Adam Levine (Rerun)

Hey, what's up? I'm Joel Madden and this is Artist Friendly. On this episode, I'm talking with the lead vocalist and guitarist and founder of the Grammy Award-winning multi-platinum band Maroon 5, Adam Levine. Let's go. Welcome to the show. Rancid. I got grounded when I was in like 11th grade. Or no, 10th grade for having a party at my house. And I had rancid tickets for the whiskey. That was like OG rancid days at the whiskey? Yeah, it was like, I remember I got grounded for the whole summer. Did they stick with it? The whole summer you were grounded? Yeah, they said if I like, I had to go work for my dad, fucking torture. And I couldn't go to rancid, which was the day school got out, was rancid at the whiskey. They grounded me all summer. I mean, I couldn't do shit all summer. And they stuck to it? And they stuck to it. And they said, if you don't fuck up all summer and you get you're grounded all summer and you work for your dad all summer, I had no social life, couldn't do anything. I was probably like 16, which was like, it was horrible. That's like key prime, just got your wings flying around, you're going to concerts, you're going to parties. I see when my kids are like teenagers in that. That's the age. They're like that age now. Yeah. That's crazy, by the way. Yeah. But I remember like, I was the worst summer ever. And I was like, yeah, those summers are super important because you're like, yeah, like those are formative. Four or five summers as a teenager. I couldn't go out at all. But I remember I had had tickets for rancid and I couldn't go and like, apparently it was was it was was the party like worth it? No, is it a ranger? No, of course it wasn't worth it. Like it's never worth it. And then losing your summer is worth no part one single party. I got in more trouble too than I would have gotten into because I got so I was not good in school. Now there was I take that for what it is. Yeah, just horrible. So I had to go to this tutor and I had this crazy tutor that was like, two or a bunch of fucked up, you know, kids that weren't doing old school like me. Fuck ups. All the fuck ups got in one room. It was one tutor and we're worried about you, Adam. Yeah, yeah, it was bad. And I was going to throw a party and a kid at the tutor was talking about the party I was going to throw and my mom was right there. So she's like, you talking about Adam Levine's house and he's like, yeah, it's going to be crazy. I'm like, good snow. So she knew. So she found out about the party before I threw the party and I'm like, fuck. And so then I threw the party anyway, which was so lame of me and like even more of a betrayal of my parents. And so I got totally my summer was gone. Do you think that growing up in LA, I always think about this because I feel like we're from Maryland or from this real small place in the country. And there was plenty of that too. Every teenager is trying to have a party. They're trying to go be around each other. And like, that's the age. But do you feel like growing up in LA, you're up against like, I don't know, like too much access versus also just like, I feel like you could get up to some crazy shit here as a teenager. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Like I only had that experience. So like, I don't, I can't really compare it to anything else, but LA was definitely a crazy place to grow up. It's crazy. Like you're right. Access is a big thing. It's a big melting pot of stuff. Yeah. I mean, but then to a certain degree, like, yes, there's a lot of shit to get into. And I'm sure. But then again, you know, whether it's like Maryland or LA, like you're still teenage fucking angst and shit and trouble is everywhere. So you can get into trouble anywhere at any point when you're a teenager. But don't you feel like, yeah, don't you feel like the opportunity to get fucked up here in some in so many different ways? Sure. Like you could have been a different story than the success story of a guy who went into the world and built a life, right? In my mind, you're this guy who's we're around the same age. I think our generation is a different generation. We've had to bridge the gap between analog and digital. And so we've had to navigate all that. It's fucking weird. But also we're trying to build families. We're actually family guys. We're trying to build families. You're up against enough as it is building a family period. But also we have the careers we have. But then I think, okay, put all that aside, that's the picture of somebody who's succeeded at what they're trying to do against the odds of making it in music or making it in marriage or making it in life period. It's hard for everyone to grow up in LA where there's access to all kinds of trouble. There's access to all. You also have outside forces leaning in where like you could have been influenced this way or that way. You have to navigate all that as a person. You could be a different story. You could be addicted to drugs. Sure. You could be I bet I'm sorry to ramble on but I bet I think about it and I go I bet growing up in LA you knew people who fucking died. Absolutely. I knew people who died and people who had and came out the other end of serious drug problems too. I think parenting and having a good family unit comes into play for sure. And you feel like you had like parents. Yeah, good parents. I had parents that gave me shit. They were telling me, hey, these things are bad. These things, stay away from these things and just very basic but mostly just being involved and teaching me about the shit that I could get into that would be bad and caring and giving a shit was number one. But yes, I think in a nutshell if we're painting in broad strokes for sure there's more shit to get into in LA. I think that's one of the reasons why we got out of LA with my family. My young growing family was that we wanted to avoid it well and then we have well it's more complicated because of the whole fame fucking monster and all that. We didn't want to be that also here. But yeah, it's tricky. LA's really tricky. There's a lot to get into. And it's funny too because when you say that fame thing, we're in the same boat. We chose jobs and we love what we do, right? We chose these jobs. And when you're in the bubble of like, I understand everyone listening could say, easy for you to say or well you chose it. I totally get it. I live in the real world. But we do actually care about what we do. We care about the art we make. I care about everything that I do from this show to the TV show I do to the music I make to the community of artists I interact with. I actually care. The fame is a byproduct of when things go well, people recognize and look at you. And then all the bullshit that comes with that is what you have to almost like manage as a stressor without complaining because everyone will just fucking tear you apart. Because I understand the real life struggle of people out there working maybe jobs they don't like. Of course. And by the way, when I say the fame thing, I'm only saying getting out of LA and moving my family was more just like, we just didn't want that to be another thing. Yes. Was going to be kind of gasoline on the fire, which LA, for better or worse, caters to supports, bolsters that those people. But no, you're right. Like we grew up in a time when