“Anyone who thinks they know enough that they can just coast for the rest of their career isn’t taking it seriously enough or they don’t have the correct artistic aspirations. Over time, I hear a new drummer playing cool stuff, it makes me want to practice.”

Overview – Brendan Buckley is a freelance drummer based out of Los Angeles, CA. Over the course of his career, he has worked with the following artists: Morrissey, Perry Farrell, Shakira, Tegan And Sara, Miley Cyrus, Damien Rice, Shelby Lynne, Daniel Powter, Leighton Meester, Roberto Carlos, Minnie Driver, The BoDeans, Aleks Syntek, Leehom Wang, Beto Cuevas, Idina Menzel, Melissa Ethridge, Alejandra Guzman, Julio Iglesias, Emmanuel, Paulina Rubio, Dallas Austin, Gustavo Santaolalla, Alejandro Sanz, Debi Nova, JJ Lin, Brie Larson, Ozomatli, Madame Recamier, DMX, Nil Lara, Chayanne, Jeff Chang, Michael Miller, Fulano De Tal, Gloria Estefan, and MIYAVI either as a drummer, percussionist, music producer, musical director, or songwriter. He grew up in Mount Arlington, NJ, and went to college at the University of Miami’s School of Music. Brendan is also a faculty member at Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, CA. www.brendanbuckley.com

Early Years – Brendan Buckley was born and raised in the New Jersey areas of Morristown and Mount Arlington.  The accessibility to New York City during his childhood and high school years provided valuable musical inspiration.

The Miami Years – At the age of 18, Brendan packed his car and moved to Florida to attend the University of Miami’s School of Music.  There, he became immersed in the city’s diverse rock, latin, and jazz scenes.  While in school, he released an album with the rock band Fulano De Tal (bmg), featuring the artist Elsten Torres.  A year later, he played drums with Julio Iglesias for his “Tango” world tour.  Brendan finished this tour and recorded the 1999 Grammy-nominated album for the Colombian popstar Shakira; “Dónde Están Los Ladrones”.  That quickly led to work on Shakira’s 2001 Grammy-winning “MTV Unplugged”, “Anfíbio Tour”, “Tour of the Mongoose”, and co-writing/co-producing her album “Laundry Service”.  Also during these Miami years, Brendan spent time recording/performing with DMX, Spam All-Stars, Nil Lara, Gloria Estefan, Alejandra Guzman, Julio Iglesias Jr, Lauren Hill, Pedro Suarez Vertiz, Natalia Oriero, Alicastro, Popvert, The Kind, Alih Jey, Zach Zisken, Monterosa, BD Lenz, María Bestar, Mariana Ochoa, Diane Ward, Raw B Jae, Clambake, Maria, and Sixo.

Los Angeles – In 2004, Brendan moved west to Los Angeles where he immediately joined the experimental rock band Pedestrian. Their work together can be heard on the album “Ghostly Life”.  At the same time, Brendan began touring with the actress Minnie Driver for her “Pocket” tour.  Brendan continued his work both in the studio and live with Shakira (“Oral Fixation Vol. 2”, and the 2011 Latin Grammy-nominated “Sale El Sol”, and the 2012 Latin Grammy-nominated concert film “Live From Paris”), while also producing records for Fulano (*2007 Grammy-nominated “Individual”), Michael Miller, Volumen Cero, and The Kind. 

“Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.”

In 2007, Brendan joined the irish folk artist, Damien Rice, for his “9 Crimes” world tour.  This was followed by tours with broadway star Idina Menzel, former La Ley frontman Beto Cuevas, and the Canadian songsmith Daniel Powter.  Around 2011, Brendan began touring/recording with a number of notable Asian superstars such as Leehom Wang, JJ Lin, Jason Zhang, David Tao, MIYAVI, Jam Hsiao, Daita Ito, Eason Chan, and Joanna Wang.  Also during the past few years, Brendan had the opportunity to work with Miley Cyrus, Shelby Lynne, Roberto Carlos, Leighton Meester, Melissa Ethridge, The Bodeans, Aleks Syntek, Emmanuel, Dallas Austin, Gustavo Santaolalla, Alejandro Sanz, Debi Nova, Brie Larson, Ozomatli, Madame Recamier, Peter Himmelman, Wyclef Jean, Gustavo Cerati, Jackson Browne, Chayanne, Breaking Arrows, Joseph Arthur, Gary Jules, Pepe Aguilar, Richard Page, Laura Jansen, Taryn Southern, Peter Bradley Adams, Chris Stills, Willodean, Nathan Fox, Julia Harriman, G6, Susie Suh, Axel Muñiz, Maite Perroni, Beth Thornley, and Boys School; while also doing tv commercial jingles for Reebok, Pepsi, Hyundai, Marshalls, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. Along with being a freelance and recording drummer, Brendan has served as Musical Director for several artists such as: Shakira, Daniel Powter, JJ Lin, and ARO (Aimee Osbourne).
Since 2016, Brendan has been busy working with artists such as Tegan And Sara, Jeff Chang, Shakira, Perry Farrell’s Kind Heaven Orchestra, and Morrissey. In 2020, Brendan began his drum duet series DrummerPlusDrummer. And in 2021, he was the house percussionist for the HBO tv show “A Tiny Audience”.

At the moment, you can catch Brendan on tour with Morrissey, or making music in his Los Angeles recording studio Reflector Music.