Maroon 5 Blog

Adam in New Video Game 'Band Hero'

Adam has been re-created as a character in Band Hero, a new video game where people can play along to 'She Will Be Loved' with the band on screen.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about the game, Adam said:

“It was really a surreal thing going through the whole process. They put you in this amazingly dorky suit with lights all over it, which makes you kind of look like what’s-his-name in Running Man, the big fat guy that lit up like a Christmas tree?"

 

"It’s really surreal lipsynching to your music in a concrete warehouse, with video game programmers staring at you and laughing. It’ll be pretty cool to play myself. It’s the height of video game narcissism, being your own avatar.”

“I’m a fan of so many different types of music, and I just thought it was cool that they were extending beyond their standard rock n’ roll tunes, and going into new areas. Basically, with the record industry being in the state it’s in, it’s nice to have a new and innovative outlet for your music.”

 

Adam also mentioned Maroon 5's new album:

“I don’t want to spoil it too much. But they always say you have your whole life to make your first record, and five minutes to make your second, which is kind of true. I like the second record a lot, I’m very fond of it. I think there are maybe things I would do differently now, if I had a chance to go back. But I think the third one is really great because it’s kind of taking the best elements of both the first and second one, and kind of striking a balance. I always think whatever record we’re putting out is our best one. So this one’s our best one. And our fourth will be better and so on and so forth until we finally reach Wyld Stallyns status.”

Adam Answers Your Twitter Questions

Photo: Adam's Twitter

Adam took to his Twitter page this afternoon to answer questions from fans. Below are a selection of his answers.

SmileyKC: When is the next album? info please :o)
Adam: We are currently recording our record. New record out hopefully later in the year or first thing next year for sure.

midy125: Will you be going on tour once this record is released?
Adam: Expect a two year international tour beginning early next year. We can't wait!

ferlarios: What can we and what can we not expect on the album? What would you say the difference is when compared to SAJ and IWBSBL?
Adam: The new one is very much a mixture of the first two records. However the mentality behind it is closer to SAJ.

PennyxxLane: What are u most excited about the new record?
Adam: What most excites me about this new record is the attention to detail. Every word, melody, riff, rhythm, carefully scrutinized.

Evelina75: Can we expect some thumping guitar solos from the new album?
Adam: Man I love guitar solos more than you know. They just sound a bit dated at this point. We will try and squeeze one in though.

nadianlee: Are you doing a B side to this album like you did for It Won't Be Soon Before Long?
Adam: There will most certainly be a plethora of b-sides.

greeneyes730: What is your favorite city in the world?
Adam: My hometown. The fair city of Los Angeles. How I love her so. I wear her on my sleeve. Literally.

ZairaAmaterasu: Which historical or fictional character, being allowed, would you like to talk to?
Adam: I'd love to sit down and talk to Mickey Mouse so he could dish the vast history of shady disney dirt.

222tattoo: OK a deeper question. What are your views on God?
Adam: I pray only to one god. John Stamos.

BiboDano: What is your favorite dish?
Adam: I'm a big fan of those square ceramic ones. Very sleek.

Chelseycottrill: Do you sleep with socks on?!
Adam: I sleep naked. Except I wear one mitten on my right hand. And a bra.

haecena: Will you show your dance moves in your next video? ;)
Adam: New dance moves for this record: I'm working on a new one. I'm gonna call it "the awkward jew shuffle".

gradytr: How many tattoos do you have and which is your fav?
Adam: My favorite tattoo is my butterfly tramp stamp. It's the most "me".

April7901: If you could play onstage with anyone - alive or dead - who would it be?
Adam: It would be incredible to sing with Sir Paul McCartney.

jennyrake: If you could cover only one prince song, what would it be?
Adam: I'd love to cover "I wanna be your lover".

natalielovesm5: What is your definition of success?
Adam: My definition of success. Loving and being loved. Helping and being helped. Being able to wake up every morning and smile.

shannahsJJAMM: Was your ride yesterday on a motorcycle? Do you ride by yourself? U have a bike back home? If so, what kind?
Adam: I'm a big Harley fan. However I've recently had a European love affair with a triumph. Which I guess has become my mistress.

Maroon 5 Cover Frank Sinatra

Adam and Jesse recorded "The Way You Look Tonight" for an album of Frank Sinatra covers by different artists called His Way, Our Way. The album is available to download from iTunes now.

