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MAROON 5 a The boys behind the love anthem "She Will Be Loved." a Published in PRESS Magazine June 2004
Somewhere along the same time period that Disco came along and then mutated into what is considered modern day R&B, people forgot all about the amazing results of taking rock and giving it the funk and R&B treatment. Lucky for everyone, Maroon 5 chose to modify and fine-tune their sound to infuse R&B into their rock sound, as they introduced a breath of fresh air that reminds listeners what made R&B such a magical music, bringing back a lost music form and showing us that music today can still have “soul” and be commercially appealing. While they are definitely not the first band to fuse R&B and rock, they certainly are one of the most convincing.
Fronted by Adam Levine, a guitar wizard with a captivating voice and a strutting attitude, and backed by powerhouse players James Valentine on guitar, Jesse Carmichael on keyboards, Mickey Madden on bass and Ryan Dusick on drums, the Los Angeles quintet’s slow-moving climb toward chart-topping, platinum-selling success made them arguably the biggest Cinderella story of 2003.
Way back in the mid-1990s, Adam Levine, Jesse Carmichael, Mickey Madden and Ryan Dusick were all students at Brentwood High in Los Angeles, California. They formed a four-man, modern rock band titled Kara’s Flowers and spent the latter half of the '90s as a post-grunge alternative act who played its first live show to a sold-out crowd at the Whisky in Los Angeles on September 16, 1995 where they captured people’s attention with their incredible energy onstage, as hundreds gathered to see their eclectic mix of pop, punk and rock music. Upon graduating high school, Kara’s Flowers signed a lucrative deal with Reprise Records, and were given the kind of flattering treatment which for any band was like a dream of rock stardom come true -- tour buses, industry buzz and monetary advances doled out with promises of even more. By summer of 1997, Kara's Flowers released The Fourth World, a favorite in the college market, and scored a minor hit with "Soap Disco," after which the band immediately set out on the road playing with bands like Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger. Their whirlwind romance with fame and fortune, however, remained brief. Though their album was critically acclaimed, it was a commercial failure, and two years later, they found themselves dropped by their label.
The band then literally split as Levine and Carmichael left Los Angeles in order to attended music school together at a small liberal arts college in New York. Staying at a place that was primarily black, and where the urban soundtrack that always accompanied dorm life filled the halls with the sounds of gospel, R&B and soul, they were exposed to an urban and hip-hop culture in a way that had never happened to them in L.A. A pivotal experience, especially for Levine, it turned him on to an entirely new genre of music which has had a profound impact on his songwriting, leading to them infusing their jam sessions with hip-hop and R&B inspired by Missy Elliott, Maxwell and the work of producers Timbaland, Rodney Jerkins and the Neptunes. Submerging himself in the worlds of hip-hop and R’n’B, it was also at this point that Levine discovered both soul music and Stevie Wonder, and found that he had a knack for doing it. It was in the Big Apple where the band found its groove.
Two years later, the band regrouped back in L.A., recruited second guitarist, James Valentine, set about rewriting rock, and became Maroon 5. Burned out on how everybody was doing the same thing, they set out to do something different that would eventually help them develop a more unique sound. Scrapping their straightforward, power chord-friendly sound and adopting a funkier, more textured sound with music that incorporated soul and contemporary R&B influences, by 2001, Maroon 5 had unveiled their genre-blurring sound of funk-tinged pop-rock locally, though audiences didn't immediately buy into the band's newfound white soul. As it turned out, most of the major record labels wouldn't either, and niche-obsessed record executives urged the band to take the sound in a more conforming direction. Nevertheless, they continued to write new songs and played various music showcases in and around New York City and Los Angeles, and eventually caught the attention of some label sharks who started circling around them, though after their first experience, Levine was apprehensive about jumping in for a swim.
After catching a show at the Viper Room, and hearing the soulful, swaying "Sunday Morning," Octone Records’ James Diener and Ben Berkman made Levine an offer he couldn't refuse. By February 2001, Maroon 5 signed to the newly founded New York City based independent label, Octone Records, a company distributed by BMG Music Entertainment who has an artist development co-venture relationship with Clive Davis’ J Records, as they related to the plight of Kara's Flowers and won tem over by agreeing with the band's gradual approach. Fortunately enough for the young band, the head of their record company, veteran Clive Davis knew how to handle their unconventional style and gave them a whole year to develop on their own.
On June 2002, Maroon 5’s major label debut Songs About Jane was released on the Octone label. Recorded in Los Angeles with famed producer/mixer Matt Wallace (Train, Blues Traveler, Third Eye Blind, Faith No More) at Rumbo Recorders, the same studio where such seminal artists as Guns N’ Roses, Stone Temple Pilots, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Smashing Pumpkins and John Mellencamp have recorded some of their best work, it featured the band’s unique melding of rock, R&B and soul that now defines their musical style with songs written while Levine was experiencing relationship difficulties with his girlfriend named, you’ve guessed it, Jane.
