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Austin music label comes out of the closet
By Noelene Clark
Jennifer Perkins and Chris Boehk run a record label out of a jam-packed closet in their South Austin home. Has Anyone Ever Told You? records is the newlyweds' love child, conceived in 2000 when Chris and his friends wanted to make some music. The label, now 5 years old, bears a striking resemblance to its parents.
Jennifer, 31, looks a lot like Molly Ringwald, with red hair, pouty lips and big, heavy-lashed eyes. Her style is vaguely '80s-throwback, her fingernails painted Minnie-Mouse-style red with white polka-dots and her right wrist clunking with a chunky, beaded bracelet she made for the Naughty Secretary Club - a jewelry business she runs. She specializes in rescuing and reusing broken antique costume jewelry, designing what she calls "revamped vintage." It's a term that could describe much of the music Has Anyone Ever Told You? releases; a lot of music the label currently finances would probably be at home on "The Breakfast Club" soundtrack. But it didn't start out that way. Jennifer and her then-fiance Chris Boehk started the label in 2000 as a medium for Chris to produce his own music and the music of his friends - mostly indie-rock artists that needed a break. Chris plays in four of the nine bands the label has financed. His most recent album, Beta Valentine's "The Proposition," was performed at End of an Ear on Friday. Openers included a dance team whose members Jennifer knows from the Naughty Secretary Club and a disc jockey who is friends with Chris. "It's all pretty incestuous," Jennifer said, laughing. The label receives tons of press kits, demo mixes and requests for funding, but Jennifer and Chris "haven't listened to a lot of it based on the packaging," Chris said. The label owners decide which bands are worth backing financially. The couple is willing to put a couple grand on credit into a record, but usually only for people they know and trust. "For you to come out of the blue, without any respect or allegiance, it would be very unlikely for us to say, 'Hey, let's put $5,000 into a record for you,'" Chris said. Strangers don't have much of a chance, Chris said, "unless you're strangers in a big band. Even then, we'd have to become friends first." The Texan strives to present all information fairly, accurately and completely.
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