Adam recently spoke about Sinatra in an interview with billboard.com:

"He's definitely one of my all-time favorites. He's one of those guys that’s just kind of larger-than-life. I always was a huge fan, ever since I was probably about 15 years old."

"I think Sinatra had such amazing taste. He never overdid it. He was always pretty understated in his singing which is interesting because he wasn’t understated in his lifestyle. That juxtaposition is really kind of an interesting thing because he was very tasteful when it came to choosing certain melodies and almost didn’t embellish at all actually. Kind of stuck to the plan, which I thought was very cool."

More from Rolling Stone:

“I nailed it,” boasts Levine, before demurring that he was actually quite “terrified when I went in there, because, it’s intimidating, especially because you know there’s like dozens of secrets and tricks you can do to enhance things. But I wanted to go for it, and try and make it legitimate, and do it in a take, with a band performing live, and have it all be one live take.”

Maroon 5 laid down five separate takes at Capitol Records’ studios, where Sinatra himself had recorded, and “I think the third or fourth one was really magical and kind of amazing,” Levine says. “I didn’t fix anything… except the very, very, last, last, last line, which I probably shouldn’t admit, but it was all one take other than that.”

Levine jumped at the chance to be part of the tribute, and describes himself as a massive Sinatra fan. “He’s really one of the best, and what makes him the best, to me, is the attitude,” Levine says. “It was kind of one of those intangible things. This quality he possessed that no one else had. He’s just truly unique. He’s not necessarily technically the best singer in the world. He was just one of these rough, no bullshit, excellent guys, and was spot-on every time he got onstage and started singing. He commanded everyone’s attention and that’s the kind of stuff I love.”

James Interview

The Daily Nebraskan has interviewed James about his time at college in Nebraska, playing with JJAMZ and the next Maroon 5 album.

Daily Nebraskan: What’re you guys up to right now?

James Valentine: (Maroon 5 is) writing the material for our next record. We’ve got a rehearsal space in L.A. that we all just sort of drop into; it’s been kind of loose up until now. We were on tour so long that I think we all needed a break from each other. Now we’re back into it and we also have a little studio set up at (frontman Adam Levine’s) house where we’ve just been working on ideas.

DN: Do you guys have any target date for this next album?

JV: It’s kind of too early to say. We’d like to have it out sooner than later. It’s been a couple years since our last one was out. We don’t ever want to go away for too long, but at the same time you don’t want to break the process.

Read the full interview here.

Jesse & James Green Ball Interview

Jesse and James talked to U.S. News on the red carpet of Al Gore's Green Ball. Here are some quotes from the interview:

Jesse on the band's transportation: "We offset everything we do. We don't ever take a flight without offsetting it." he added, however, that his transportation to Washington was a jet. "That conflict of interest is big."

James on how he tries to live a greener lifestyle: "I'm unplugging appliances, setting the thermostat at a reasonable level, and wearing a sweater instead of getting it blazing in there. All that kind of stuff that I learned from my anal frugal dad. If his voice was in everybody's ear, we would save a lot of energy. That's one of the unintended consequences of the economic crisis. People will start thinking about saving energy, because they'll save money."

Jesse on the changes he's making: "At home I'm working on a huge overhaul to my house, with solar panels and water systems and a greenhouse, and growing food... We're trying to keep our fingers crossed but we're trying to stay happy too. It doesn't have to be spun in a way like, everything we enjoy has to stop if we're going to try to live more sustainably."

Adam is a Fun Fearless Male

Adam has been fearured as one of Cosmopolitan magazine's Fun Fearless Males in their February issue. Other guys who made the list are Michael C. Hall, Bradley Cooper, Timbaland, Mario Lopez, Ben Silverman, Aaron Eckhart, Rainn Wilson, Chace Crawford, Blair Underwood and Joshua Jackson.

More From Dubai Press Conference

Could they be loved?
by Kelly Crane

Sarcasm was the order of the day as journalists and other members of the media were left slightly stumped by the LA-based band Maroon 5.

It was difficult to determine whether the heartthrob lead singer Adam Levine was trying to raise the humour levels at a press conference before their gig at the Dubai Festival City last night, or simply making fun of the journalists firing questions his way.

The Grammy Award-winning pop rock band arrived in good spirits. They posed for photographers and film crews at the city's Shangri-La hotel and seemed in no rush to leave.

