Were/are your parents musicians and/or in bands?

[Stoneage Dinosaurs]

My dad was in a band that played around London in the early 80s, he did singing and guitar and did music that was a riffy sort of what would now be called 'classic rock' with a hefty bit of Hawkwind thrown in. Decent enough if you like that sort of thing. My mum was not in a band but played the French horn in a classical quintet which is pretty cool but not a band. My sisters are not in bands and neither am I unless you count the CaB choir. Over to you lot

[famethrowa]

My parents were in the local Gilbert & Sullivan society, so not really.

[Rizla]

My dad was a pretty decent drummer, he played in a pipe band and scottish country dance bands, as well as rock/pop cover stuff up til the early 80s. I have a demo one of his bands did where they tackled "Since You've Been Gone", "Youngblood" by Free, other stuff like that. Not bad. One of his club/covers bands, the one with the girl singer who had a glass eye, was on a TV talent show called something like "Pub Entertainer Of The Year" presented by Frank "It's the way I tell 'em" Carson in about 1977 - have tried many times to find some trace of it but no joy. Anyroad, he can still hold down a tidy beat to this day.

My mum had a reasonably successful career as a folky singer/songwriter and interpreter of Burns ballads, did a few albums and made an ok living out of doing Burns suppers and one-woman shows at the fringe for years, and now is in semi-retirement as a children's entertainer which she totally loves. The best thing either of them ever did for me was to forbid me from going near their music things til I was about 12. Apparently Pete Seeger did something similar - before going off on tour, he'd lay out a few banjos and guitars on the parental bed and forbid the kids from going anywhere near them, thus engendering an awed respect for the instruments.

[Jockice]

My dad ended up being Pipe Major of Sheffield Pipe Band. Beat that!


(Didn't pass any talent onto me I'm afraid, although I have a cousin on his side who has put out a couple of albums with his bluegrass band. On the other side of the family, another of my cousins was in an early line-up of what became The Men They Couldn't Hang.)

[Neomod]

No musically talented parents here but my mate's dad is Eddie Phillips from The Creation  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYk574qmwRo

He fucked off when she was a kid and so she doesn't have much time for him.

[Neville Chamberlain]

My dad's been playing in a ceilidh band since sometime around the mid-70s. His illustrious career has seen him play what seems to be nearly every village hall, barn, manor house and folk festival in the Somerset, Devon, Dorset, Bristol/Bath region, and he once even performed in the TSW studios in Plymouth in around 1987 or something.

My mum plays the piano and violin (not at the same time - that would be hideous!!!!!!!!!!), but has never been a band (except when she occasionally knocks along with my dad's band).

[DrGreggles]

My Dad played guitar and bass, and was in his late teens in Liverpool during the Merseybeat era.
Of course he was in a band!
It wasn't The Beatles though, so no one gives a fuck.

[The Mollusk]

It wasn't The Beatles though, so no one gives a fuck.

Spoken in true Oscillations style!

My dad, who spent his formative years as a die-hard punk, sang "You Give Me Something" by James Morrison at his wedding. And yes that is the same wedding where we all did the mime-along to "One Day Like This" by Elbow. Honestly it's no wonder I got gastritis from the stress of that event.

[sevendaughters]

My dad made part of his wages through singing/compereing on the northern club circuit since the early 80s up to his recent retirement. Before that he was in two showbands, which from what I can tell were like slightly more rough and ready Showaddywaddy type groups with songs, skits, patter, etc. One was called The Pepper Mill Band (double entendre as there is a Pepper Mill in Wigan) and the other was called Famous Amos.

He left one of these bands because the rest didn't want to pay tax and left the other because they all started smoking weed. Complex man. I think he was happier on his own anyway.

My mum is impressively tone deaf but her brother played in a band with Mike Harding.

[PlanktonSideburns]

My dad's been playing in a ceilidh band since sometime around the mid-70s. His illustrious career has seen him play what seems to be nearly every village hall, barn, manor house and folk festival in the Somerset, Devon, Dorset, Bristol/Bath region, and he once even performed in the TSW studios in Plymouth in around 1987 or something.

My mum plays the piano and violin (not at the same time - that would be hideous!!!!!!!!!!), but has never been a band (except when she occasionally knocks along with my dad's band).

Imagined this in Tommy Lee Jones accent

[Brundle-Fly]

An ex's mum played cello on those Hooked On Classics albums. I informed her that serial killer Dennis Nilson apparently sometimes strangled his victims with his headphones cable while listening to the said albums.  She seemed surprisingly stoical about this.

[jobotic]

Dad went to school in Paris and was singer in a band as a teenager/early twenties called Les Symptoms. Never released anything but played lots of gigs. They supported The Pretty Things which was apparently a bit embarrassing as they were a bit of a Pretty Things rip off.

He as a good story of going to Brittany to do a gig and it being like that redneck bar in the Blues Brothers. They didn't go down well.

[Shit Good Nose]

No, but I did work with a guy who was Lulu's live bassist on and off from the mid 70s to the early-mid 80s when her career stalled.  She sacked the whole band off at that point and didn't re-hire any of them when she started to get popular again a few years later, but they all parted on good terms and when he retired (from our place) a few years ago Lulu did a skype call during his retirement presentation.  Which was nice.

