Times Herald-Record reporter Adam Bosch interviewed James Valentine and Jesse Carmichael, the lead guitarist and keyboardist for the rock band Maroon 5, as they left New York City on Thursday and headed toward their next show in Holmdel, N.J.

 

Maroon 5 will be performing—along with the Counting Crows and Sarah Bareilles—on Aug. 13 at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. Here’s what the guys had to say about Woodstock, the Internet, and the future of their band.

 

THR: You guys are going to be playing up here at the original site of Woodstock. I don’t know if that held any special meaning for you guys, or if you were particular fans of anybody who played at Woodstock.

James Valentine: To be honest I did not know that it was on that site, so that’s cool. That will be interesting to check out and see if it has any of that energy. Certainly, we’ve spent a lot of time watching when that most recent DVD came out of all those performances. We spent a lot of time watching that. Of course, for me, Hendrix is pretty huge.

 

THR: Do you guys have any other history in terms of performances in the Catskills or Hudson Valley?

Valentine: Jesse (Carmichael) and Adam (lead singer Adam Levine) went to this performing arts camp up there called French Woods for a bunch of summers. They tell stories all the time about how they spent the whole summer just playing music, and all the other things you do as a teenager at sleep-away camp. It was an important part in their musical development.

 

THR: How did you guys end up co-headlining with the Counting Crows?

Valentine: We were walking down a dark ally one night and we got involved in a street brawl with Adam Duritz (lead singer of the Counting Crows) and company, but at one point we stopped and said, “Guys, hold on. We don’t need to do this. Let’s go on tour together.” (Valentine laughs.) We did a tour where we were the first of three for Counting Crows and John Mayer. That was a couple years ago. So we knew the guys and we were trying to come up with ideas, we were brainstorming a lot of ideas, about what to do this summer. Their names came up and it worked out.

 

THR: The other act that is actually going to be playing the day after you guys is the Jonas Brothers. One thing I was curious about is, being inside the music industry as adults, what do you think of some of the biggest acts now are Disney Channel kids who are coming up and singing music and catching these throngs of rabid fans?

Valentine: A lot of mixed feelings, but mostly intense jealousy. It’s really interesting because this is always happening within the teen pop machinery that’s always going on. There’s always new acts to do it, so I don’t think it’s really a new phenomenon, it just takes different shapes. It’s great because it gets kids into music. Of course I’d love for all those kids to be listening to Pavement and Bright Eyes, but you know it’s interesting to see how these kids grow up. Maybe Nick Jonas is the next Brian Wilson. Apparently, he writes all the songs.

 

THR: One thing that I’ve heard Adam Duritz talk about—and I’m sure you’re talking about it too, everybody is the music industry is talking about it—is the Internet. I just wanted to see, what do you guys think about the internet? Are you more and more kind of strategizing ways to get your music out there using this incredible tool?

Valentine: We’ve benefited greatly from all that stuff. The timing of our first record was really around the time, in the early 2000s, when I think people really started getting into getting music off their computers. I just remember when we were on tour, touring these colleges, we definitely hadn’t sold many records, but all the kids in the crowd knew the words to songs. They were swapping our songs around and that’s how it spread for us initially, so that was great. And you know, iTunes has been a really big part of what we do.

 

THR: Is there a question that no reporter has asked you that you’ve wanted to be asked? Is there anything that someone hasn’t asked that you’ve been hoping someone would, and hoping maybe to answer?

Valentine: Yes, that question exactly. It is funny and hard, sometimes when you’re answering the same questions, not to slip into the same robot-like response.

 

Jesse Carmichael: If a reporter said to us, “What do you think an individual person can do to try to make the world a better place?” that would be an interesting question to think about. I like the idea of people trying to think about something like that and maybe coming up with an answer.

 

THR: Do you have an answer?

Carmichael: Well, I think that especially right now we have an interesting time we’re living in, where we can communicate with people all around the world on the Internet. I think that if people start taking into account more people than themselves, and their small community, that can be a starting point.

 

THR: What’s next for you guys? Are you working on a new album or anything like that?

Carmichael: I think we’re going to put some work into making a remix album, where every song (on our most recent album) will get a treatment by some other kind of artist, maybe a hip hop artist or a rock band. Something unique; just a new take on all those songs. We have some exotic touring coming during the rest of the year—South America, Russia, Africa, Dubai.

 

THR: Maybe you’ll get influences from those places that you never would have thought of, right?

 

Carmichael: Absolutely, we’ll definitely be influenced by each of those places.

 

THR: Do you have any surprises that you might pull out of the hat for people when you come up here to Bethel Woods?

 

Carmichael: There’s some new stuff in this show that people have not seen before, so I’m excited for people to check it out. It sounds better than ever.

 

THR: Give me a hint.

Carmichael: One surprise will have to do with something dangerous. You could lose your eyesight.

 

THR: Is this going to be a Gallagher thing, where you’ll start squashing water melons or something?

Carmichael: Yes: Waterproof, flame retardant, eye protection, helmets, ear plugs and full-body restraints.

 

THR: That sounds terrific.

 

Audio: Interview with Maroon 5

 

 

Source: recordonline.com

oh such a long text, i will read it tomorrow :kink:

 

:o

I don't think they need to be jealous of The Jonas Brothers. :puke2: I'm not sure about a remix album, either..that could either be really good or really disasterous.

I'm also sceptic about that remix album but who knows if they mix some other music styles it could be good :teresa: