Sitting in with Maroon 5

BUENA PARK, CA (September 24, 2004) — Non-stop touring can take its toll, physically as well as mentally – just ask Ryan Dusick, currently taking some time off from his gig with chart-toppers Maroon 5 to recover from tendonitis. "I have a nerve that's trapped in my shoulder from playing the drums so much, and it took its toll on me," he explained in a recent MTV interview. "We've been on the road for three years straight, so it's just one of those things where your body just gives out and says you've got to take a break. So that's what I'm doing."

Enter Yamaha drum artist Matt Flynn, who has stepped up to the skins while Dusick recovers. Flynn, who has also been the rhythm behind Gavin DeGraw and the B52s, joins full-time Maroon 5 band members Adam Levine, James Valentine, Jesse Carmichael and Mickey Madden, playing an Absolute Maple Nouveau in Apple Sparkle Fade finish.

"I play Yamaha drums because they are reliable and sound amazing live and in the studio," says Flynn. "They just simply sound the best. When I first sat down behind a Yamaha kit, I remember saying, 'they sound as great as they look.'"

Maroon 5's Songs About Jane has enjoyed a rare two-year history. The debut spent its first year slowly building momentum behind the lead single, "Harder to Breathe," and has since charted two more singles, "This Love" and "She Will Be Loved."

Released as a single in the summer of 2002, "Harder To Breathe" hit #4 at top 40 radio seventeen months later. Since then, the band has performed hundreds of live shows, opening for John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, Counting Crows and Train before becoming a headline act. The follow-up, "This Love," hit #1 at top 40, VH1 and MTV simultaneously, and was also the first song ever to be certified as a platinum download. Maroon 5 also won the "Best New Artist" award at the 2004 Video Music Awards.

Flynn joins the band on the road through the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

For more information, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Pro Audio & Combo Division, Drum Products, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; or e-mail infostation@yamaha.com.