like you had to do something to have the fame came after the thing. Right? Yeah. Like and so it's a hollow thing. Like I don't care anybody says like it is like there's there's nothing that is meaningful, particularly meaningful about it. It's just a byproduct. It is the byproduct of something that you do, which by the way, the thing that you do, like you said, you're passionate about what you do. That's what that's the important part. That's how I see you. That's the impression I've always gotten and then getting to know you. Obviously, I didn't even know where to start here, but our connecting factors bench. You and Ben are very close. Yeah. And so I've gotten to know you in person, but I've also gotten to know you through my brother because we are so close. So I love your brother who I love so much. He's the best. It's a fucking bet. I mean, you know, and he chooses people really well. He's got a real raw sense of people and he doesn't give a fuck about what anyone does or who they are. He finds people and he chooses people well and he loves you and he believes in you. Right? And so I got a I've gotten to know you through Ben's, but I also always had the impression like us like we're serious about the thing we do, whether it whoever likes it, whoever, whatever, we care about the work we do. And then all the bullshit that comes with it, some of it's good, some of it's bad, some of it's this, some of it's that. We're not like, whoa, is me guys. We're just navigating life with what we hope is being authentic to who we are, the good, the bad, whatever. And so like we make decisions like moving our families out of the LA bubble to hopefully a place where they can have some normality away from the fame thing, but they're still touched by it. Like they go, of course, you can't avoid it. It's part of your life. You have to explain it to your kid eventually that that question comes up and all that. And that you're just like, okay, you know, and then they have their own relationship with it and their own perspective on it and they'll make sense of it with as little damage as possible. And also that you have to just keep saying that the things, you know, the things that you need to say like and by the way, when I was growing up, the one good thing I'll say about like a front row seat, sure, I was in it, you know, and I wasn't, I didn't come necessarily from that, but I would see it everywhere, you know, and it's funny, like my parents would always say the greatest thing they ever did for me. And one of the great things I do think about growing up having grown up in LA, at least that LA was these people are just people. They pee and poo just like you and me. Like, they're fucking just people and some of them are assholes and some of them are cool and like, but they're just fucking human beings. And so growing up with that constantly being put into my head was like, okay, cool. So it didn't make me think that it was like, just special at face value, which it's not. It's like, there's this premium that's put on it just because it's what it is just because, Hey, I want to be famous when I grow up. Well, in my house, you have to have a fucking reason. That's, yeah, you got to have a quick you want to be and hopefully it's a good one. You want to be, you want to be well known for doing something. Exactly. And you want to, if you want to be like, that's why I tell my kids, if you want to be known in this world, you got to be known for a reason and it's got to be a good one. Yeah. Helping people make an art, whatever, whatever the fuck it is, anything under the sun that is a positive has a positive impact on people. That to me is like, okay, if it warrants that other thing, that byproduct that you're talking about, that's, that's the most important thing. And be careful with how you judge any sensationalized thing, good or bad. If everybody's joining in and you know, we see it every day. Yeah. Everybody's stoning someone to death or they're bigging up them for something and you see both sides. Well, my first advice would be be a fucking marine biologist. You know, my kid with the, my kid the other day was like, I want to be a marine biologist. And I'm like, please fucking God, please become that. Yes. Like, because you don't want this shit. So, you know, like, like, that's what I'm saying. It's like, if you have to make art, but if you have to do this and you want recognition for this, remember this other thing will be a, maybe potentially be a part of that. Yeah. You know, and if so, it's complicated. The other perspective I have on, on LA, because I love LA, I've been here for 24 years, 23 years, whatever. This place gave me a family. It gave me a life. It's, it gave me a career. It gave me so much. I married someone that was raised in LA. And I get that perspective as well. So very similar to you, like she, but she grew up with like a fucking legendary singer dad and she had a different seat, right? But you're both looking at the same world from different perspectives. Sure. Right. So what I took away from it was if this place doesn't kill you, it makes you resistant and resilient to fame, money, all of it. You've seen it all. You've seen people go up. You see people go down. You've seen, you've seen people get taken out. You've seen people go through all of it. And on the other side of it, you're these real people with actually a really good perspective on like what's valuable. It's the gauntlet. It puts you through kind of somewhat of a gauntlet. And I feel like you're right. If you survive it, then you are pretty dynamic as a person. Yeah. You can, you can, like you said, you can withstand a lot and some people don't. Yeah. So it's like, it's a meat grinder of sorts. And it is. And on the other side, you are a more resilient person. But also I think there's something about value. I think another thing about like us, you have an incredible wife. I have an incredible wife. Bench has an incredible wife. There's a through line, right? Our better halves. Yeah. Right. I mean, that's like surviving like the back nine of life. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and having some amazing, an amazing partner in that. But you get to see, you get to meet someone's partner. And it's easy for us to go out to the world and show people a picture of our perfect family. