Jim Harper is the father of Boxing Clever Records, a recent addition to the St. Louis ad agency Boxing Clever. We sat down with a bottle of bourbon to talk about his experiences in music and what led him to the crazy idea of starting up a record label.
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Andrew Doty: A couple of weeks ago, we talked about some of the bands you were in. You started playing in stuff in high school?
Jim Harper: Actually, early college.
AD: You didn't start playing until college?
JH: I've played drums since I was five; I started in big band and swing. And then, I don't want to say I got bored with it, but just like anybody else, I started doing other stuff, and going to school, and whatever. And early college, it was kind of one of those things where it's like, "Don't you have drums or something?" "I don't know, I think?" But I didn't, so a friend of mine gave me his, and of course, I never gave them back. I was at that age where when someone lends you something, you never give it back. And so I had a pair of real thin ultra-tiger-stripe drums. The same kit Bobby Brady got in the Brady Bunch from his dad, or whatever. Started playing with that. Yeah. It's terrible.
AD: What kind of music was that first band?
