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Maroon 5 Tricks, Treats Their Way To The Top

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By CURTIS ROSS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 3, 2008

Kara's Flowers might have been just another '90s alternative rock also-ran. Instead, it changed its name and sound and became Maroon 5, one of the biggest bands of the new century.

The band's first album, "Songs About Jane," was a massive hit, thanks to some sexed-up videos and a sound that owed more to new jack swing than new wave. The band's second album, "It Won't Be Soon Before Long," was released last year. The band performs tonight at Ford Amphitheatre with Counting Crows and Augustana.

The 5's guitarist, James Valentine, recently spoke to The Tribune/TBO Extra about why fans need to see the band live, the challenges of following up a hit album and, most importantly, on-tour pranks.

Q. Has Maroon 5 pranked tour co-headliners Counting Crows yet?

A. We haven't pranked the Crows yet. We did some pranks with Sara Bareilles and her band (the opening act on the tour's first leg), but it wasn't our best. We just brought out mountains of flowers and placed them around her.

When OneRepublic opened for us in Australia, we flashed a message on the video screen while they were playing telling the crowd to turn around and put their backs to the stage. The hives (another opening act) had a part on their set where they froze and held a pose for a minute. We ran on stage and silly-stringed them.

For The Donnas, we hired two male strippers who dressed as policemen and came backstage to arrest them. They thought they were getting busted and they got a booty dance!

Q. What was the band's mindset going in to record what became "It Won't Be Soon Before Long"? You had to follow up a best-selling album, "Songs About Jane."

A. It was more tense than we acknowledged at the time. There was a lot of pressure to prove ourselves, to show the world we belonged here. We all had different ideas and it came out somewhere in the middle.

Mostly it was about finding a balance between the live sound versus studio trickery, which we're not shy about using.

Q. There's that much of a difference between Maroon 5 live and in the studio?

A. Yes. I really hope people come to check out the live show. They seem pleasantly surprised to se us play live. They don't really expect to see the spectacle of a rock show that it is.

Curtis Ross can be reached at (813) 259-7568 or cross@tampatrib.com

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