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about people who will go through life with us. And my wife has been incredibly supportive, patient, but she's real. She as much as we're in love, she's also my best friend. She's like my everything partner that has seen me at my best, my worst, all that. When I meet other people's partners, I go, okay, I get it. And that solidifies what I thought about you. Then when I meet your partner, then I see you with my brother and his wife. And I see all the people around. I'm like, Oh, all these people are also just real ass. She's your favorite person. Yeah. Indeed presents. Hires, you can't afford to get wrong. Like warehouse operations manager. Uh, where are the forklifts? I sold them. They were too expensive. I got a great deal on these scooters though. You expect us to move a two ton pallet on a scooter. It'll be fun. Just think of the core strength you'll build. This is a job for sponsored jobs. This is what happens when you don't sponsor your job on Indeed. So the next time you need someone to get the job done right, get matched with quality candidates with an Indeed sponsored job. Visit indeed.com slash next hire and sponsor your job today. Yeah. You know, like that's, that's the real way I know that that sounds simple, but it's your favorite person. Yeah. And I already know that about you. I know that about Benj. Like, and you can kind of get that sense, you know, get that sense from people. And that's important. And look, it ain't fucking perfect for anybody. No. But you got to start there. Yeah. You start with the person in your life that's, that's that person being your favorite. Yeah. And every time I'm around other couples and it's like Benjen Cam hit like 10 years. I don't know. I just know what that takes. And I just like, Yeah, we just hit 10 too. Congratulations. Yeah. 11 now almost. Well, we're at 15 years married, 19 years together. That's fucking awesome. Crazy. We were just talking about this morning, we were having coffee and she was like, how many years is it? And I'm like, it's 19 years. That's like, fuck. That's amazing. We're lucky. When we got married the first time, we were like, this was the most fun night of our lives. We got to do it again in 10 years. And then last year, we did exactly the same thing. Benj was there. Little done fact about you guys. Very good karaoke. Good karaoke. Yeah. I'm karaoke champ. Yeah. Yeah. One of the standouts. I mean, it's kind of lame because I'm a singer, but you know, yeah, but not every singer is good at karaoke. I'm okay. I'm pretty good. I can hang. I kind of, I prefer sometimes I like to rap or something. So it's like, I'm not going to be like that fucking guy. Yeah. Like doing the singing. You know, you're like, yeah, you're good though. It's a good time. Let's talk about maroon five. Let's talk about maroon five. I usually don't do this, but I was like, I want to like actually look at what you've accomplished. Oh shit. You got a stats. You got a stash on me. It's just a little, little let's go. I think you already know all this stuff, but I be shocked because I don't know a lot of it. Okay. So to date maroon five is sold over a hundred million albums and over 750 million singles. Is that good? That's fucking insane, bro. That's fucking insane. Truth be told in fairness before we go on with these amazing statistics. I don't know what that means. Like what does that fucking mean anymore? Like you remember, you used to be like, oh, I have a song on the radio and there's the chart. And then I now I'm not in order to look or what to think of. It means that over, I would say, when did you guys, well, four maroon five. 2002. 2002. So over two decades, right? Almost two and a half decades. Over two decades, you have consistently created music that the world agrees and that people agree is important enough, relevant enough and good enough to still be played and still be heard and still be digested by people. Yeah. It's not easy to do over two decades. That takes hard work, resilience, showing up day in, day out. A career is full of highs and lows. It's full of moments where you go, is this going to work out? And then the order you get, I think you kind of just keep going forward and staying true to like the thing. But a lot of people quit. A lot of people blow it up. A lot of people, it's very hard. So to be able to do, you don't do a hundred million plus albums in a year. You do it over two decades. It's a huge accomplishment. And I think it gets harder and harder to do. So I think when we think of classic artists, not to say it was easy for them, but it feels more and more unattainable for artists to... The system is just so fragmented. I remember it used to be super simple. Back in the day, back in the ancient old times of you put an album out and there would be an album and then that would go into a store and then to mobile. Those days are long gone. But now, even with singles and things, I don't know where to look. I'm like, where do I look? What metric is there really besides honestly what people just decide to download organically, which is great. It's like the music business is like the best and worst state it's ever been. I agree. Yeah. Because the really good things and really bad things. Yeah. Like it's basically now like do people like the music? There's not really a machine that is guiding the taste of anybody, which I love. Maroon 5 has earned RIAA certifications, platinum, gold platinum certifications, multi-platinum, all that in more than 35 countries and charted 32 records on the Billboard Hot 100. On Spotify, 12 songs have reached over a billion streams each. 12 of your songs. That's insane for someone to have one thing. And Maroon 5 hold the record for the most number ones on the Hot 100 this century by a duo or group. Fucking impressive, bro. Damn. Good. Did pretty fucking good. Yeah. Like I said, it gets to a point where it's gone to a point where it's like, when you say that, I'm like, it's abstract. It's abstract. It's hard for me to enjoy those statistics because all I'm thinking of now in 2025 is like, just finished an album. I wonder if that one's going to like work. I understand. I understand. I totally understand what I take. But that's amazing to hear. It's amazing to hear. So why me and Benj like you so much. I was telling him those stats this morning. And we were like, holy shit, dude. The fact that we had to find those stats and read them together and realize it after knowing you is why I like it. It's one of the things I like about you. Yeah. You don't bring all those stats in the room with you. Fuck no. And so I'm saying them to you because maybe I should start. I think, no, I just think it's cool that I think it's cool that we had to look that up. Yeah. As would I. You know, as would I. I know some of it, but like, no, it's crazy. But that's just to be celebrated. Yeah, man. And I'm not good at being, I'm not good at that. Yeah. Which is another problem. Like we all get along for those reasons. Like we're not like about that really. Yeah. When you're wondering when everyone's in the room, they're all in the room together. And that's a really nice thing about hanging out with someone who's very successful. But that also is a person. He's a guy. He's a dude. Of course. He's a dude. Right. But that's what like that's being a kid who grew up in LA in the 90s and who was obsessed with all the same, a lot of the same music you upset. Like being real and being yourself and being your most authentic version of yourself was like kind of that was like the 90s. It was like, you know, and it was great. So that is part of me. That's not going to stop me in the part of me. It's no matter how pop we lean, you know what I mean? Like it's just going to always be that. Yeah. Well, we're pretty pop too. But what does that even mean anymore? But we do it our own way and I like it. Pop music doesn't even, I don't even know what, you know, categories now you see them and they're less and less prevalent music. But my thing was like, I never knew what, where we fit in when we started and like pop music now is like, it's every, it's literally now become everything. I think Good Charlotte and Maroon 5 are similar in that way where we never subscribed to any one genre. We got put in a box sometimes. But at the end of the day, if you listen to our songs that are well