Over-50s female punk band releases first songs

An all-female punk band, with members aged from 52 to 80, is releasing music for the first time.

The HorMones, from east Oxford, had not sung or played instruments before forming in 2023.

The nine-piece band have now released their first two singles Dirty and Sandwiches on streaming platforms.

Singer Lisa Stokes-King told the BBC that their release felt "glorious" and "slightly surreal".

"One of them I wrote in my head a long time ago, decades ago sitting on a bus... with no thought of ever being in a band at all," she explained.

The HorMones' influences include The Clash, Bikini Kill, The Cramps, Joan Jett, The Sex Pistols, and the band that inspired their name, The Ramones.

The band have been playing live, including performances at Oxford festival Glofest, and Electric Heart in Manchester, on the same stages as Supergrass and the Happy Mondays.

However, the new songs mark their first official releases.

Stokes-King said the band had been a "long time in the making".

"I need to confess something, which is that when I was a teenager back in the 80s, boys formed bands and girls waited to be asked," the singer said.

"That sounds terrible... but it didn't really occur to me.

"Certainly by the time I did it, I thought those days were long past.

"I didn't expect to be in my 50s and getting on stage in fishnets and Dr. Martins."

Further releases and a documentary will follow later in the year, while upcoming gigs include Bunkfest, Klub Kakofanney, and the O2 Academy Oxford.

Stokes-King said: "It takes a certain type of woman in her 50s, 60s, or 70s to say, 'yes I'll be in a punk band', and so all of the women in the band are courageous and curious and intelligent and funny.

"They're an incredible bunch of women to be with, and I think that's partly what drives us forward is that feeling, that dynamic."

She added: "We're nine very strong willed women, we're going to wind each other up some of the time, but ultimately we've always got each other's backs."