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GARY GRAFF
NYT Syndicate
Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine may be keeping himself busy between the band, his judging role on 'The Voice' and various other business pursuits. Nonetheless, his full plate seems to have been good news for the group.
The Los Angeles septet's new album, 'Red Pill Blues,' is its first in more than three years, but numbers can be deceiving, guitarist James Valentine said.
"Our schedule is definitely different," the 39-year-old Valentine said, speaking by telephone from Los Angeles."It's all kind of dictated by Adam's TV schedule, so we're constantly working but much less busy than it was. We were working at a pretty frantic pace for the first decade of existence. We were constantly on the road or in the studio, and it's funny ” the TV show has kind of allowed us to take it a little bit easier, but we're always doing stuff.
"Even if we're not officially on tour," he added,"we're always doing these one-offs. We really did just wrap up the world tour from the last record in September. So it is continuous ” we don't ever really stop."
Nothing seems to hamper Maroon 5's upward ascent. Since the band's massively successful debut with 'Songs for Jane' (2002), all of its six studio albums ” the last was 'V' (2014) ” have debuted at No 6 or better on the Billboard 200, with two reaching No. 1 and 'Red Pill Blues' bowing at No 2. Maroon 5 has logged 16 Top 20 hits, topping the charts with Makes Me Wonder (2007), Moves Like Jagger (2011) and One More Night (2012). The group also has won three Grammy Awards.
It's a level of success that Valentine acknowledged he, Levine and their bandmates did not anticipate 15 years ago.
"I'm just so grateful we've been able to keep the band together the whole time," Valentine said."It's a hard thing to keep a band going."
That's especially true when one member eclipses the band itself, as Levine has, whether he's appearing on television, making Mezquila with Sammy Hagar or acting, as he has in American Horror Story (2012) and Begin Again (2013).
Valentine insisted, however, that it's something he and the rest of the band have learned to live with.
"You know, even before 'The Voice,' it was very clear that Maroon 5 was a band fronted by Adam Levine," the guitarist explained."A lot of bands run into problems, or break up, because there's a couple of guys in the band that want to be that guy, and we were all very comfortable with Adam being the focal point from Day 1, so that was never really an issue.
"So, even after 'The Voice' boosted his profile even more, it wasn't really different in terms of the dynamics of the band," Valentine said,"because that was the agreed-upon dynamic. I think everyone's really comfortable with that, and I think everyone's really grateful that we all have pretty low-key lifestyles ” we can go wherever we want and basically live a normal life ” and Adam has to deal with a lot of other things having such a big public profile. He's suited for that, and I don't think the rest of us would really want to sign up for that. It's a lot."
The situation does, of course, leave the rest of Maroon 5 plenty of time to focus on the band's music. 'Red Pill Blues,' according to Valentine,"definitely continues what we were doing on 'V,'" which means collaborating with hot producers and songwriters under the direction of executive producer J Kash. The lineup includes Benny Blanco, Diplo, Charlie Puth and more, and the album also features guest appearances by Lunchmoney Lewis, Julia Michaels, A$AP Rocky, SZA and, on the deluxe edition, Kendrick Lamar.
"We've always wanted to be part of the conversation of what's going on in contemporary music," Valentine said."We've been that way since the beginning, so we're continuing that. It's the same sort of approach, which was, 'Let's get together some of the best producers, all the best producers in the world.'
"If you look at the track listing," he said,"there's a lot of different and really talented people. That was the approach on 'V,' and it was kind of working, so why change?"
There is a bit of a sonic switch on 'Red Pill Blues,' however. The sound is more ambient and chilled-out than its predecessors, which was by design.
"I really think there's something to be said that we're certainly not spring chickens anymore, and that laid-back vibe, to me, sort of feels more mature," Valentine acknowledged."It's a little minimal ” definitely more minimal than, say, 'Overexposed' (2012), which was us really going all-out in a full, Technicolour-pop, kitchen-sink sort of approach on every track. A lot of these tracks are pretty sparse, as far as what's going on.
"But there certainly are some tracks that have more of a kitchen-sink approach, too, but mostly we wanted to keep that sparse minimalism that's the sound of the trip-hop and R&B records, and allowing that space for Adam's voice."
That approach, Valentine added, had a marked impact on Levine's singing throughout the album.
"It's using a lower part of Adam's voice, which he's really loving exploring right now," Valentine noted."He's known for his really high, reedy tenor in, like, Makes Me Wonder and anything like that, and on this album he's exploring the lower end of his range, which he's just really enjoying singing. So he's gravitating toward those sorts of keys and that sort of vibe."
The music may sound a bit different when Maroon 5 starts playing 'Red Pill Blues' live, however. The band will hit the road on May 30 in Tacoma, Washington. Valentine expects the tour to span the world again, when time allows, and he's looking forward to hearing the material evolve, the way the rest of Maroon 5's catalogue has when it's been taken on the road.
"On the record it's always more about the song and not about showing what we can all do as instrumentalists," the guitarist said."But when we take these songs out live, we get to do these live arrangements of them that usually are different and showcase more of the band.
"We do things different right now because these songs are created in the studio, and then it's a process of getting the songs and thinking, 'All right, what are we going to do here?' and figuring that out," Valentine concluded."And then that evolves as we tour and figure out what works and what doesn't.
"That's been something that we've done from Day 1, and it's exciting too."
