'Now I think we're just at a point where we feel like there's more music in us than that,' so the band's guitarist James Valentine gushes about their eagerness to make a new album.
- Jul 6, 2012
AceShowbiz - Maroon 5 have already been working on the follow-up to "Overexposed", though their latest album has just been released on June 26. In a new interview, the alternative-rock band say they are eager to make new music and complete what will be their fifth album as soon as possible.
"I think we're more focused than we've ever been, and all we really are interested in doing now is working on music," one of the band's members, James Valentine, tells Billboard.com. "Usually we'd be on tour and have fun and come back home and use that time to make a record. Now I think we're just at a point where we feel like there's more music in us than that."
He adds, "I always have my laptop with my recording interface, and there's usually always a few things I'm working on at any given point. So, yeah, we're working on a lot of stuff." The guitarist additionally teases fans that they can expect the new record to come out soon as saying, "I think the next recording's going to be ready a lot sooner than our previous records."
Maroon 5 have their fourth album "Overexposed" entering the Billboard 200 at No. 2. They recently released "One More Night" as the second single to follow up the Wiz Khalifa-assisted song "Payphone".
Speaking of "One More Night", Valentine praises Max Martin and Shellback who produced and co-wrote the song. "We've wanted to do a reggae-influenced sort of track for a long time...and they came up with what I think was the perfect sense of the reggae feel with a beat that is very contemporary, and it's so much fun to play live," he shares.
"He was the one who came up with the 'Moves Like Jagger' whistle," Valentine continues, crediting Shellback for the song's hook. "This is just another piece of ear candy like that. He's got some sort of mad genius for being able to create these little earworms that instantly get stuck in your head."
On having "more band collaboration than on any of the previous three records" in "Overexposed", Valentine explains, "At this point, 10 years in, we had to switch it up and we needed some new inspiration. At the beginning I think we were a bit territorial, thinking 'What does this mean for our roles?' and 'Are we just simply fulfilling the prophecy that everyone said from the moment we got on the scene that, oh, Adam (Levine) is going to go solo?' "
"But it was really education for all of us to work with all these different writers and producers. We learned a lot of new tricks and got to see their processes...So it actually opened up more collaboration within the band."
Of original keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, who took break in March for "spiritual healing" and to continue his music studies, Valentine says his decision is "totally reasonable." He elaborates, "We've just worked really intensely ever since 'Songs About Jane' came out, and he's been playing music with Adam and Mickey (Madden) since they were 13, so that's 20 years of playing music with the same guys and he just wanted some time to do some other stuff." Carmichael is expected to rejoin the group for their next album.
Maroon 5 are set to kick off their tour in support of "Overexposed" on July 21 in Stateline, Nevada, which is the only scheduled U.S. date so far. They will next head to South America and Mexico this summer, before jetting to the Pacific Rim and Australia in early fall, with a North American run expected later in the year.
