Maroon 5’s James Valentine on Working Around Adam Levine’s Schedule With ‘The Voice’
Maroon 5 returns today with Red Pill Blues, the group’s sixth album and first since V in 2014.
The group’s schedule these days is, of course, determined by frontman Adam Levine and particularly his commitment to NBC’s The Voice, but guitarist James Valentine says Maroon5 has adapted easily to that challenge:
“Our schedule is definitely different. 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, we’re always doing these one-offs. We really did just wrap up the world tour from the last record last month — you know, we did our final trip down to South America, which was kind of the end of that. So it is continuous. We don’t ever really stop.”
Red Pill Blues finds Maroon 5 working with a number of co-writers and producers, including Charlie Puth, Diplo, Benny Blanco, executive producer J Kash and more. The album also features guest appearances by SZA, A$AP Rocky, Julia Michaels, LunchMoney Lewis and, on the deluxe edition, Kendrick Lamar.
Maroon 5 will usher in 2018 with shows Dec. 30-31 in Las Vegas and then kicks off a tour on May 30 in Tacoma, Wash.
Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist who not only covers music but has written books on Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.
