Aside from the new name (the band was previously KARA’S FLOWERS), the sound has changed considerably on the new record, going from rock to what feels like soul. To what can that leap be attributed?

Jesse Carmichael (keyboards): It was just a very natural progression. It had a lot to do with us listening to a lot of different music while also improving on our instruments and writing a lot.

Then when kind of music were you listening to?

JC: A lot of Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Headhunters era, a lot of Prince, a lot of Michael Jackson and still a lot of the Police, the Beatles, the Who, and Led Zeppelin.

But you don’t sound like The Who or Led Zeppelin!

James Valentine (guitar): It’s in there, but we grew up on pop music, so it’s always going to be a big influence on whatever we do; and whether we’re playing something that’s very heavily R&B influenced or very rock influenced or very jazz influenced, it’ll always have that same melodic sensibility.

I remember when you first announced your change from Kara’s Flowers to Maroon 5, a lot of people were very angry. What do you think about that?

JC: I think it’s nothing to get angry about.

I agree, but some people felt otherwise.

JC: I think it’s natural. I do think it’s a little bit childish, but I think it’s natural. I can relate to the idea of feeling like something that you hold onto so dearly is never going to be the same again. But what happens is if you love the band enough, you’ll go with them wherever they go.

JV: What I think a lot of the people misunderstood, on the internet especially, was that the demo versions of the songs were demos, because reactions to those were fierce. I mean, when you’re making demos, you’re not in the studio and use stuff like drum machines in the place of live drums. A lot of people thought that those were the final versions, but they were never intended to be released.

Who have you been playing with?

Ryan Dusick (drums): We went on tour with Michelle Branch, which was a lot of fun. She’s a really sweet girl, and we made a lot of new fans that I think have become pretty committed to us.

JC: Michelle is interesting because she still writes her own songs and plays guitar, but we even played shows with LFO, and those experiences were positive all around. It was amazing to be literally exposing some of these people to live music played by a band for the first time in their lives.