The Brass Buttons

Following the pain came hope. The breakup with Driver 8 in 2004 prompted Juanlu and Víctor to react, driven by a passion for a specific sound. Before forming The Brass Buttons, we had already spent years touring venues, competitions, and stages with other bands, appearing in media like the early Los Conciertos de Radio3 with Driver 8, and Juanlu, additionally, with Maddening Flames (a project they are now reviving). Those years paved the way.

We grew up surrounded by roots-guitars, expansive melodies, and the light that the sound of the American West Coast always projected. Ours was—and still is—roots pop-rock, but also a way of looking at the world. We always sought honesty more than perfection: music as truth, not as a trick.

The Brass Buttons arrived like an inevitable impulse, like the feeling that there were songs waiting to be written even before we knew how to play them. Since the beginning, we knew it would not be just another project, but our musical home.

We therefore decided to incorporate friends who shared the passion for our musical history: María Palacios on vocals (who had already participated with backing vocals in Driver 8), David Gómez-Calcerrada on acoustic guitar and backing vocals, David Ponce on electric guitar (former member of The Mikeas), and Antonio Serrano on drums. María del Mar Armario also joined the vocals during the first years, while we prepared the debut album. In 2015 Pedro Misas joined on drums in what has been our stable quintet lineup ever since.

The Brass Buttons current formation (from left to right): Pedro Misas, David Gómez-Calcerrada, María Palacios, Juanlu González, Víctor Navarro.

We understood how a band breathes on stage, how the air changes before the first chord sounds, how the audience sustains us even when we feel like there is no energy left. With The Brass Buttons, all that was amplified. We experienced tours throughout Spain, various festivals, and an endless list of kilometers that taught us to tune more than just our instruments: we learned to tune our perspective.

We played in mythical venues inside and outside the country, including the legendary The Cavern — Liverpool, a place where you feel like time has a different texture.

The band's first albums marked a bright and daring era. Wet Behind the Ears (2008) was the statement of intent: expansive guitars, radiant melodies, and a production that, while modest, captured a pure energy. Then came S.O.S. Songs From Outer Space (2011), a unique project, a CD-Comic illustrated by José Fragoso where each panel continued what the song had hinted at. The universe of Captain Sidrocket and his crew unfolded like a small interstellar pop opera. And later, Seven Seasons (2017), perhaps our most mature work: an album that breathed round, warm, and full of moving stories.

Original formation featuring David Ponce on electric guitar and Antonio Serrano on drums.

There were concerts that remained etched in our memory, but few as special as the live show shared with Adam Levy (The Honeydogs) at the University of Cádiz. That concert, where the songs seemed to forge their own path, eventually became Live at the University of Cádiz (2019).

Years brought albums, tours, different studios, endless late nights, and unexpected meetings with incredible musicians. Many things have changed, but we still feel that The Brass Buttons is a living history. A story that grows with us and reminds us that music is not a destination: it is a way of walking.

Original formation featuring David Ponce on electric guitar and Antonio Serrano on drums.

And so we continue, writing another chapter, preparing the next album: Last War Lullaby: A 10.000 Years Story (2026), nuestra relectura del universo de Adam Levy y The Honeydogs.