In a recent conversation with Yahoo Entertainment, Maroon 5’s original drummer Ryan Dusick admitted that he found some qualities of the frontman Adam Levine ‘frustrating.’
The interviewer asked the musician:
“You say you saw Adam as a diamond in the rough before he became the rock star ‘Adam Levine.’ Can you tell me more about that?”
Dusick replied, sharing his observations about the singer:
“There were lots of qualities that were frustrating about Adam. He was an ADHD guy. He could be flighty, a little self-involved, and those were things that were frustrating to me, the guy who was trying to organize things and being sort of obsessive-compulsive about everything.”
He also highlighted Levine’s ‘special talent’ and personality, saying:
“But he was this very special talent and personality and a very, very charming guy. You liked him immediately if you got to know him, and so that was going to translate to him being the guy onstage that you fall in love with and just can’t take your eyes off of.”
The drummer then recalled the evolution of Levine’s stage presence, explaining:
“But that was also something that evolved over time. I remember even telling him at a certain point, ‘Push yourself, man! Get out there and go, go too far. Try to be Prince!’ And he did it. I mean, he went too far for a couple shows there — he was like humping the mic stand and crawling all over the monitors, overtly sexual stuff, which was not his comfortable space.
But I think by doing that, he got out of his little box and was able to find the sweet spot where he was comfortable being a frontman. He became much more of this cocksure, strutting lead guy.”
Ryan lastly added the following about Adam:
“Watching him from afar now, I’m absolutely impressed by him; I’m proud of him for becoming that. But again, while I see him for the heartthrob that he is, I also still see this acne-faced teenager underneath it all.”
After contributing to the band’s debut album ‘Songs About Jane,’ the musician was fired from Maroon 5 in 2006 due to his mental and physical issues at the time. The band replaced him with Matt Flynn, who has served as the drummer since then.