beasers

The boys are in the news. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Maroon 5: Breathe Easy

Hollywood pals climb the charts by discovering the power of funk.

by Heather Stas & C. Bottomley



Blame it on Stevie Wonder. Back in 1999 the members of Maroon 5 were just another bunch of junior high buds in a fledgling L.A. rock band called Kara’s Flowers. They got as far as releasing a sturdy debut called The Fourth World - things were looking up. Then singer Adam Levine caught a serious Stevie jones, and headed to New York in search of the funk.

While Levine discovered what songs in the key of life were all about, band mate Jesse Carmichael started pumping the jazz. The guitarist traded in his six-string for a keyboard, and suddenly Kara’s Flowers realized their collegiate post-grunge sound didn't really fit them any more. They left their label, added guitarist James Valentine, and replaced one silly name with another. Maroon 5 was born.

George Clinton said that if you freed your mind, your ass would follow. What followed for Maroon 5 was the bun-bouncing debut Songs About Jane. Nerdy romantic angst put on its party clothes, and Levine gleefully developed a sexed-up strut. The band's panache is infectious, and Jane’s rubber rhythms started rocking tour buses belonging to fans like Michelle Branch and John Mayer.

The current darlings of the strum set aren’t working to half-empty houses any more. The clipped guitars and sensitive machismo of “Harder to Breathe” has landed Maroon 5 on both Top 40 radio and VH1. But while Levine, Carmichael, bassist Mickey Madden and drummer Ryan Dusick may now wear sharper suits and haircuts, life isn’t exactly a brand new bag.

Adam and Jesse spoke to VH1 about publicist fibs, how Songs About Jane drove them to drugs, and the unending torture of the tour bus.

VH1: I hear Michelle Branch and Natalie Portman are fans.

Adam Levine: Let’s be truthful: Michelle Branch is a huge fan. She’s a cool chick and a good friend of ours. But I don’t know Natalie Portman very well. I don’t even think she likes our music. And dude, I totally did not try to hit on her!

Jesse Carmichael: It was a complete fabrication by our publicist.

AL: Unless you see two people making out, don’t believe it.

VH1: You guys were known as Kara’s Flowers until three years ago. Why the name change?

AL: We started as Kara’s Flowers when we were 14, so we had a lot of growing up to do. It took us seven or eight years to find out who we were as a band. When we were in Kara’s Flowers we were poppy, in the Weezer sense of the word. Then I started listening to Stevie Wonder, and everything changed. We started listening to music that was much more manufactured, like hip-hop and R&B.

JC: I used to play guitar in Kara’s Flowers. Then I started listening to jazz music and playing piano.

AL: I started singing differently, and when Jesse started playing keyboards; that’s what changed it. But we always remained a rock band. The difference was just our approach.

VH1: So who was Kara and what was the deal with her flowers?

AL: She was our homey from high school. We all kind of dug her, and we brought flowers over to her house the night we started the band. We changed the name, and she hasn’t talked to us since!

VH1: Did you guys have any mishaps while growing up?

JC: Once, in high school we were making an anti-drug video. We made a mock sequel to the Matt Dillon movie Drugstore Cowboy. I was punching on the side of someone’s face; it was supposed to look like I was punching them after they tried to stab me.

AL: He broke his hand! We thought he was being such a baby. We were like, “Jesse, c’mon…”

JC: I didn’t go to the doctor for days, and eventually, my hand swelled to the size of a cantaloupe.

VH1: Where was your first gig?

AL: Technically, our first gig was the Natural Fudge Company. It was this hole-in-the-wall, old-school burlesque theater. The shadiest woman ran this place and there was a fatal car accident outside the night we played!

VH1: Tell us about “Harder to Breathe.”

AL: “Harder to Breathe” is about being frustrated by everything, not wanting to write songs, and being forced to write songs to the point of taking drugs in order to get those songs done. [It takes a lot of] Dexedrine, Ritalin, whatever you want to call it - I call it speed. I didn’t want to write any more songs and [the label] demanded more from us. I’m glad they did because it yielded two of our best songs. “Harder to Breathe” and “This Love” were done in crunch time. That was a really good time for us because we were forced to work. When we actually do focus, we’re a force to be reckoned with.

