The table in front of Drekka at one of his performances can be covered in so many little electronic machines, cables, tape players, and seemingly random physical items that it’s difficult to even make everything out.

But the sounds that he cobbles together out of all that clutter can be even more mysterious and difficult to name, using heavily manipulated electronics, loops, cassette recordings, and ambient vocals to build a series of always shifting, nebulous sonic environments.

With more than two decades’ worth of releases – more than even the Indiana-based artist himself can count or recall – a Drekka performance can pull from hundreds of previously explored dark musical worlds, or incorporate unmapped territory for the first time on the fly.

It’s an experience that Oklahoman audiences will have a chance to catch next week when Drekka brings a three-night run through the state, August 28th at Bookish in OKC, August 29th at Opolis in Norman, both presented by Dissociation OK, and August 30th at Noise Town in Tulsa for the One Aux Experimental Music Showcase.

It’s all part of a larger multi-state trek that sees Drekka bringing his constantly shifting, darkly compelling atmospheres along on his second cross-country tour of the year.

“For a lot of people, that’s just too much,” he said. “But I’m the kind of person that if I’m going to be on the road for ten days, I’d rather just be on the road for forty days.” 

Playing that many shows back to back in closely tied markets can be a minefield for a lot of artists trying to thread a needle between staying true to their set and keeping things fresh enough for repeat viewers and overlapping audiences.

But Drekka (whose real name is Michael “Mkl” Anderson) never sees that as an issue, allowing his sets to take on a mostly fresh and unique life every night.

“I’ve done upwards of a thousand Drekka shows, so I know my gear as well as, say, a guitarist knows their guitar,” Anderson told me by phone ahead of the new tour. “So I’ve definitely got little compositions and structures, but I generally just see what works for the night. And then ten minutes into playing, it’s just like whatever happens, happens.”

Every Drekka performance tends to be different – from minor tweaks between nights to major overhauls – all based on the venue, the crowd, and the energy coming off of the evening.

“I just try to listen,” Anderson said. “It becomes almost kind of a call and response thing.”

When he comes through Oklahoma, it’ll be particularly interesting for him to look and listen and soak up the state’s current scene.

Anderson lived in Norman for a time back in the late 90s and became a part of the deeply underground goth and experimental scene in the Metro at the time.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of ‘indie’ stuff,” he said. “Obviously, The Flaming Lips were super important, and their friends. I actually used to work with [now KOSU radio host] John Mooneyham at Kinko’s with a bunch of other weirdos, and we’d hang out at a little goth record store called Shadowplay and a club called Liberty Drug on Campus Corner.”

Outside of those few venues for underground, niche, and alternative music and culture, however, Anderson said there wasn’t anything close to the open-armed acceptance of left-field styles and counter cultures that seems to drive the OKC and Norman scenes now.

“It’s the kind of thing I think you see in any college town that’s able to evolve over time,” he said. “It’s the same as in Bloomington [Indiana] where I live now. The college town culture just needs something kind of bigger than itself to grow.”

The key, he believes, to developing that kind of encompassing, less-exclusive community that’s willing to take chances on strange music and esoteric performances, even if it’s small, is to create a scene that recognizes the importance of supporting one another instead of looking for outside validation.

“I think with a place like Oklahoma City,” he said, “It’s a big city, but it’s also small enough – and in Oklahoma – that there just kind of has to be some kind of self-sufficient underground culture. It has to thrive on its own.”

Between the hyper-indie Dissociation and One Aux groups, and the mind-warping creativity of the acts and artists he’ll be performing alongside, it’s safe to say that he’ll have a front-row view of just how much Oklahoma’s underground culture is thriving.

Drekka does a three-night run through Oklahoma August 28th at Bookish in OKC, August 29th at Opolis in Norman, both presented by Dissociation OK and August 30th at Noise Town in Tulsa for the One Aux Experimental Music Showcase.

For more information, visit opolis.org, noisetowntulsa.com, and follow @shop.bookish, @dissociationoklahoma, and @one.aux all on Instagram.

Follow Drekka at @mkldrekka on Instagram and at drekka.bandcamp.com.

You can find out about local music and performance happenings in the OKC metro weekly in this music column by Brett Fieldcamp. | Brought to you by True Sky Credit Union.

Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.

Oklahoma’s Bixby school district has lots to show off for a fast-growing Tulsa suburb: a state-of-the-art new high school set to open by 2025, a new ninth grade gymnasium and plans for a $12 million upgrade to a football complex that already rivals that of many small colleges.

But, what the district does not have as students returned this week is a Bible in every classroom — despite a statewide mandate from Oklahoma’s education chief to incorporate Bible lessons and promises of repercussions for those that don’t comply. Other large school districts have also publicly indicated they aren’t making changes either.

The resistance follows a summer order that propelled Oklahoma to the center of a growing push by conservatives to give religion a bigger role in public schools across the U.S. Still, the fight may be far from over while other states, including neighboring Texas, are seeing Republicans advance similar efforts to incorporate the Bible into classrooms.

