A man taught his parents to play drums and the bass so they could jam together - and now the family have an album out. Ryan Stokes, 20, couldn't have his friends over to jam during lockdown so he decided to teach his parents how to play instruments. Inspired by two-piece rock band, The White Stripes, Ryan initially taught his mum, Andrea Stokes, 55, to play the drums, so he could have a bandmate. Two months later, his 60-year-old father Lyndon, picked up an electric bass for the first time, which Ryan also taught him to play. The family call themselves 'Mommas Boy'. Ryan takes on the role of frontman, playing the guitar and vocals, while mum Andrea plays the drum and dad Lyndon plucks the bass. The trio have been practicing three to four times-a-week and they now have an album out called 'Who Would Have Thought'. The band, which is completely independent, uses Ryan's bedroom as a studio, and free music editing software, put together their album in just a month. The album was released in April 2022 on the band's Spotify account. Ryan, who is from Hamilton, Scotland, said: "They were pestered to start the band by their very eager son. I had nothing to do during lockdown and wanted to play music. "However, I had no band mates that could come over. Mum loved the White Stripes - especially Meg White and was very excited to learn to drum like her." Both Lyndon, and Andrea, adapted to the rockstar life very quickly, appearing in videos on TikTok hours after picking up instruments for the first time. Ryan added: "I took her [Andrea] out to the drum kit in the garage and said "give me 30 minutes, I reckon I will be able to get you to play something. "Sure enough she had a strong beat within an hour and was ready to play within three hours." The group quickly won the hearts of the internet, accumulating 71,000 followers on TikTok since their formation. Ryan, a student, and his parents, who both work in local government, are shocked by how popular they have 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," Ryan said. "They have both been pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming positivity. They initially thought social media was a very negative environment." Since their big break online, the band also have played live shows. Ryan said there were the normal nerves leading up to their first gig. He said: "Mum constantly said that she was not good enough to play a live show and Dad was not optimistic. "However, after we completed our first show, they were overjoyed and could not wait for the next one." The band love playing music, but the main purpose for it is to help the family spend time together, simply a way to get 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," said Ryan. "[Our music 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 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 Tik Tok. Also, I feel like if we ever toured, she would be the one to drive a car into a swimming pool," he said.
