, the changing landscape of underground music, their lifelong fascination with horror, the psychology behind their masks and characters, their first-ever UK shows, and the genuinely unbelievable story of almost getting into a fight with O.J. Simpson.
25 Years of The Order of the Fly
Twenty-five years is an enormous amount of time for any band, particularly within the underground. The Order of the Fly have witnessed multiple generations of technology, social media platforms, music trends, and changes in the way people discover music. When the band first started, MySpace was still the dominant online social platform, YouTube was in its infancy, and physical media remained an essential part of being a music fan.
Looking back, the band sees the evolution of social media as one of the biggest changes. They explain that while social media has given underground bands the ability to reach listeners across the world, it has also fundamentally altered the way scenes operate. Punk and underground music once revolved around physical spaces venues, record stores, rehearsal rooms, and the people who gathered inside them. Now, much of that interaction takes place online.
The result is a fascinating contradiction. Bands can reach more people than ever, but the physical sense of belonging to a particular scene can be harder to find. Despite all those changes, however, one thing has remained completely intact: the band’s desire to continue improving, writing music they’re passionate about, performing, and finding other like-minded people along the way.
Where the Horror Began
The theatrical world of The Order of the Fly didn’t simply appear when the band formed. It stretches back to childhood.
The band’s fascination with theatrical rock began with discovering larger-than-life performers such as Alice Cooper and KISS. Seeing Alice Cooper on The Muppet Show and watching KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park had an enormous impact, creating the early dream of someday performing in a band where music, characters, makeup, and spectacle could all exist together. That fascination eventually collided with punk. Discovering The Misfits and their Walk Among Us era introduced another possibility: horror didn’t have to exist separately from aggressive, melodic punk music. It could become part of the band’s entire identity.
The influence of GWAR, particularly Scumdogs of the Universe, further expanded that idea, demonstrating just how far music could go when visual presentation and performance became part of the experience. The late ’90s and early 2000s proved to be particularly important for horror punk. The Graves-era Misfits helped inspire a new generation of bands, while groups such as Blitzkid, The Other, Calabrese, Balzac, The Independents, and The Order of the Fly helped establish the modern horror-punk community. For The Order of the Fly, the appeal remains the combination of fast, aggressive, melodic punk and theatrical presentation. But there’s also a deeper philosophy behind their fascination with horror.
The Real Monsters Are Sometimes Much Closer to Home
One of the most interesting aspects of the interview is the band’s interpretation of horror itself. Rather than viewing horror simply as monsters, gore, or fictional nightmares, they see the genre as a way of exploring the problems that exist in the real world. They point toward films such as Godzilla and George Romero’s Living Dead movies, where monsters and apocalyptic scenarios can represent much larger issues including nuclear destruction, racism, consumerism, and dehumanization.
That perspective naturally connects with punk. For The Order of the Fly, punk has always been about challenging authority and resisting systems of control. When those ideas meet horror, the result becomes something more meaningful than simply dressing up as monsters. Horror becomes an allegory for the things society should actually be afraid of.
Every Member Brings Something Different
Despite the band’s recognizable identity, The Order of the Fly aren’t interested in restricting themselves to a single sound. Their music incorporates industrial, punk, hardcore, metal, new wave, and even elements of pop. Rather than deliberately calculating how each influence should fit into a song, they describe the process as something more instinctive. Every member brings their own musical background and influences to the band. Those sounds naturally surface during the writing process, eventually becoming part of the band’s collective identity.
Instead of asking, “Does this sound horror punk enough?”, the approach seems to be more about allowing everything they love to exist together. That willingness to embrace different influences is arguably one of the reasons The Order of the Fly have managed to remain interesting after 25 years.
The Mask as Liberation
While the theatrical side doesn’t necessarily influence the actual songwriting process, it becomes extremely important once the band steps onto a stage. For The Order of the Fly, wearing makeup and masks isn’t simply about looking frightening. It’s about becoming someone else. The members describe themselves as not being particularly extroverted, making the transformation into another identity a way of breaking through those everyday limitations.
There’s something psychologically powerful about putting on a mask. It provides distance from the person underneath it while simultaneously giving that person permission to become more expressive.
The band even compares the experience to something almost shamanic a ritualistic transformation where music, identity, and visual presentation become intertwined. It’s an interesting explanation for why theatrical performance has survived for centuries. A mask doesn’t necessarily hide someone. Sometimes, it gives them permission to reveal something they wouldn’t otherwise show.
What Keeps Them Coming Back After 25 Years?
After a quarter-century, the obvious question is what keeps a band motivated. For The Order of the Fly, it’s the people.
The opportunity to meet people around the world who connect with the same strange, niche corner of music remains one of the most rewarding parts of being in the band. There is a sense of community that comes from being part of a smaller scene. The people who discover horror punk aren’t necessarily looking for whatever happens to be popular. They’re often searching for something that feels different. The band describes horror-punk fans as outsiders who recognize that something about the broader world is fundamentally wrong and seek an escape from it.
In that sense, the music becomes more than entertainment. It’s a meeting place for people who have spent their lives feeling like outsiders.
Finally Crossing the Atlantic
After 25 years, The Order of the Fly are finally taking that community overseas with their first UK shows. For a band that has spent so long wanting to play outside the United States, getting the opportunity was understandably significant. Balancing a band with regular jobs and everyday responsibilities has made touring internationally difficult, so this wasn’t something that simply happened overnight.
This time, everything finally aligned. The band credits Dan from We Are Horror Records for helping make the UK shows possible, and their excitement is clear when discussing the reception they’ve received from both the bands and fans. After spending 25 years building a career in the underground, finally stepping onto a stage across the Atlantic represents more than another show.
It’s the payoff to a dream that has been sitting there for decades.
The O.J. Simpson Bathroom Incident
And then there’s the story that could probably become an entire song by itself.
At a horror convention, The Order of the Fly were told there would be a mysterious surprise guest. Naturally, their expectations were somewhere around Robert Englund or John Carpenter. Instead, the mystery guest turned out to be O.J. Simpson. The band strongly objected to his presence and decided to make their feelings known by creating large back patches criticizing him. Then came the bizarre part.
Three members of the band eventually ended up in a public restroom when Simpson walked out of one of the stalls. According to the band, Simpson noticed their patches and began chuckling. The confrontation escalated, and suddenly what had started as a ridiculous convention appearance turned into a potentially serious situation. One member even recalls thinking about Simpson’s well-known knee injury and considering targeting it if the situation became physical.
Fortunately or perhaps unfortunately for what would have been one of the strangest pieces of punk history imaginable a handler stepped in and separated everyone before anything happened. There was no smartphone footage. No viral video. No social media explosion. Just one absolutely insane story that the band has carried with them ever since.
So, What’s Next?
After 25 years, The Order of the Fly aren’t interested in treating their anniversary as a conclusion. If anything, it feels like another starting point. The band wants to continue recording, continue playing live, travel to places they’ve never visited, meet new people, and keep learning along the way. There’s no elaborate expiration date attached to the project.
Just the desire to keep creating. After spending 25 years building a world filled with monsters, masks, punk aggression, theatricality, and dark humor, The Order of the Fly still have plenty of life left in them. Their story is ultimately less about surviving 25 years and more about refusing to stop.
As they put it simply: “I want to do this until I die.”
And for a band that has spent a quarter-century finding beauty, community, and freedom in the darkness, that’s probably exactly how The Order of the Fly should continue.
CURRENTLY ON TOUR! LAST SHOW TOMORROW!
AUG 22 – Fiddlers Elbow – London
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