By: Violetta Holl, Marilyn.ca

Maroon 5’s Adam Levin and Jesse Carmichael are all similes as Marilyn starts the interview. This is their first time in Barbados and the pair says, “How could we not be doing well. Look at where we are!” Carmichael even has a flower in his hair. 

 

Today, the main topic up for discussion is the band’s new album, “ Hands All Over” and more specifically the album’s producer Mutt Lange. 

 

Lange is a legend in the industry having produced albums for Bryan Adams, AC/DC, Nickelback and one of Levine and Carmichael’s favourites, Def Leppard. 

 

The men of Maroon 5 see Lange as a mysterious man, and thus when he asked them to work on the album, they had to say yes just to see what could happen.  “It was a unique idea for him to descend from Switzerland and desire to work with us. We went for it, took the risk and it was really fun,” Levine explains.  “While we were making this album I would find myself thinking, ‘O.K. we’re making this record, but Mutt’s made huge records, that means I have to play like this is a huge record.’ It kind of changed my whole feeling about how I was playing music. It made it a little more special,” adds Jesse. 

 

Lange’s work has always motivated Levine and Carmichael. For Levine lip-synching to Def Leppard’s songs gave him confidence when he was a shy child. Carmichael who met Levine in seventh grade reveals he wanted to become a musician from a young age and began his training with classical piano. 

 

In high school the two of them thought there was nothing more amazing than seeing their favourite bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam play.  They wanted to be like the musicians they idolized. 

 

‘If you can do that you’re the coolest person on Earth,” says Levine. “We had tunnel vision from then on.”