A New Zealander taught both his parents how to play the drums and the bass so he would have people to jam with—and now they have an album out.
Ryan Stokes couldn’t have his friends over to jam during lockdown so he decided to teach his parents how to play instruments.
Inspired by The White Stripes, a two-piece rock band, the 20-year-old guitarist initially taught his 55-year-old mom to play the drums. Two months later, his 60-year-old father picked up an electric bass for the first time.
The family appropriately named their band ‘Mommas Boy’, with Ryan crushing songs as the frontman vocalist, while Andrea Stokes keeps time on drums and Lyndon plucks the bass—all with with a lot of competence.
The trio has been practicing three to four times-a-week and they now have an album out called ‘Who Would Have Thought’, released in April on the band’s Spotify account.
“They were pestered to start the band by their very eager son,” joked Ryan, who was born in Hamilton, Scotland. “I had nothing to do during lockdown and wanted to play music.
“Mum loved the White Stripes—especially Meg White and was very excited to learn to drum like her.”
After a quick lesson on the drum kit in the garage, Ryan says “Sure enough she had a strong beat within an hour and was ready to play within three hours.” (See the video at the bottom…)
Both of the middle-aged newbies adapted to the rockstar life very quickly, appearing in videos on TikTok hours after picking up instruments for the first time.
The group quickly won the hearts of the internet, accumulating 72,000 followers on TikTok since their formation— with 700,000 views.
Ryan, a student, and his parents, who both work in local government, are shocked by how popular Mommas Boy has become, and have been loving the support they get online.
“Mum is known as the ‘mumma drummer’ around her work and dad is constantly blown away by the response online, after initially thinking social media was a very negative environment,” Ryan told SWNS news.
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The band, with no record label yet, uses Ryan’s bedroom as a studio—and by using music editing software, they put together their album in just a month.
Since their big break online, the band also has also played live shows—with lots of jittery nerves leading up to their first gig.
“Mum constantly said that she was not good enough to play a live show and Dad was not optimistic, but after we completed our first show, they were overjoyed and could not wait for the next one.”
An incidental benefit now is that the family gets to spend more time together, and derive even more out of the music they all love.
“We always bonded over our shared love of music. Now we can bond over our shared love of making music,” quipped Ryan.
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“Our musical taste is the exact same, I was brought up listening to Dad’s live concert DVD’s and vinyl. I believe there is footage of me being brought home from the hospital after just being born and you can hear The Rolling Stones in the background.”
So far, according to Ryan, the band members haven’t had any disagreements over their music, but Andrea is turning out to be quite the rockstar.
“She seems to have the biggest fan base out of all of us on TikTok. Also, I feel like if we ever toured, she would be the one to drive a car into a swimming pool!”
WATCH the impressive trio play a selection of their tunes…
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