“If there is no curricular standard that ties with that particular classroom, what would be the purpose of a Bible if not for pure indoctrination?” said Bixby Superintendent Rob Miller, a former Marine Corps artilleryman whose office walls are adorned with medals from some of the 18 marathons he’s run and a sign that reads: “Positive Vibes Only.”

Miller said it’s not uncommon to see students carrying a Bible or praying during a moment of silence at the start of each school day. Two copies of the Bible are available for checkout in the high school library’s reference section, along with a book titled “The History of the Bible” that includes maps and other historical details about the holy lands featured in scripture.

But he said a Bible simply doesn’t make sense for a seventh grade math classroom or a high school chemistry class.

“As a Christian myself, I am a little offended by diminishing the word of God to a mere classroom prop,” he said.

It is unclear how many, if any, Oklahoma school districts are resuming schools this month with a Bible in every classroom. A spokesperson for the state education department, Dan Isett, said the mandate is not optional and that the superintendent has “a wide range of tools to deal with rogue districts” that do not comply.

Under the mandate, Oklahoma schools must incorporate the Bible into lesson plans for all public school students in grades five through 12 in Oklahoma.

School districts also have been offered guidance from law firms that represent them and the state’s largest teachers union, the Oklahoma Education Association, that the superintendent doesn’t have the unilateral authority to issue such a requirement and that the edict is unenforceable.

The decision by many Oklahoma school districts to disregard state Superintendent Ryan Walters’ directive didn’t sit well with the first-term Republican, who chastised those districts at the start of a recent board meeting.

“These are the districts that want pornography in front of kids under the name of inclusivity, but don’t want the historical context of the Bible,” Walters said, referring to a failed effort by his education department to force a local district to remove the books “The Kite Runner” and “The Glass Castle” from library shelves because of sexual content.

“It’s outrageous. We will not allow it. Just because they don’t like it, just because they’re offended by it, just because they don’t want to do it doesn’t mean that they won’t do it. They will be held accountable.”

The directive from Walters is the latest salvo in an effort by conservative-led states to target public schools: Louisiana has required them to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms, while others are under pressure to teach the Bible and ban books and lessons about race, sexual orientation and gender identity. Earlier this summer the Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked an attempt by the state to have the first publicly funded religious charter school in the country.

Walters, himself a former public school teacher who was elected to his post in 2022, ran on a platform of fighting “woke ideology,” banning books from school libraries and getting rid of “radical leftists” who he claims are indoctrinating children in classrooms.

Among his Republican colleagues in the Legislature, patience with Walters appears to be wearing thin. State Rep. Mark McBride, a Republican from Moore who chairs the subcommittee that funds public schools, earlier this month sought an investigation into Walters over what McBride says are failures by the department to comply with legislative directives on funding and provide requested documents on expenditures. More than two dozen GOP House members signed on to McBride’s request, prompting Speaker of the House Charles McCall to request an independent investigation of the education department.

For his part, Walters dismissed the inquiry as a “political attack” from House leaders and hinted toward the 2026 governor’s election, where both McCall and Walters have been mentioned as possible candidates for the seat being vacated by term-limited Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Grant Sullivan, who owns Scott’s Hamburgers in downtown Bixby and delivers a sermon every Sunday at a small church in the nearby town of Morris, said he questions whether the Bible mandate is a good idea.

“Have we thought this through?” asked Sullivan, who has a master’s degree in theology from Oklahoma Christian University and two children in Bixby schools. “What if you happen to have an atheistic teacher? Are they going to teach it in a way that may be more problematic than helpful?

“It just feels like that’s for the home and the church is how I feel about that.”

Oklahoma City Thunder fans don’t have to start looking for a new TV package to watch the NBA this season — yet.

Diamond Sports Group, owners of Bally Sports Oklahoma, will continue to carry local game broadcasts for 20 NBA and NHL teams, including the Thunder, in the 2024-25 season.

Diamond reached agreements with the NBA and NHL that were disclosed Friday in filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

“We are appreciative of the ongoing collaboration and long-term partnerships with the NBA and NHL,” Diamond Sports CEO David Preschlack said in a statement. “Having completed negotiations with key partners that provide certainty around our content and distribution, Diamond is well positioned for the future. With the support of our creditors, we are focused on finalizing our reorganization plan to support our emergence and presenting that plan to the court in due course.”

More: Four things we’ve learned about OKC Thunder in 2024 NBA offseason

The subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group had been operating the Bally-branded regional sports networks that carried NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball games in many markets around the country. Diamond filed for Chapter 1 bankruptcy in March 2023 and were ordered that spring to pay four MLB teams 50% of unpaid media rights fees that were owed to them.

The behind-the-scenes business troubles at Diamond led to uncertainty about where teams would be able to broadcast their games when not on national television.

In the NBA, Diamond will continue to carry local broadcasts for the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.

In the NHL, the group will keep broadcasting the Anaheim Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Diamond will no longer go forward with the Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans, the latter of whom recently reached a deal with New Orleans’ local Fox affiliate to air games. The Mavericks were long considered likely to part with Bally, and Dallas’ NHL team, the Stars, previously split from Diamond in favor of starting their own streaming platform.

Diamond’s next bankruptcy hearing is scheduled for Sept. 3.