known, they're all kind of weird and different. And like they're so all good songs are just good songs. There's no, I can't stand like, and like, like we talked about earlier, like it's being broken down more and more. Like if you look at someone's music library today, like back in the day, it was like, Oh, I'm super into like these bands. This vibe, I'm into pop music. I'm into R&B, hip hop. I'm into metal. I mean, it was so segregated. It was so everything was so separate. And it was like, it was a club and it was a scene and I kind of that was kind of cool. And like those days, but now people have like, our shit, your shit, fucking Britney Spears. It doesn't like it. And like, so everything's all part of the same kind of zeitgeist, which is kind of nice. You know, like good songs are just good songs. That's how I like it. Because I've always wanted to be able to do whatever the fuck I want. Really? Yeah. And like, if everyone was honest with themselves and didn't need to belong to like a thing, they would realize like, you know, like your hard ass friends are like, Oh, fuck that shit. Or I don't like this shit. Yeah. Those motherfuckers like certain shit. Of course. If you press them hard enough, they'll be like, Oh, that's kind of cool. The only listen to like Pantera, you know, but then you're like, kind of like that. I'm really five song. I fucking know you do. They'll be like, Oh, let's go to cool. Like everyone has their breaking point. Yeah. Because I mean, like, I feel like people feel things from, from different music. So well, I think we're in the air of seeing behind the curtain. And everyone is really like, if you're going to go all the way with something, you better be willing to, you know what I had a yesterday on this show, I had Paul Stanley. Nice. Nice. This dude. Nice. This dude. Nice. Never met him. I don't know him. Never met him. But of course, I respect, admire, revere, kiss and what they did. And I don't know. Like I was, I was really excited to sit down with them because I never got to experience kiss in any way and interact with it other than just listening to the music and seeing the branding and going, always thinking like those guys were ahead of their time. They, they, they carved a trail. Best marketers in the history of music. Yeah. Like brand as a band, they had the cartoon, they had all this stuff. And it was a first at the time. Right. I don't think there would be a lady Gaga without kiss. I don't think there would be a lot of things in the world that they contributed to kind of like this idea that you could do these things. Now I get like Bowie is in the same category. There's a bunch of people I would put in the category of trailblazing for like certain reasons, but branding, marketing, all these things and teaching us how to do it. We saw whether we, you grew up a kiss fan or not. I just think I got to sit with this guy who's accomplished this amazing feat. Paul Stanley from Kiss. He was so nice. He's super cool and thoughtful. Kind of tell you a story by him, but you keep on. And he said to me yesterday, he said, we were talking about something and he said, you know what, no secrets is the best way to be. It's the most sustainable way. And I thought about it and I was like, if I'm putting up a front all the time that I'm this tough guy or I'm this or I'm that, I can't sustain that. No, something's going to test me. If I'm, or if I'm the perfect guy, I'm perfect. I got it all figured out. This is how you do this. This podcast is not about like perfection. It's just like, this is me, right? Paul Stanley was sitting there and it clicked for me that like that friend you're talking about that only listens to heavy music or that guy who's just gangster, whatever, like it's unsustainable. It's unsustainable and it's also just not true. Yeah. It's just not fucking true. Like they don't laugh at all. Or they don't like, like a kitten's cute or you never like experienced any joy. You're just like, yeah, it's not possible. Like we're all just little kids who grew up and had to figure out how to live in an adult world and figure shit out and be serious about some things and figure this out. But like I, I, it really hit me yesterday with Paul Stanley. I was like, you're right. You just gotta be yourself. No secrets. Yeah. Paul Stanley was so unbelievably sweet. They played, kissed, did a, they did the voice one, one season. Yeah. Mike came on and performed and I was stoked because it's fucking awesome. I'm watching KISS and like sitting in the chair and be like, this is crazy. And they, I'll never forget this. This was the, this was the sweetest thing. So they, at the end of their thing, they broke their shit. They broke their instruments and they, they tossed a piece out. And I think like it was either Miley or Alicia or Alicia Keyser, one of them got this piece of Paul Stanley's guitar. And I'm like, fuck. I was so, he like went and handed it to her because it broke in and shattered and then like, literally like either walking off and he like handed it. He's like, he want this, like toss it to like, I think it might have been Miley Cyrus. And I was like, that should have been me. I was like, this fucking sucks. I was so like triggered by it. I don't know why I was so mad. I was like, that belongs to me. I really wanted that. I'm actually the one who wanted it. Damn it. I wanted it more than they did. But it was so funny because probably like months later, months later, like this is now, as it should have been way out of my mind. Like I'm not like thinking about this anymore. I see Paul Stanley like I'm with B and we're like at getting coffee or something like at this like, and I see Paul Stanley and I'm like, Hey man, what's up? And he literally was, he's, I'll never forget this. Cause it was like so thoughtful and sweet. He was like, Hey man, like, I know you were bummed. You didn't get that piece of that. I swear to God. I'm pretty clouted. I already find out about it. He's like, I know I could tell you, it's like, it's like, oh man, like you want, you want to have another, you want to, he said something nice, but he alluded to that moment. And I was like, that is so crazy. Right. Like what a nice dude that he even thought to give a shit at all about my dumb, like teenage moment where I was like, yeah, I have to thank you for the voice because I got a gig doing the voice because of you. Really? Absolutely. The voice worked in America. Yeah. And they said, we need a tattooed singer guy to be on our panel. And they called me and like, it was a directly referenced to you. They were like, tattooed singer guy. That's really right. And tattooed lead singer. That's like what they wanted. So they called me and I liked the show. I went and did it in Australia for like six years. It was a great. Yeah. I remember you guys did a long trip. Yeah. But I love Australia. This is awesome. And so I got the gig because of you. That's so funny. I kept the gig because I'm fucking great on TV, but I got it because exactly. It started with me, but then you, you took it. Let us get our foot in the door. Exactly, bro. Problem. Exactly. That show was fun. Yeah. That show is a blast. Yeah. I've had so much fun on that show. What's your latest tattoo? This one took a lot to recover from like, like emotionally. I think it's because we did it's still heavy black. Can