The first time Adam Levine performed at a Los Angeles venue, he was thirteen years old. He borrowed a Flying V guitar and got a ride from his mom to the Troubadour club. But his debut was on April 29th, 1992, the night of the L.A. riots -- which meant that mobs were running wild in the streets and trying to tip over his parents' car. "It was the most rock & roll I've been in my life," Levine says wistfully.

Eleven years later, Levine is the lead singer of Maroon5, a quintet composed of basically the same bunch of friends he's always played with. (After a decade together, the band argues about everything; for example, it has spent the last six months in a heated internal debate about how credible Justin Timberlake would be without the Neptunes' production.) Levine and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael bonded in high school over their Pearl Jam obsession -- both had bedroom shrines to Vedder and Co. But although they spent the Nineties trying to replicate the Seattle sound, Levine in recent years discovered that there was more to Stevie Wonder than "I Just Called to Say I Love You" -- and that his own voice was better suited to soulful crooning than to rock growling. Maroon5 are now an appealing blend of rock and R&B balladry; their single "Harder to Breathe" is a grinding funk song. The band hasn't yet achieved the Prince-fronting-Led Zeppelin sound it strives for, but it's not too shabby to evoke Maxwell leading the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Maroon5's debut album is accurately titled Songs About Jane -- Jane being the name of Levine's ex-girlfriend. Levine strongly believes that he needs suffering and conflict to fuel his creative process. "Can you make me look like an arrogant prick in this article?" he asks politely. "Then I can get introverted and lock myself in my hotel room and write songs about how I've ruined our career."

GAVIN EDWARDS
(October 7, 2003)