Maroon 5 “Hands All Over” Concert Press Conference In Singapore
25th April 2011
It was imaginary hands and definitely eyes all over the 5 tall lads striding into the press conference room – James Valentine, Jesse Carmichael, Michael Madden, Matt Flynn, and especially so the case for frontman Adam Levine, noticeably the most recognizable and popular member of the collective named Maroon 5.
Maroon 5 began as Kara’s Flowers in 1994 and changed to their current official band name with the inclusion of guitarist James Valentine. Ryan Dusick, the original drummer, left the band in 2006 and was replaced with Matt Flynn on the drums. Together they had garnered worldwide attention and international fame with three studio releases: Songs About Jane, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long and their latest 2010 offering, Hands All Over; with hit songs such as This Love, She Will Be Loved, Makes Me Wonder and Misery.
This is the second time the lads are in Singapore, having previously been here on March 25 in 2008. This will also be their second stop in the Asian leg of their world tour after performing in Bangkok, Thailand on April 23.
Throughout the press conference, Maroon 5 gave off a spunky and joking vibe into the otherwise lacklustre atmosphere, despite the enthusiasm displayed with the presence of the band in the room. Hosted by 987FM DJs Divian & Jacqui (with 987FM being one of the media partners for the concert), it began with an initial warm-up interaction with the band to teach them a thing or two about Singlish, with terms like “shiok” (expressing enjoyable pleasure) and “xiao cha bo” (mad, crazy girls/women).
Adam definitely has the dynamic charisma and presence in the band, providing the most entertaining answers to questions raised from the press seated below, with replies such as “you mean ruining our music?”, which he replied jokingly about singing competition American Idol using some of their songs; and “I’m not sure… I like to mess with people’s minds” when asked about his previous comments on the band reaching its peak and the possibility of them making one more album before disbanding. He also described his and the band’s experience in working for 24 hours to create a song, in part of a campaign brought up by Coca Cola, as “maybe you will see unicorns”, on staying up awake for 24 hours. He was also particularly cheeky and keen on showing to us his proclaimed unicorn tattoo on his butt cheeks, though in actual fact he did not and withdrew himself. Whether there is a unicorn tattoo will remain a mystery to most, unfortunately. What I particularly like was that other members also got a chance to interact and respond to the questions, and not let it all be a one-man show.
My question for Maroon 5 during the 15-minutes Q&A session was: “Touring is a big part of Maroon 5, and you guys had been on tour with many other musicians and artistes. Can the band give us 5 learning experiences you had picked up while touring around the world?” Adam Levine’s rather simple 5 pointers are: “1. Sleep, 2. Eat Food, 3. Drink, 4. Dance, and 5. Have fun!” Not particularly the answers I was looking for, and was hoping that he would elaborate more, but I will settle with anything; after all, this is Maroon 5, answering a question of my very own.
For those who managed to go for the concert later on that night, I hope you guys had ample fun and music madness!
(Thank you to Universal Music for making this possible.)
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