VH1: What’s “This Love” about?

AL: It was so perfect that we wrote that song when we did, because at the time I was breaking up with my girlfriend. I was bummed and pissed, and so sick of dealing with my relationship, so I wrote about it.

VH1: So is this is a song about Jane, like the album title suggests?

AL: Album titles are so damn clever these days, like Radio Master Theory 7. Here’s the deal with ours: Jane was my muse. I spent a lot of time in my life pining over her, so it was the most sincere title we could’ve thought of.

VH1: So is “She Will Be Loved” about Jane, too?

AL: That song is actually not about Jane. The song is about my friend Sam and his really bizarre relationship with this girl. She was really weird. They had a strange couple of years together. The song kind of came out of nowhere, and it seemed like the perfect thing to talk about.

VH1: How was being on the Jeep World Outside Tour with Train and Sheryl Crow last year?

AL: It was whack. We were in the parking lot on the second stage. But it’s cool - you’ve got to start somewhere. We were stoked to be on a big tour. It was like summer camp. We were in an RV we called “RV Keitel," and it was not a smooth-riding vehicle. The beds were right over the wheels and the bus had no shocks, so anytime you went over the smallest bump, you’d be thrown off the bed into the air - trying to sleep was pointless! We would literally wrap ourselves in each other’s arms and duct tape ourselves to the bed!

from vh1.com

~*Carrie*~

Cool! Thanks for posting that. I finally decided to get their CD over the weekend. I have to say that it's totally awsome! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

last beautiful girl

"She will be loved" is an awesome song. My online friend Ang turned me onto it and it's so catchy! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Jen

Ken Adams

Alisa - Thanks for posting the article. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Man. I really wanna see them this summer with Mayer, but it's expensive. I think they played at a 21+ club earlier this year, so I couldn't go to that. But I definitely recall a show from last summer or fall, where they played with Matt Nathanson (who I now love) and OAR (who I still know nothing of), and there was no 21+ crap. At the time, I was curious about Maroon 5 and Matt, but nothing more. So I didn't go, and now I really wish I had.

Grr. [img]smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Tanique33

thanks for the article. i'm seeing them next week, 3 times next week, i can't wait.

ken not to worry, i'm hearing rumblings of a maroon tour in the fall. or late summer. nothing is concrete yet, but just hold out, and i'm sure you'll get them soon.

~*Carrie*~

Woohoo! That would be awsome! [img]smilies/slinkie.gif[/img]

nun with a gun

i missed to see them at this bar/club last winter when they were here in TO, i tottaly didnt know...damn it!!!!!!

ip [img]smilies/karate.gif[/img]kid

~*Carrie*~

I thought I'd cheer up the thread with some pics! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Als

I just discovered that the boys are playing a half hour from me this Thursday. Long Island, NY if anyone's in that area. [img]smilies/look.gif[/img]

I have to go to this show!

~*Carrie*~

Thats awsome! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] I'm not even close to there, but it's still awsome! [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]

nun with a gun

im in toronto, canada...so that is KINDA close, like 4 hours close [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]

ip [img]smilies/karate.gif[/img]kid

Shizzle

I'm new, but can I say Adam is hot? [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Tanique33

oh hot doesn't even begin to describe him. i just spent a long weekend with the boys. i saw thme 3 times. i got lots of pics, the music was amazing.

they have a new song called "wasted year's" that is amazing. so expect the new album to be great. i'm on maroon overload. they are so much fun.

~*Carrie*~

A new song? [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] YAY! [img]smilies/clap.gif[/img]

nun with a gun

Tanique33 i am glad that u saw tham 3 times....yet i have none...i am trying to be happy for other people.......trying--is the key word [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]

ip [img]smilies/karate.gif[/img]kid