[Sin Agog]

Nope.  My music teacher Mr. Glasson was a member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band, though, something I was in no way able to appreciate at the time.  I remember when you got to choose the teachers who your mum would visit in the parent-teacher evening, I chose only creative arts teachers as I figured they'd be easy marks.  He was gentle enough, but he did say, "Um...but does your son actually have any interest in music at all?"  Which was a fair enough question as, although I was a strong if reticent singer, I played no instruments and was practically catatonic inside the classroom. 

Fuck school.  Bet Viv Stanshall hated it 'n' all and spent all his time there dreaming up plans of buying and living on a cargo ship.

[Sin Agog]

No, but I did work with a guy who was Lulu's live bassist on and off from the mid 70s to the early-mid 80s when her career stalled.  She sacked the whole band off at that point and didn't re-hire any of them when she started to get popular again a few years later, but they all parted on good terms and when he retired (from our place) a few years ago Lulu did a skype call during his retirement presentation.  Which was nice.

I still laugh at Matt Morgan's story about the time she presided over his graduation ceremony.  When it came time for her to give him his medallion or certificate or whatever it is graduees get, instead of saying thank you he accidentally blurted out 'Lulu.'

[Famous Mortimer]

My mate's Dad was in Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, although I've just looked at their Wikipedia page and he doesn't seem to be on it. It would be a weird thing for my mate to lie about, but it's possible. Or maybe he was just a session guy, or in the touring band.

[non capisco]

My dad is Shakin' Stevens.

[Rizla]

My mate's Dad was in Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, although I've just looked at their Wikipedia page and he doesn't seem to be on it. It would be a weird thing for my mate to lie about, but it's possible. Or maybe he was just a session guy, or in the touring band.

My dad used to boast that his mate Alan played drums for Pilot, but he wasn't on any recordings, certainly not any of their hits. He did, however, play in a group with Jimmy Bain, later of Dio and Rainbow, which I'd have thought worth more in terms of bragging rights.

[non capisco]

My dad isn't Shakin' Stevens. I don't know why I said that.

[jobotic]

My mate's Dad was in Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, although I've just looked at their Wikipedia page and he doesn't seem to be on it. It would be a weird thing for my mate to lie about, but it's possible. Or maybe he was just a session guy, or in the touring band.

He's in Len Sultana & The Bindmenders

[Absorb the anus burn]

My Dad was Glenn Miller Jim Morrisson of In The Mood fame The Doors..... He fabricated his own death to escape the pressures of fame and now lives in a rusting aircraft at the bottom of the sea under a pile of gravel at Père Lachaise in Paris.

[Wonderful Butternut]

My Dad plays keyboard, piano and church organ.

He was on a good weddings & formals cover band in the 90s and early 2000s, but gave that up. These days he plays with a couple of local singers, as well as playing Jazz and being Musical Director and keyboard player in local stage shows.

I join him on bass for the Jazz and the shows. We only try to kill each other once per show on average.

[Seedsy]

My uncle Billy Gray played in David Bowies pre fame band "the buzz" for a very short while. He then went on to have a successful career in an Italian prog rock band called "the trip" which also counted Richie Blackmore as one of their members briefly.

[timebug]

My Dad played a mean harmonica. But not very often. He had learned as a young man, while working down the pit during the Hitler Unpleasantness. My Mothers Dad played anything with strings on; guitar,banjo,mandolin, ukulele, violin, cello etc. I play string things a bit myself, so I obviously got it from the genetic doodab on my Mothers side!

[spaghetamine]

Mum played cornet and french horn in a few different orchestras, Dad used to self-release noise music cassettes in sheffield in the 80s

[JaDanketies]

this might be a lil bit identifying but the brother of a non-blood family member is in Slade

[flotemysost]

My brother's in a moderately successful post-rock group. I'm not hugely familiar with that scene and it always comes as a bit of a surprise coming across their more ardent fans (I remember talking to a girl at the after-party type thing at one of their gigs, and she was genuinely stoked just to be talking to the sibling of a member of the band).

I mean, I'm really really proud of him and all that, but part of me still sort of sees him as my nerdy older brother mucking around on Fruity Loops in his bedroom so it's always a bit weird seeing people gushing over them or getting tattoos inspired by them etc.

He also composes library music (mostly in a similar vein) that gets used in TV and film trailers a fair bit.

[JaDanketies]

My brother's in a moderately successful post-rock group. I'm not hugely familiar with that scene and it always comes as a bit of a surprise coming across their more ardent fans (I remember talking to a girl at the after-party type thing at one of their gigs, and she was genuinely stoked just to be talking to the sibling of a member of the band).

I mean, I'm really really proud of him and all that, but part of me still sort of sees him as my nerdy older brother mucking around on Fruity Loops in his bedroom so it's always a bit weird seeing people gushing over them or getting tattoos inspired by them etc.

He also composes library music (mostly in a similar vein) that gets used in TV and film trailers a fair bit.

oh I'm quite a fan of post rock, I bet I would fanboy over your brother

[Pancake]

NO but my mates dad was the singer in a little band you might have heard of called Black Sabbath*




* at their absolute nadir

[Oz Oz Alice]

If you're on about Tony Martin I personally find him far less irritating than Dio whose cock rock squawk was really no fit for Sabbath.