'It Won't Be Soon Before Long'
"It's one thing making a record," says Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine, "but it's another thing making a record when you've had all this success and there's all this pressure,...
To be Released
05.22.2007
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Full Description
"It's one thing making a record," says Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine, "but it's another thing making a record when you've had all this success and there's all this pressure, and you say you don't feel it and pretend you don't, and then one day you wake up and it knocks you in your face."
Such is the life of a band that's enjoyed multi-platinum success, sell-out tours, a Grammy, rumors of celebrity entanglements and other classic aspects of the rock 'n' roll dream — and, while it was all going on, had to contend with writing songs even better than the ones on Songs About Jane -- the album that got them to where they are.
No wonder It Won't Be Soon Before Long — a mantra the band developed in response to the pressure to finish their second album — took nearly five years.
"It's been a trying process," Levine told MTV News. "We wanted to kill each other at times, hug each other at other times. It's a very different record. It still sounds like us. My voice is very identifiable. That's the common thread. But the beats are different, more angular, straightforward, not as smoothed out and bouncy. A little harder."
A change is no surprise, considering that the album features no less than four different producers: Mike Elizondo, Mark "Spike" Stent, Mark Endert and Eric Valentine, who count Eminem, Fiona Apple, Queens of the Stone Age, Dr. Dre, Keane and Madonna amongst their varied list of clients.
"It brought diversity," Levine said. "All the people who contributed did amazing things, and without any one of them, it wouldn't have been as balanced. Having different perspectives is so important because you get holed up, you get cabin fever, and sometimes you need someone from the outside to come in and do something that otherwise is so obvious."
Founding Maroon 5 member Ryan Dusick worked as musical director but bowed out as the band's drummer due to joint and nerve injuries he sustained over the years of touring. Matt Flynn, who filled in for Dusick on the road, took over.
"Unfortunately, Ryan, as much as we love him and as painful and horrendous as it was having to part ways with someone who was a co-founder of the band, he couldn't play anymore — at least not to the ability that he once could," Levine said. "We've spent every day since then thinking about it and trying to repair our relationship so that everyone's happy. There is no bad blood, and everything is copasetic."
Five years is a long time by any non-geological measure, but Maroon 5 has found relief in the fact that their second album is finally behind them. It's also helped them to keep things in perspective.
"I really think [the album] will be big, but it's not my life," Levine said. "If not, I'll paint houses."
-- Provided by MTV News
