Courtesy of Connor Leib

Hair flipping senior Connor Leib plays in a two-hour show with his band Good Question. The performance occurred at Earth Surf– a skatepark located in Chesterfield, Mo. “Playing in a skate park is very loud and [echoey], but it brings out a very punk underground and grimy vibe that’s cool. And it kinda brings out [an angsty feeling] so much that after our [show] I kicked over my drums and broke my high hat stand,” Leib said.

At age 13, after listening to “Lithium” by Nirvana, senior Connor Leib had his whole life figured out, becoming involved with music, all thanks to the bug. 

“The bug is about the feeling that musicians usually get around age 13,” Leib said. “[The bug is when people] realize music is everything. [That] it’s their first love, their passion, and all [they] want to do.”

Not only has “Lithium” been a big part of Leib’s life, but so has musician Dave Grohl. 

“I remember the first band I fell in love with was Nirvana,” Leib said. “And I was like, who’s the drummer? I play drums. [And it was] that guy. I just non-stop watched videos and interviews. [I] listened to as much of that guy as I could. I even based my drum set that I just got over the last summer off of his drumset in Nirvana.”

Grohl has been in many bands. He recorded the instruments and wrote the songs for his first album released with Foo Fighters inspiration. Leib’s goal is to do the same.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” Leib said. “Once I heard that [I was like] well, I have these ideas. And so my goal was to [learn] every instrument.”

Leib started playing the drums at age 13. He’s taken a few drum lessons at School of Rock while also playing in shows for them. Leib then taught himself how to play guitar.

“I was like, ‘Well, I have this old acoustic guitar’ [Then I thought, ] ‘I’m going to see if I can learn a song.’ And I looked up a video of this guy playing “A Bad Girl” by Interphone on the big guitar, Lieb said. So I watched his fingers, then I tried to learn how to do it and ever since then, I taught myself how to play the guitar.”

Leib is currently in three bands. First, Beekman is a “rip off of Paramore.’’ Another one of his bands is called Good Question. Good Question is more of an indie and psychedelic rock band. Finally, the most recent band he joined is Headwire. These bands have their own Instagram accounts, but only Beekman and Good Question have music released on Apple Music and Spotify. 

“We just went to the Samsung guys’ home studio and recorded some stuff,” Leib said. “And that was one of the times I was like, ‘Wow, I’ve never heard that sound, that was good.’”

Leib started playing in shows during the summer of 2021 and has racked up 100 or more performances since. 

“Red flag is a pretty cool place to play, except there are a lot of rules,” Leib said. “[Also,] there is a cool place I play downtown called the Shamrock Pub. It’s in the middle of nowhere in East St. Louis. It’s a loft above a bar. Good Question played there, and it was cool. I’d love to play there again.”

The most rewarding part of playing for Leib is the energy he feels from the crowd. 

“The crowd is almost everything when it comes to playing a show,” Leib said. “ It’s the best feeling [when you and the crowd are] vibing together [, and when] you’re interacting, and you guys have the same energy. Also, when people say, “I had a great time,” [that’s also a good feeling].”