You might think that the biggest movers and shakers of a creative community are likely to be the ones with a lifelong love of the arts scene and a single-minded trajectory toward the stage and the spotlight, but that’s not always the case.
Sometimes it takes a lifetime of discovery and development and a willingness to leave your comfort zone behind and to explore the wider world to find entirely new paths that you never knew existed.
That’s been the trajectory for OKC’s Evan Jarvicks.
As an experimental and alternative musician and songwriter, a music journalist, a radio presenter, booker, organizer, and host of two separate monthly live music showcases, Jarvicks has become something of a one-man music scene, an invaluable resource for the full scope of the Oklahoma music community and an irrepressible champion of all things “weird” in the arts.
And that’s all before even getting to his shocking rapping skills and enthusiastic root beer reviews.
But rather than growing that love of outsider community and underground creativity from an upbringing in the city scene, Jarvicks grew up in suburban Moore, largely unaware of – and insulated from – the world of local music and alternative culture.
Evan Jarvicks: The shelteredness was huge, and it took so much to break through it, because I also, like, never thought in terms of local stuff, like, I didn't know about any of it, and, you know, I wasn't learned in music in any way, except through high school band.
But I always kind of had this little pipe dream of, like, “man, wouldn't it be cool to make music?” But I didn't really have the tools.
Brett Fieldcamp: After an adolescence spent developing poetry and drawing skills alongside learning brass instruments in the school band, Jarvicks began to discover the potential of digital recording platforms and the infinite possibilities of simple songwriting companions like ukuleles, loopers, and his own raw voice.
Evan Jarvicks: Just having, finally, these tiny little tools, and I finally had an instrument that I could write songs with live, and then I was just putting it online, because, like a lot of people, you just assume there's not a local place for it.
But, like, in the process of figuring out what I was doing, I was just kind of like, “well, I guess I can just do whatever I want.” And I just started putting up stuff anonymously and finding people online who, like, were also making stuff that was different. And I realized, oh, I guess the music I make is kind of weird. And I guess I kind of started to lean into that at that point.
The big missing piece for me was the local community element. And I would say Norman Music Fest is the game changer.
Brett Fieldcamp: Accompanying his brother to an early Norman Music Festival gave Jarvicks his first exposure to what the state’s local scene could be, opening his eyes and his mind to the full scale and full encouragement of the community, not only in the diversity of styles and sounds, but in the often self-actualizing, DIY ethos of the Oklahoma scene.
Evan Jarvicks: And so I was figuring out you can just do this. Just seeing that it's possible has always been a huge thing.
I just remember thinking, “yeah, music is amazing.”
Brett Fieldcamp: That ignited in Jarvicks not only the burning drive to get into the scene as a musician himself, but also to get involved in any number of other ways, finding places to post album reviews of local releases, to speak on radio shows and podcasts about Oklahoman artists, and to connect and spotlight other acts through booking and venue showcases, eventually allowing his own music to take a backseat to his work elevating and supporting other artists across the scene.
Those efforts have come to fruition through his booking, blogging, and resource platform Make Oklahoma Weirder and the dual artist showcases that he books and hosts each month: the Wonder Stage Open Mic at OKC’s Factory Obscura, and the outsider music-focused Weirder Wednesdays at Norman’s Opolis, which will celebrate two successful years in June.
Evan Jarvicks: I have a lot of ideas about things, like “wouldn't it be great if this? Wouldn't it be great if that?”
And that's also happened with Weirder Wednesday, where I was like, okay, let's try something. I was like, I don't know if this is going to work out, but it's going to be different. And it turned out into this weird little cult community thing from there, you know?
The open mic was another thing where it came to me and I was like, well, I could say no, but also, what a unique opportunity. It's the uniqueness, I think, of all these things that have really made me accept it and say, “you know what? This does need to exist.”
Brett Fieldcamp: For Jarvicks, those are more than just simple recurring concerts or live events, they’re a way for him to foster the kind of creative community that he’s always dreamed of, and to encourage new artistic and esoteric voices to engage with the same diverse and supportive underground community of which he was so long unaware.
Evan Jarvicks: Ultimately, what I've gotten out of this whole journey, like, it encouraged me to see that I do have, you know, an artistic voice, and that I can be creative.
But it's also brought me into a community that allows me to be who I am through art, and art is a place where you can find yourself.
Brett Fieldcamp: To follow along with all of his various projects and showcases, find Jarvicks on Instagram and visit makeoklahomaweirder.com.
Now here’s Jarvicks with “Concrete Soul.”
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