August 27, 2007

I just read this article in Rolling Stone (because I signed up for a four issue free trial at Best Buy some time in March or April and forgot what the necessary steps were to cancel before they assumed that I wanted to purchase a year’s subscription. I suppose I could have made a phone call or something but I figured it was only about $20 and they occasionally have some good pieces so it’s not that big of a deal. In hind sight I really wish I had that $20 in my checking account right now) about Maroon 5. The article focuses mostly on three things: Adam Levine’s charming display of “Lead Singer Disease”, the dynamic between the five band members – four of whom grew up together, and the overall history of the band; which apparently started out as Kara’s Flowers in the mid 90’s. As I was reading, it didn’t take long before I realized that the name Maroon 5 and pictures of the band could have easily been taken out and replaced with the name The Pencey Affair and pictures of us. That is, until you get to the point where they write a smash hit album that sells 10 million copies world wide.

The first paragraph talks about how they argue a lot but not just about music. The writer specifies that they don’t argue about everything, but that they argue about anything.

*About a week or two ago Jared and I were in “A Caged Classroom” trying to write new material when we engaged in a ten to fifteen minute dispute about the placement of a C Chord; a dispute that ended in me refusing to continue work on the song and Jared referring to me as a disgruntled kindergartener. Within that same week I witnessed Jared and Ty debate on whether or not Jared should switch cell phone company’s when his contract is up in order to have the latest updates in Blackberry technology, which then lead to an argument about which of the new features were most important or relevant; which only served as a segue into an argument about why T-Mobile doesn’t need to have any exclusivity contracts on new Blackberries. Only a few days after that Ty, Jared and I waged a three day heated quarrel (which wouldn’t have been nearly as long or as heated if I wasn’t 100% sure that I was right) on whether or not I was in attendance on the night of an infamous incident among our circle of friends (I was not).*

The article then goes on to chronicle Levine’s obnoxious yet excusable personality; excusable because of the fact that he was clearly born to be the lead singer of a band. As was my good friend Jared Roebuck, who’s behavior is also obnoxious yet excusable (though we who love him do not allow him to be held unaccountable). I don’t think Jared would disagree with any comments I or anyone else who knows him well, would make about his personality quirks because he is well aware of them. But at the same time he doesn’t realize them when he’s doing it. For example: sometimes we’ll be watching television in his living room and Jared will come from the kitchen, pick up the remote and turn the channel. And when you look at him like “What the fuck?” he will look at you the same way Liev Schreiber looked at the security guards who hemmed him up when he assaulted Neve Campbell in the campus library in Scream 2 – “What? I can’t do this?” and he will be genuine and sincere. When in the moment, he really doesn’t see why what he’s doing is just absurd. When Levine is questioned about a bet he made with guitarist James Valentine that he lost and never paid up for, he says “In my twisted mind I am always right.”. While this quote did immediately make me think of Jared, the next thought that came to mind was, “Yeah but, me too.” So just consider if you will, what some of the practices of a band with two people who feel that they are always right must be like.

Words used to describe the rest of the band go as follows: keyboardist Jesse Carmichael – “exudes calm”. Immediately I think – Ty. When we’re writing new stuff and Jared asks Ty what he thinks or if he “has his part” Ty will almost always nod or shrug; no words spoken (I think Jared even wrote a blog about this once). If Jared and I delve into a 30 minute head butting match (in which words may or may not be spoken), Ty will either stretch out on the floor and take a nap or quietly pack his drums up and leave.

Bassist Mickey Madden is referred to as “the band’s aesthete”. He is said to have purchased a $5000 monograph by Italian graphic designer Franco Maria Ricci and is scarcely quoted or mentioned in the article. To me, this screams “Jason”. Jason is known to spend obscene amounts of money on fine pieces of clothing that to our knowledge he has never worn. And the clothes that he does choose to privy the public to, get complemented on quite frequently. I think if someone were to write an article on The Pencey Affair, Jason would probably be the least quoted as Jason seldom speaks, although he writes prose pieces that are absolutely fucking mind blowing. In practice Jason will often take his guitar and amp and sit off to the side doing whatever it is that Jason does, while the rest of us spend hours fleshing out a song. Then at the end of the process, which sometimes take days, he will come in and play his parts to the entire song.

The band’s current drummer is a replacement for founding member Ryan Dusick, who left the group for medical reasons. Levine is quoted as saying “I love Matt Flynn, but the bottom line is I wanted to do this with Ryan.” I think this is the way we all would have felt had we found someone to replace Ty when he left the band several months ago. We claimed to have been on the hunt for a new drummer but I think honestly we were just holding out hope that Ty would find his way back because I’m sure I don’t only speak for myself when I say that without Ty it would have never been “exactly what I wanted”.

After making all of these observations I am left to wonder three things:

1) Where is the stubborn one in the band who refuses to play anything he doesn’t like and demands nothing but excellence, whom I can compare to myself?

2) Do all of these commonalities between The Pencey Affair and Maroon 5 mean that we will make a wildly successful first album and then completely change our sound on the second one, thus alienating many fans, including the ones who already had a hard time admitting to people that they really enjoyed most of the tracks on the first album (me). Or do a lot of other bands who were friends before they started making music together interact with each other this way?

3) And finally, does it take certain personality types to be able to come together to make music – which entails spending long hours in an enclosed space concentrating on one specific thing, and then manage to go out into the world and spend most of their time with each other without ever resorting to violence?

I am posing this question to any and all that are willing to answer.