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Maroon 5 keyboardist shares insight on band’s direction

Written by Kegan Sandoval, The Shorthorn senior staff

Wednesday, 18 November 2009 04:35 PM

When and Where

When: 8:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Texas Hall

This year’s choices for the fall concert included some big names, but it was the dynamics of Maroon 5 that landed them the spot on stage Friday night, said Michael Taddesse, university events assistant director.

EXCEL Campus Activities, who co-sponser the event, chose Maroon 5 because of its broad audience appeal, he said.

“Our students really feel that Maroon 5 is a multi-dimensional group that really appeals to a huge section of our campus,” he said. “I think the fact that we sold out 2,600 seats in less than 2.5 weeks is a testament to that sentiment.”

Education junior Morgan Reid snatched a ticket before the show sold out. Her boyfriend is coming from out of town for her sorority’s formal, so they decided to get tickets and make it a fun-filled weekend.

Reid heard about the concert from a Facebook event and bought the tickets the day they went on sale. She’s never seen Maroon 5 live.

“I don’t have their latest CD,” Reid said, “But I know most of their songs, so it should be good.”

She hopes that they play more of the new songs.

While Reid works on learning songs from Maroon 5’s latest CD, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, the band works on producing its fourth album.

The new album, which doesn’t have a release date or a title, has the band excited about the direction of their music, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael said. Maroon 5 combined the best elements from the previous two albums and infuses new aspects, he said.

“It’s the best stuff we’ve ever recorded,” he said. “It’s going to be a great album and people are going to like it.”

Carmichael said the sound is more organic. He said lead singer Adam Levine’s writing is branching the band into new directions.

Reid said she enjoys the band’s music because it isn’t the normal, mainstream, on-the-radio group.

For Carmichael, the band’s ever-changing sound brings in new listeners and excites the die-hard fans.

“The people that already love us are going to love [the album],” he said. “People who are on the fence about us are going to start liking us, and people who hate us are going to be on the fence about us.”

Carmichael, Levine and bassist Michael Madden have seen the band’s music evolve from the time they were in high school, under the name Kara’s Flowers, Carmichael said. One week they were imitating The Beatles, the next week it was Green Day and then Oasis.

Stepping outside their norm, they explored rhythm and blues, jazz and hip-hop, he said.

“That music influenced how Adam was singing,” Carmichael said. “He found his voice. He found what sounded most natural to him, and it didn’t seem like an imitation.”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 28 January 2010 01:43 PM )

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