The release of the album, though, did not bring the band overnight success, and spent almost a year and a half in pop purgatory, seeing little more than word-of-mouth promotion and scant radio play. Nevertheless, Maroon 5 took a firm hold of their career, adhered to a demanding tour schedule and managed to claw their way up, successfully completing several mini-tours in support of it for a span of two years.
Many times, however, all it takes is that one song to bring attention to new talent with even more to offer. In the case of Maroon 5, it was the funky and infectious "Harder To Breathe," that introduced the band late last year as R&B-influenced groove maker. In July 2003, the persistent single finally broke into the top 40, climbing all the way to No. 6 on Airplay Monitor's chart, and two months later, hit the Top Ten. A song written during a period of extreme frustration it is not, however, according to Levine, about his ex-girlfriend. Rather, the pressure applied to the band by the label, which in the end, turned out to be a good thing, apparently fueled it.
In a matter of weeks, Songs About Jane went from indie obscurity to certified gold in October that same year. Four months later, in February 2004, the album went platinum, and after establishing a firm foothold on the Billboard charts, the band is displaying all the hallmarks of a mainstream phenomenon. Suddenly, the Los Angeles punk/funk quintet is one of the hottest new quantities in modern rock. The album has garnered positive reviews, not just for its dance floor friendly music, but for Levine's introspective lyrics, and while the band seems tightlipped about its name, it's surprisingly open about the title and content of its album. An eclectic mix of rock, funk, punk R&B and hip-hop, most of the material on Songs About Jane is about relationships, or to be exact, frontman Adam Levine's ex-girlfriend, Jane, where there is at least one line in every song about her.On January 2004, "This Love", the album's second bouncing, soulful single, hit the Top 40, then moved up to the Top 10 on February, eventually topping the Billboard Hot Digital Tracks chart on March, as well as the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart in April, the same month it hit the number one spot. One of the album's standout tracks that strengthened the group's fresh multi-dimensional appeal and helped position it as one of the year's break-out bands, this vanilla-soul sensation was reportedly written by Levine the day he and his girlfriend broke up and she moved away. Accompanied by an eye brow-raising video directed by Sophie Muller (Pink's "Family Portrait" and Coldplay's "In My Place") that combined performance footage at what appears to be a courtyard in Mexico (but is actually a soundstage) and scenes of Levine's intimacy with his topless girlfriend, Kelly McGee, “This Love” showcases how the vocalist’s urban-romantic swoonings work best when his band really gets up on the good foot, as on this track, which uses piano and James Brown-like guitars. A hip-hop remix of the smash single has also been created by superproducer du jour Kanye West to aim at a more street-savvy crowd.
Their third release was the mellow, piano-driven ballad “She Will Be Loved.” A heartfelt ballad steeped in soul but still with a crossover modern rock appeal as well, it was written after Levine and Valentine jammed on what eventually turned into the song.
Regarded as a band who bridged the gap between boybands and ‘real music,’ Maroon 5’s uniquely blends elements of R&B and funk influences into their rock and roll songs evident throughout the album, whose other standout tracks include the lovely ballad “Get Out,” the easily swayable “Sunday Morning,” the heavily-rock-influenced “Tangled” and the jazz-tinged “The Sun.”
After having conquered their Los Angeles hometown, a long string of sold-out shows a huge crowd following, a celebrity fanbase that includes the Counting Crows, Natalie Portman, Sugar Ray Guster, Matchbox Twenty, John Mayer and Michelle Branch, the latter three of whom they’ve toured with and opened for, and a platinum album, this L.A. quartet continues to convert music lovers into their groovy rock & roll musical world. Aside from the West remix, Maroon 5 has also recently worked with producer Nile Rodgers (a co-founder of disco kings Chic who's also worked with artists ranging from Duran Duran and INXS to Britney Spears and Madonna) for a new tribute album to salute funk-soul legends Sly and the Family Stone, which will also include contributions from Lenny Kravitz, Black Eyed Peas, the Roots and Moby as well as a John Mayer/Buddy Guy collaboration, according to an Epic Records spokesperson. The song was "Everyday People" one of Sly's best-loved tunes, which appeared originally on Sly's 1969 album, Stand! Maroon 5 has also recorded the song “Woman,” for inclusion on the soundtrack to "Spider-Man 2," alongside contributions from Jet, Hoobastank and Yellowcard.
From commercial failure Kara’s Flower’s to gaining critical and mainstream success as Maroon 5, these five musicians from Los Angeles have definitely come a long way. They're sexy but not too sexy. They're funky but not so funky that they get all freaky-deaky. And their lyrics are so simple that it’s so reachable. A thoroughly engaging outfit, thanks to throbbing bass lines, hooky songs, and lead singer Adam Levin's swaggering delivery, Maroon 5 has proved that they are a commercially viable rock group whose bid for world domination just took a giant leap forward.
© Valerie V. Mayuga, 2005 |
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