However, after many questions were met with an almost "stating-the-obvious" expression or comment before he gave his answer, the media became more and more reluctant to ask questions.

New Adam Interview

More to Maroon 5 Than Just Music
by Rachel McArthur

This will be your first time in the Middle East. Excited about this Wednesday's show?
Oh definitely. Dubai is one of those places you hear so much about, and as a band we try our best to visit as many places as we can when we go on tour.

Many American artists are wary of visiting due to the way the Middle East is portrayed on the American news. Did you have any worries about coming here?
No, we're not particularly ignorant, so we know what really goes on. We're curious to see what Dubai is like.

Do you find it strange that Maroon 5 is so popular in a region you've never visited? Does it make you grateful for the internet?
I love it. It gives bands more opportunities to succeed. It's amazing how anyone from anywhere in the world can watch our videos and listen to our music on YouTube.com, for example.

How is the global credit crunch affecting you and the music industry?
Well, certainly a band signing a record deal and selling so many CDs is no longer the case. But that has been going on for a while now. The key to making money lies within touring. It gives bands more opportunities to succeed, and it gives them more freedom.

Sounds like you're not a fan of major record labels.
I've never been a champion of corporate record companies. I think that record companies have always robbed bands blind. But now the industry is crumbling, because artists are no longer selling 30 to 40 million records. It's good for the artist, because now they can go on tour and make more income. But now there are also deals that dictate that a percentage of what the band makes from touring must go to the company. It shows how bad the business is. In defence of the companies, they are great for money, and us working with a major label got us the financing. Don't get me wrong, we work with great people and we respect their creative opinion and vice-versa. I don't want to look like I'm just bashing. They're not all evil – but we're wary because you hear a lot of horror stories. We want to make sure that no-one is messing with us creatively.

So would you say you're business-savvy?
Not really, but I like to be wary. It's a good thing to know the business going on around you. Outside of the music world, I don't have business in my brains.

You've just released your first remix album, Call And Response: The Remix Album. When's your third studio album due?
Once we're done touring, we're going to take a couple of months off, then start work on the new record. But we want to release the third album soon. I'm predicting the beginning of 2010.

Maroon 5 is appearing in Nicholas Stoller's forthcoming film, Get Him to the Greek, and you do a bit of acting in music videos. Is Hollywood next?
A video is easy because you don't have to talk, but I tell you what, I'd love to be in James Bond.

As 007?
No, I'd love to be a Bond villain. I'd be happy, but to be honest, I doubt that's ever going to happen.

So what do you think of Daniel Craig as Bond?
You know what, he's the best James Bond ever. Even better than Sean Connery. There – I said it!

Source: Emirates Business 24/7

Get to Know More About Maroon 5

by Ailsa Windsor

I chatted to Maroon 5’s guitarist James Valentine to find out more about the band members and their forthcoming visit to South Africa in December

'Maroon 5 has never been on the African continent,’ James replies to my question as to why they didn’t change their plans with the postponement of SA’s inaugural Virgin Festival till next year (2009). ‘We’re going to spend a little time and go on safari.’

Part of the Festival’s original line-up Maroon 5 and One Republic are not prepared to let the fans down and they will perform according to their original schedule.

Having joined the band - Kara’s Flowers, two weeks before it metamorphosed into Maroon 5, James has been part of the meteoric rise up the charts since 2000. Although the band has only recorded two albums over the years they have received Grammy recognition as well as reaching double-platinum status with respect to sales.

There is great camaraderie amongst the members despite some ups and downs, but through it all they ‘remain close friends … and that’s the secret’.

As is my wont I asked James to describe the personalities of each of the band members, including himself:

Matt Flynn: ‘Hilarious and confrontational.’

Adam Levine: ‘The archetypal lead singer who is also very funny and combatative. As a team, he and Matt are a force to be reckoned with – they are so alike.’

Mickey Madden: ‘He’s the intellectual – well read and most prodigious.’

Jesse Carmichael: ‘Our spiritual guru and leader.’

And as for himself … ‘I’m the ideal – perfect in every way – the one to whom everyone aspires!’

With respect to the concerts, what can you expect? ‘Come an see us live, it’s much more interesting, a little more visual and more of a rock show than you would expect.’

And the future … The South African leg is at the end of their tour and Maroon 5 will be returning to the recording studios to work on their third album … ‘and we’ll just have to see what comes out of that!’

Source: Going Places

James & Mickey Mexico Interview