I see, can I see? It's like goes all the way up. It's the wrong shirt for to show you a bit. Well, I see why it's painful. It's all the black. So like I just and it's over other tattoos. Yeah. Really hurt, man. For the first time in my life, for the first time in my life, like after this, I was like, I might be done being tattooed. Well, tattooing over scars is, uh, it's painful over 40. Your nerves get work less shop. I used to be so much more. I go into a shop, you know, people place it, you know, be people everywhere and be like, all right, let's go. And then I would grid it out and just like deny the pain and you have your head tattooed, which I'm super jealous of. I want so bad, but yeah, like now I have no tolerance and I'm a total wimp and sucks. It looks badass though. Thank you. It looks great. I'm jealous. And your brother just got an awesome cover up too. Yeah. But covering up that much tattoos on your arm, especially in the ditch there. And also because it's scar tissue, you never know how it's been a like, it also, oh, also, yeah, like, it also took me like, it took me like a couple of months to like actually contact Brian who did the sleeve over under it and be like, because Brian has done most of the work. I love Brian. He's one of my best friends. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, hey man, and he's the chillest, coolest dude ever. But I was like, I, it's been 20 something years, right? He doesn't care. He's cool. Yeah. But I was like, so it's very classy of you actually to tell the guy. I don't know if I would, it took me long enough. Yeah, it's thoughtful. I think I'm going to get some tattoos covered for sure. Because that's just what happens 20 years later. You're like, I want to keep going. Yeah. You know, not that I felt that way about your tattooed, but it's natural, right? You're just, and so, but to be able to have a relationship with someone where you can have an uncomfortable conversation with them, and even if it's, it could be trivial to, trivial to someone else, but this is this guy's work. And like you said, he may not care. It was 20 years ago, but for you to think about his feelings, I think that's important. Actually, a good lesson. Like, I don't think about that because now I'm like, maybe I should, if I'm going to cover a tattoo, should I, it depends on the guy. He only cried for like five minutes. Yeah. And then it was like, pretty cool. Yeah. That arm looks fucking sick. I'll show you the rest of it when I can actually lift my shirt up. Yeah. So the new record, Love is like, how many records is that for you guys? This is our eighth record. Eighth record. Oh, us, we're on the eighth record, too. No shit. Yeah. By the way, congratulations. Thank you. I've made, I've heard a lot of it, not all of it, but Benji sent me some tunes. I love it. I like it. Yeah, man. It's nice. Sounds great, dude. I'm just, I love that you guys are doing it again now too. Like, it's fun to do it together. Had to take some time off. Yeah. Seven or eight years. You're back though. Raise these kids and figure out how to do all this shit, be married and live in the world and be adults and all this shit. We've grown up. But now I feel like we're ready to go back to the music. For Love is like eighth album. What do you feel like you need to get out of a record when you make it now? I think that now it's so funny too. Like one of the greatest things about having moved out of LA was it gave me the ability to like have there be just less noise in general. I mean, when you live in a major city, when you live in LA or anywhere, New York or anywhere, there's buzz, right? You're living amongst millions and millions and millions of people. Yes. Energy all the time. So much energy. And I just was able to like really kind of unplug. And so for me, I was able to start to write again. And that to me now being on our eighth record, and we've kind of experienced every form of writing music with all these different people. And then sometimes it's been just the band and sometimes it's been. So we've done it every way you can do it. And I think this time around, I wanted it to be the most kind of artistic thing that I could accomplish on my own with the band. And with, by the way, great producers and people helping me write songs, but not in the same way that I've been getting the help before. Yeah, just like collaborations that you believe in. Yeah. And also like my rule for this album was the idea for the song, most of the words and all of the melodies more or less give or take a melody here or there has to come from me or the band or someone that's part of our nucleus. Yeah, like it needs to be real, real self expression. Like, yeah, like this was just totally like this, like I wanted to take the brunt or like take I want like when this album comes out, I want it to be on me. Yes, something about this moment in your life and in this, in this endeavor for this record was like, I need to express myself. I need to fucking make something that I get it. I that's how I felt about this record for us too. Yeah, I need to dig in. I don't need to like go and do what I would think would be like the most business savvy. I don't want to go about this business wise. I don't want to go, this person's writing great songs, let's get together in the room with that person. It was more like less on trend and just like, you know what, I'm gonna go out and just make whatever fucking album I want to make. That's dope. And not worry about fitting into any, you know, pop music norm that is currently taking place. Like I got super obsessed with writing his samples. Like I found weird samples and worked on them with our producer Fede, who's awesome dude. Do you know what I think that is? When I listen to you say it, because I feel a similar, I feel like we're in a similar place and it might be our age, it might be where we are in our lives, but also I think like you and even you more than me, but we both have done the other things successfully. We've said there's a time and a place for every part of your career. That's what a career is. Yeah, like these moments. Yeah, you guys better than anyone have. I mean, look at all the features you have in your catalog across the years. It's incredible. You have Kendrick Lamar, you have SZA, you have all these cool crazy across the board, every genre you have features across your catalog. But you also in those features are classic records, classic songs, songs. If we heard, if we went through every fucking maroon five moment, everybody would be bobbing their head going, I forgot this song, this is fucking songs amazing. And so what I'm saying is, is like, if you've already done that, and it's like a full circle thing, right? It's like coming back to the beginning of who am I, what do I have to say? And then you dig in and you make a record. That's how I feel about this record with us too, is like, it's just a different moment. We want to make something that we fucking had to dig in and make. It's back to that artistic standard of here's where I'm going, like, rather than chase and say like, okay, well, what do I have to do to get you to like me? Yeah, you know, hey, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna write this kind of song with these people. It's like, that's fun. That's a fun game to play. Yeah. But this is more just like, I'm