Hometown: We're all Southern California born and bred. Lia grew up in Riverside, Cameron grew up in the High Desert (Wrightwood) and Eric grew up in Orange County.

Homebase: Lia and Cameron live in Long Beach, and Eric lives in Riverside.

How did you three meet and form The Spare Buttons?

We first met at a backyard open mic. Lia and Eric were playing in a group called the Blackwood Jazz Combo, and Cameron was playing his own singer/songwriter music. When we [Lia and Cameron] got married, our mutual passion for music made collaboration the inevitable next step.

How do you describe your music to someone who's never heard you before?

Quirky but classic. Like smoking an ornately carved bubble pipe. We hope to do justice to the standards, while still having fun and making them our own. Jazz is an ongoing conversation across generations, and we want to respect that tradition, but we're not above throwing in a kazoo solo at our shows.

Why are you called The Spare Buttons?

We have Lia to thank for the name. Every grandmother we know has a sewing kit filled with thread and an assortment of superfluous buttons--all the random spares collected from garments long forgotten. That's us. The three of us make for an unlikely jazz combo, but we love to make music together, and beautiful things can come from unlikely sources.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

Lia: Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O-day, Mel Torme

Eric: Frank Sinatra, David Wilcox

Cameron: Iron & Wine, The Tallest Man on Earth, Jason Mraz

How does being a married couple influence your songwriting? Isn't that just one more thing to fight about?

You'd think. We definitely butt heads a lot, but we're surprisingly symbiotic when it comes to making music together. It's always been part and parcel to our relationship, so we learned pretty early on how to make it work. For original songs, Cameron is usually drafting the initial framework, but it evolves and changes a lot as we work on it together.

What's the craziest thing that’s happened to you as a band so far?

We met a very sweet woman while we were performing on the street in Downtown Long Beach who really loved our sound. She was working on a children's book, and she invited us to play for the book release party. At the party, she stood up to read a passage from her book, which featured a surprise scene where The Spare Buttons are playing music at a rooftop cafe. So apparently we're in a book now. We made sure to get a signed copy of course.

If you were a hashtag, what would you be?

#TheSoftSideOfVelcro

What was the first song you ever wrote as a couple about?

We played it at our wedding. A simple love duet that's still close to home for both of us. The chorus goes:
"We could chase our dreams around the world if we wanted to,
sit here pretending that there's nothing we ought to do
It doesn't matter, so long as you stay true
'Cause I don't want to do anything without you."

For more profiles on up-and-coming artists, visit our Artist of the Day page.