Issue Date: December 5, 2004

Five alive

Backstage with Maroon 5, we learn what makes the band tick.

By Michele Hatty

Adam Levine, 25, lead singer of the band of the moment, Maroon 5, has just finished another energetic show. Sprawled out in the back of a swanky tour bus, he contemplates how the band he started more than a decade ago has gone from playing Rage Against the Machine covers at his high school talent show to hearing a crowd of 50,000 sing along to every word of songs he wrote himself.

"I can't believe we've still got a band. If we had been older when we started it, we probably wouldn't have gone in the same direction," he says, showing me the X-shaped tattoo on his biceps he got to mark 10 years with the band. "I believe in luck, but I also believe it was fate. It's crazy."

Luck or fate, he's right. When they got together in L.A. back in 1993, Levine and bandmates Mickey Madden, Jesse Carmichael and Ryan Dusick were high school buddies who started jamming under the name Kara's Flowers. They survived the inevitable challenges of heading off to different colleges and even released an album before being dropped by their label. Enter a new record company, a funkier sound and fifth member James Valentine -- and their luck began to change.

The newly named Maroon 5 (no, they won't tell why they chose that name -- I asked!) dropped "Songs About Jane" in 2002. A rich album filled with Levine's angst over a broken relationship, it became a must-listen on college campuses before hitting mainstream stations. Since then, they've traded in their 15-passenger van for a custom fleet of two tour buses and a semi, and they've gone from playing in the parking lot while others headlined to taking the stage at giant amphitheaters. Today, they've become mainstays on the charts. This album has spawned four hit singles: "This Love," "She Will Be Loved," "Harder to Breathe" and the newest, "Sunday Morning."

They've already won an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist this year; they'll attend Wednesday's Billboard Music Awards and are expected to be among the nominees at the Grammy Awards come February. Clearly, the stars are aligned in their favor.

Still, I want to know: Who are these guys? As I leave Levine to unwind, I run into Carmichael, 25. We head backstage and hang out in a room marked "masseuse" -- another of the perks of success. Sadly, the masseuse is long gone, so we settle into a couch to chat. The lanky keyboardist quickly gives me the rundown on how they function as a unit: "Adam is the eccentric and talented father, unpredictable and creative. He's like the dad in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," like a crazy inventor. I am the live-in Zen and physical fitness coach, always trying to come up with exercises to improve the way things are. I'm probably going too far overboard and should just let everybody go with the flow. [Bassist] Mickey is the bohemian intellectual who is very artistic, very intelligent and crazy at the same time. [Drummer] Ryan is the serious backbone, and he's got a crazy side, too. And [guitarist] James is the wholesome, musically dedicated one."

Even with his Zen-like demeanor, Carmichael admits he and the other guys enjoy being rock stars. "The best superficial thing is the way you get treated with priority at places like hotels and restaurants."

And the dangers?

"After a while, you get kind of used to it," he says. "So we try to keep each other in check, which we've been really good about so far. I don't think anyone has done anything that could be labeled prima donna-ish."

Any slips of "Don't you know who I am?"

Carmichael laughs. "Absolutely not," he says. "We prefer 'Don't you know who I think I am?' "

He leaves to greet relatives who've come to see him, so I go to track down the newest band member, Valentine, 26. He lives up to Carmichael's wholesome description, sharing with me details of growing up in Nebraska, including how difficult it was to hear live music from big-name acts in Lincoln, his hometown: "Nebraska is off the touring path of most bands. Growing up, we'd have to drive to Chicago or Denver or Kansas City."

He also gives me my final insight into the glue that holds this band of chosen brothers together: video games. It seems they've rigged one of the two flat-screen TVs on their bus to play about 1,500 games. "We mainly play 'Halo,' which basically is a way for us to take our aggressions out on each other. The object of the game is to kill one another." Who's top dog? Valentine pauses. "Although it seriously hurts me deeply, currently Adam is the best. I hate to have to say that," he says, flashing a grin. "But I think I'm gonna come around in the next tourney."