gonna do this and hope that you guys like it. It's a cool moment because this is us right now. And that's a cool moment. And it'll be a cool moment. No one's gonna take that away from us, which is nice. It puts almost in a weird way, less of an expectation on it. But the door is open for it to become successful. That's kind of how I feel. I hope people love the music. I think it's the best music we've made in a long time, because it's the most authentic and genuine. You shouldn't put it out if you don't feel that way. I don't know. And I don't think you would have. Exactly. I couldn't. Yeah. There's no, I didn't have the stuff for that. It's on par with where you're at. You move, like, I'm the same place, move my family out of the city, live in a quiet place where we get family time, and I get to sit in life for real and go, who am I? What do I like? What do I think? And shut everything out. And then I come back to work here in the city and everything's still here. Everything's buzzing. Yeah. You can participate if you want. But I think it's like that thoughtful moment where you're getting to decide who you are. And I don't think in our younger years, we've had to learn how to do that, because I don't think we thought we could sometimes. I think we were just keeping up and moving and sticking. It all becomes a blur of like, yes, I would, you know, and you look back right on all the things, and you're like, your mindset had to have been so specifically one way. And I think that changes you get older. I think you don't have the same. Yeah. And it's a real lived life. And then we bring it back to our music and we're like, yeah, this is just where I'm at. And this is where I've rounded out to is like, yeah, I appreciate everything I've done. I love it. I'll never, I fucking love every, every single moment of it. But also, if you went back and looked at everything we did, you could pick it apart too. And like, we were just growing up in front of everybody. And we wanted to land on our feet and be real guys in a real life, doing real shit and be happy. And if you're able to be happy in this life, that's to be the luckiest thing you've ever experienced. I agree. And especially in this crazy fucked up world now. I just think like, if you can exist in your own space and be happy and be yourself against the pressure to participate in all different kinds of bullshit, that's the challenge of now when we talk about how's the music business changed or how's the world changed. It's like, there's so much pressure to participate in all these fucking conversations and all this bullshit where you're like, I don't actually want to. I'm not saying any of your right or wrong or this or that. I just want to be me, whatever that means. Yeah, I mean, it becomes very difficult to navigate all of that. It's like, it's too complicated and there's too much, there's too much at stake and there's too much at play. My name's Paul. Just like, stay away from all of it. Yeah. But I think that where maroon five is now a new record going out on tour, I think you're going to see the band is bigger than it's ever been because it's a generational thing, right? The catalog stands up so that the new music stands up and the show stands up because y'all are real. You guys can play live. So you're a good band. So that's a thing that's kind of weird. It's like, I know no one really talks about live, but you have to be good live to build these days. Yes, to build a touring career for decades. You have to be good live. That's like the number one, you know, you know, I'm sure kids ask you this too, like, what do I do to make it? And I'm trying to do that thing and I'm young and I'm starting out and they're always asking, I always am pretty lost when the people ask that question because I'm sure you are too. You're like, I don't fucking know. It's crazy now. But I always say, be good live. Yeah, right. Good songs. Be good live. AI is coming for everything. Be good live. Because the one thing that AI cannot come for is people will always want to go see other people play music and nothing hits like a band. It's like, you could layer the track. You could do all these things to make something sound bigger. But if you aren't playing together live and putting on a show, you can see it when it's good and you can see it when it's bad. And I think one of the things that me and Nicole were talking about this, we see these new artists, especially in COVID, they haven't played that many live shows. You guys have done thousands. Well, they also, it's so fast now. Like it's like some kid will write a song and put it out and then literally on the internet and all of a sudden this kid is going to be selling out giant places and you get thrown into an arena and he doesn't know how to do an arena because you got to do a club, then a theater, then an amphitheater, then an arena, then you can do a stadium if you do the arenas long enough. Could you imagine being a kid that has a hit song and becomes, okay, now I'm playing in an arena and I skipped all the first 10 steps. Think about this. I always think about shit like this. Think about the panic that that kid is going to feel when they feel like a slapback and they can't hear fucking anything at all in their band is playing or the artists are trying to play and they can't even hear themselves think because remember that feeling of like playing a big building and like, oh, here are some more things to negotiate acoustically. I can't hear like shit like super basic shit like that. Like it's just so much to handle. I know what tells you. You got to build yourself up. No, that's why again, like Maroon 5, Good Charler, Great Examples, start in some fucking friend's basement, then you play a bar, then you play a proper club, and then you play a bigger club, then you play a theater, then you play an amphitheater, then you get to an arena. That process gives you layers, it gives you, it gives you grit, it gives you problem solving skills on stage in real time when this cuts out or this happens or that happens. It's from hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of practice rounds. Ten thousand hours, I think. That's right. And so when you think about Maroon 5 and the decades of work, you bring that with you just like I read all your stats. The reason you can sit on the voice, the reason you can go do the arena tour, the reason you can make whatever the fuck record you want to make now is decades of fucking work. In the world we live in today, no one wants to hear the boring part, the long part, the fucking decades of work part. The actual work part. They just want to talk about right now, everything's turn and burn, and for better or worse, I don't even know if it's good or bad, but at the end of the day, the reason you can sit in this chair and talk to me about music is because you have decades of fucking all the things. It's good, it's bad, it's hits, it's misses, it's shit went wrong, shit went sideways, shit went right, and you kept showing up and the through line for life for me as a guy who's trying to be married, have a career, raise my kids and live a life is oh you just show, you gotta fucking show up and solve the problem at hand, whatever that problem is. Showing up, that's it. I think you hit it right on the head, just show up. Yeah. Because everything will have