He juggles sports, school, family and a band.
Connor Qualls, drummer for Grey Society, is the only sophomore in a band of all seniors. Along with being in his band, Qualls plays soccer and takes pre-ap classes. He practices with Grey Society on Mondays, and Tuesday through Thursday he has soccer practice for a regional team. He uses his Fridays and weekends for things like football games and seeing all of his friends.
“I normally do all those activities first, then once I get home, I hit the books. Study and do my homework,” Qualls said. “Even though I’m driving now, my parents help me stay on track by putting me first so I can manage to do everything on my schedule. I love them to death for that.”
When his parents found out about him wanting to be in a band, they were ecstatic. He said that they want him to do the things that he loves doing, which is drumming.
“They loved the fact that I had this opportunity. They said that they loved to support me in playing with the band. Now that the band is going great, they only help put in more effort for me to rock,” Qualls said.
Grey Societys’ first gig will be in December opening up for a Christmas Concert at Sticky Fingers, which is a restaurant and bar in downtown Little Rock. The members of the band are Seniors Alex Summerlin, Houston Clifton, Max Sullivan and Sophomore Connor Qualls. Summerlin and Clifton do vocals and guitar, Sullivan plays the bass guitar, and Qualls plays the drums. Summerlin and Clifton were the two who were first interested in starting a band. Summerlin knew Qualls could play the drums and Clifton knew that Sullivan could play bass, and one day they got together and started playing.
“We all met up at Houstons’ house and started jamming in the garage. Even though it was freezing, we all clicked together and produced a beautiful sound,” Qualls said. “From there, we went on to practice more and more until we played in the Talent Show last year and won. We now practice every week.”
Grey Society plays covers right now, but soon after their first feature they’ll start writing their own songs. They don’t just randomly choose a song, though. They find one with meaning to them.
“We choose the covers based on our interests and the right amount of difficulty for each song. We don’t just play the covers, we put our own twists on them to make them sound like us because we have a certain sound to our works,” Qualls said.
Grey Society isn’t the only thing that allows Qualls to make music, though. His first interest in music was when he would watch his dad play drums at their church. Qualls spent time as a child banging on pots and making music out of the materials he was surrounded by. He learned the basics of drumming through playing with the middle school band, and it helped him develop the skills he has today.
“I’ve been interested for as long as I can remember. As a little kid, I was always finding something to beat on and make noises with. It’s just so fascinating to make a beat out of random things,” Qualls said. “Music runs deep in my family. When I was younger in church, I always saw my dad up front drumming with the praise band. That’s where I found drumming.”
