First Annual Swim Meet
Chimera
Tulsa
July 27, 2024
I’m writing this at noon on a 95° Thursday from an Iron Skillet in Weatherford, Texas. AAA should be here any second.
My band, Blind Oath, was set to join up with Canadian metal legends Anvil for several dates on their U.S. tour. A new alternator, new fuel pump, and several guided rewires of dubious tutelage ago, we thought we were out of Waxahachie, and on to El Paso. Now, the only thing we’re sure of is the tour fund padded out by a grant from Tulsa FMAC.
Tulsa FMAC (that’s the Film, Music, Arts Commission) describes their mission as helping “filmmakers, musicians, writers, artists, and designers find the resources they need to bring their creations to life.”
They certainly help touring bands like mine with grant funds, and last Saturday they threw their inaugural Swim Meet at Chimera, where a curated group of Tulsa acts recorded live sets to be pressed to vinyl by Sunset Club Records.
As a harbinger of future misfortunes, a coolant leak (in a separate vehicle) delayed my arrival to the Swim Meet. I was disappointed to miss Hector and the Hexed, who never disappoint. But local death metal historian and human version of Microsoft’s Clippy, Evan Hughes, was my eyes on the scene.
“Hector was cool, calm and comfortable and did all his songs in one take,” Hughes told me. “If you look up ‘cool’ on Google — after you scroll by six ads — it’s a picture of Hector.”
Hughes was also emcee for the inaugural event, introducing the acts through the evening. The multi-genre show, which offered free tickets and drinks to the first 75 people through the door, brought out musicians I’ve known for decades (many who brought their children), along with teenagers and lifelong Tulsa artists.
And according to Hughes, honoring long-running Tulsa acts with a vinyl pressing was the goal of the event. “It was basically like, ‘all these Tulsa artists have been grinding for a decade with no funding so they deserve the money for an opportunity,’” he said. “So that’s how the compilation recording came about.”
As a Tulsa musician myself, I can attest that being on vinyl feels different. A trophy of sorts. Vinyl, with its sound and large art presentation, is a cherished format and a goal for many musicians.
Recording for a vinyl record is a high pressure situation, and not every group pulled it off in one take.
Dead Shakes ripped through their 2010s-era garage revival tunes and gave way to Along Came Paully, which consists of Paully themself and Pete Tomshany. Pete has been a fixture of unique and underground music in Tulsa for decades; the aforementioned Hughes told me he’d seen his projects here since the ’90s.
Paully played a zither that they’d personally built, with incisive lyrics about Gaza and the current Oklahoma legislature. They’d let the zither spin, then move to play bass, while Pete played breakbeats on an electric drumset, amongst other instrumentation. Looking at the age spectrum in the crowd, I found comfort in the maxim: for every new generation of Tulsa musicians, there is another killer Pete Tomshany act.
The Fabulous Minx followed Paully, with their full-ahead ‘50s boogie. Lemmy, from Motörhead, used to open every show by declaring, “We play rock ‘n’ roll!” And the Minx don’t sound like Motörhead, but like the sounds Lemmy worshiped: The Little Richard rock ‘n’ roll. The Chuck Berry rock ‘n’ roll. The Fats Domino rock ‘n’ roll.
Nicholas Foster of Knipple and King Cabbage fame took the stage next as Winston Churchbus. On acoustic guitar, rather than his usual drum set, he was accompanied by Matt Magerkurth on cello and broke hearts with original songs such as “I Should Have Called You.”
Ending the show was local songwriter Damion Shade. I’ve often described his voice as “biblically booming,” and it’s never not been so. Magerkurth joined in for this set too, as Shade spilled his voice into the air while he played acoustic guitar — a truly spiritual performance.
Beyond the musicians, there were local vendors present, rounding out a full music scene ecosystem. Chimera, owned by a man that toured with hardcore acts like The Locust, has grown from its humble beginnings as a coffee shop into a full-fledged venue. And generosity from organizations like those that put on this first Swim Meet will continue to fuel growth like that in the arts.
Now that I am wrapping up this piece from the comfort of my own couch, it’s obvious our tour didn’t work out. But without the grab from Tulsa FMAC, we wouldn’t have even had the luxury to limp our van home.
Next at Chimera: Low Stakes Comedy Nights (first Thursday of the month)