flaws, everything will be riddled with problems, but show up, and if you show up, it's the absolute best foot to start on, and then the rest of it, who the fuck knows? And then you got some friends you meet along the way and you got a support system that's real. I think that's also necessary for me as I have a really good like support system of people. LA's giving me that by the way, best people in the world. Same for me. I can't knock that. And by the way, as much as it was like we left LA, I like being close to LA. Yeah. I can't divorce myself from my entire history of the human being having grown up here and built the great relationships like you're talking about. And so I do have a lot of love for it. I just think that once I had kids, I'm like, let's get out of here for a little while. Absolutely. This is a town that is really feels like it's like centralized around work and doing things. And getting out of it, I realized like is about family. So my when I go home, it's all about family. I come here to work and I'm not that far. So I have to be close to but what are you the most excited about in your life coming up? What are you getting out of bed for? Like, what are you the most excited about? It's going to sound cliche and it's going to sound untrue because everyone would be like, oh, but getting out of bed for and I think this is like we talk a lot about family today, getting out of bed for family. Yeah, me too. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I think like I only got out of bed for career for like a long time before family, before family existed. Right. And I think when I was 23 years old, I was like, let's fucking make it. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go tour for 40, 20 years. Yeah, let's go. Same. And that got me out of bed because that was my driving force in life and that was my whole motivation at the point. Met Bioti, had a family, all those things changed. So I think that now priority wise, what gets me out of bed is like my excitement and the joy that having my family gives me. That's number one. Yeah. And what's interesting is like it's really, really interesting to have seen the shift in my whole being change of like, okay. So now number two is I probably have to say career, right? And so album, album, career, coming into your podcast today is two, it used to be one, right? So, and I like really think that that is an important and necessary shift that had to take place in my life. So yeah, that's the answer. I feel the exact same way. But I think I had to learn, I think my 40s has been for, I think I started that in my 30s trying, but I had been so career minded and dedicated and also came from poverty and was scared for so long that I'd go back and that took me therapy and everything else, learning how to like stop and be like, okay, I can hold this for a while. I'm not going to be impoverished anymore. Probably needed that probably happened 10 years later than it should have. And so, but that's a good point. That's an important point to bring up when we're talking about this kind of stuff when it comes to balance. Because when you have a family, all of a sudden, your career becomes that much more important because you're provided for your family. You have this thing. So one fuels the other in ways you never could have imagined, right? Like back then, I'm like, okay, cool, we'll be successful. We'll make some money, maybe. Oh, amazing. Wow. So cool for me. Right. But then it becomes like, now you have like, you know, people to provide for. And so that, I think that instinct also drives the other, right? So that is something that you need to adjust to also. Like, well, and I tell my kids every time, I'm like, I'm doing this shit at this point for you guys. Period. Like, pretty much 100%. Period. I don't know if I would be doing it at the level that I'm pursuing it still. If I didn't have a family. Well, you have the ambition, it's driven by something else now. But like the ambition you had when you were younger, for me, it was about me. Sure. Exactly. I wanted it all. I wanted it all. I wanted to see it all. I wanted it. And that's a healthy thing for like a 23 year old. I think ambitious, ambitious. This is fine. This is good. In good taste. Yeah. And then, and in balance of like, I want to experience it all for all these reasons. And if you can find the balance, great. But at the end of the day, what gave me balance was I met my wife. And then I would say the first 10 years of our marriage was me learning how to participate in a functional family. I didn't have a functional family growing up was dysfunctional. And I think that was a big, she's a fucking saint, dude. She put up with me learning the learning curve of like, how to like be the dad I want to be working myself. I'd say my 40s has been where what you're saying is it came all the way to fully develop fully realized family that I'm super proud of. And that's why I when I see other couples out there, especially the first 10 years, I'm like, you're in you're in your growing period and you're in the learning curve. And so I'm like, just hang in there and work together to figure out how this thing functions. And then my 40s has been about like exactly what you're saying, I get out of bed for my family. Yeah, I'm excited about my family. Everything that I do for a job, I choose things I want to do. But I do them for my family. Of course, working to support our family habit. Exactly. And it's less about like, fiscal reasons. It's more just like spiritual reasons of like, I'm going to do this because I want to be that person for my family. It's more symbolic, I think. And also just adjusting to like, I have to say like, the appreciation that I have for what I do now is at a high, the highest level. I get up now, I go to Brazil or Southeast Asia or tour in the States or wherever it is. And I get up there and there's thousands of people there. And I'm like, I think it's also because we've been doing it for so long that now full circle moment of like, I'm like, wow, fuck, this is so amazing that I still get to do this. Like, and these people are here, they're showing up for us to see our band play still after 20 something, three years or something. So my appreciation level, which I also think that the fans really respond and appreciate. Well, the inner they can feel it. They feel that. And maybe there was a moment where they didn't feel it quite as much as they do. Now I'm going there and I'm talking about it the whole time on the mic. I'm like, fuck, this is amazing. You know, because it's so real. Like, I really genuinely appreciate that people still show up to come and see us. A great story like Monsters Inc. stays with you forever. And Disney Class is where you'll find your next great story from the return of the award winning hit series, Rivals. Welcome to the show on television to the unmissable crime drama, High Potential. A lifetime of great stories awaits this spring on Disney Plus 18 plus subscription required. T's and C's apply. It has to be that way though. We have to have those moments in our life because what do you want? Like you can't, it's not a straight line. It's a long winding road of like, I actually think our generation of bands and musicians, I think there's a weird through line like where all the guys like, one, we were raised by bands that like had really bad behavior and bad habits. And it was glamorized and these fantasies were like put in our heads in the 90s, like drugs were cool. Everything was kind of made to seem like it was caring wasn't cool. Caring wasn't cool. And you grew up with this like idea that like all these bad things were good and all these good things were bad. And it's like, don't sell out. Right. It's weird, right? Don't be successful. Don't have success or don't, whatever the messaging word was weird. And I think we're all around the same age because I see other guys and bands that are all actually just trying to have like real lives and do this thing and find the balance of like, what does that mean? And be real people and not be these like weird alien like people that live in these like bubbles and don't interact with the world in a real way. So I think like over the last 20 years, we're this like generation of musicians that have one grown up in front of everybody to want more out of life than just whatever this was sold to us as what this is going to be is like, you're going to be rich and famous. And you're like, what does that mean? And then you kind of get on the other side of it and you go like some of it's good, some of it's bad. That's the nature of life. And now we're in our 40s, we have kids, we have families, amazing wives. I love your wife, by the way, she's amazing. And by the way, also she's a fucking goat. Awesome. We're also just so lucky that we get to have a little bit of all this. Like, I think that it's so hard to balance like things like that and to be able to say that you have these priorities. And like I said, always the best intentions, nothing is perfect, it can't be. But just to have to have all the right priorities in the right order is just mentally the challenge of that, I think, and being able to have success, but also be able to balance it. That's the hardest thing to do. It's like, what would you say over the last 23 years personally, but with Maroon 5? My experience of your band is you guys are having this like solidifying moment. You've always put out music, you've toured. For me, it's always been on brand. I've always been like, but I think it's just you being yourself. That's probably why it's on brand. But I look at it and I go, okay, this is a band that's classic by any standard, but also is in the world right now and not out of touch with the world and engaging in the world, making music, putting on shows. So I look at it and I go, that's someone who's done it really well. And none of us know how to do this shit. We're just like going through career. We just haven't stopped. Right. I think that's probably like, I think at a certain point, you know how this is where you have some success and then it's like, hey, you want to do this? Hey, you want to do this? Maybe you could try this. And you feel like you can do anything. And I think for me, like, and then the TV show, and then like, you know, you experienced it. Oh, I don't want TV all the time. It like, it can take away from that momentum of like, no, but like, the music is what I'm here for. Because I'm music's first. Always. So like, as long as that's what I lead with, it's like, I'm not going to go prior pretending like I'm going to be this or be that. This is all I know. Really. And even the fucking voice, it's music. So that dub I have in a brand, like there's never been a sit down or a conversation about it. It's just like, all I know how to do literally is music. So as long as I just keep doing that, put my head down, focus, that will be what defines me as like, just continue doing this. It's that donely simple. But I think that's that's where I'm at. I'm just saying 23 years as Maroon five, that's exactly kind of what I was what I thought. You know, what's funny too about what I admire most about you guys too is like, you guys are so good at doing other things. Like the way when I come to this office and I see all the things you've done, I know you've worked and signed other artists and done other record label stuff. Like the way in Benji tells me about business that you guys do, which we won't get into, but like, I'm incapable of that. Like, and I think that that's what if anything I would have liked there to be some more, all I can do all I have any confidence in in this world is the fact that like, and sit down and write a song, I can go perform and play. That's it. But like, I don't know, like that is my like you said, that is my brand. Whereas like, you guys were able to do other shit. So I could see how that could be tempting to go and take seven years off and do that. I just am incapable of it. If that makes sense. Yeah, well, I think your empire is more than music. But I think it's all of us being ourselves, right? Because when I see what you've accomplished, it's 10 times or however many multiples, greater than what we have in the music sense of like, how many records have we sold this, this, than that? Not that we could compare. But if I look at the equity, but yeah, if I look at the wall you've built by putting one brick in at a time, it's almost like what we've accomplished in in our businesses is similar. It's the same amount of energy going in because we work the same. We all work all the time. And that is why envy about it is that it's equally impressive to me. I'm actually blown away by that aspect of what you guys do is that like, I just, I think, I think in, I think in establishing what we're talking about for me, which is like, how have I done it? It's basically by sticking to that, that one thing. Yeah. And that's like I said, that's all I know. I've tried to do some of the shit you guys have pulled off super successfully. And I fucking can't do it. It's impossible. But that's only because you kept the music first. And I see it. That's exactly what you hit the nail on my head. When I think about Maroon five, I think music. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Think about it. When I think about Maroon five, I think music. It's a musical. It's a very rich musical brand entity, whatever you want to call it. But when I think about you, I think music. When I think about Maroon five, I think music. Yes. And it's not just it's not any one song. It's not it's not any one genre. It's music. And that to me, you nailed it. You put the music first always. That's kind of the North Star. And with us, we didn't we went and we threw and which one's better? Which one? I think we're all just being ourselves. But that's what I'm saying. Like that's part of my thing. And what part of y'all's thing is what you've done, which is obviously been hugely successful too. So it's not that's why the metrics mean less. It's more about like, Okay, well, what do we build? What do we build? How do we build it? What kind of thing? And so I envy both things. You know, it's pretty cool. It's cool. It's cool to know you. It's cool to know you too, bro. Yeah. I'm excited for the record, man. And the tour. Yeah, man, I can't wait. We shall see. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it, dude. Great. Thank you for listening to Artist Friendly. We really appreciate it. If you liked the show, you can also follow us on Spotify. You can follow us on Instagram at artist.friendly. And you can watch us on YouTube and Veebs. Leave comments. I always read them. See you next time.