The last time Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine and I talked was between mouthfuls of late-night breakfast. Maroon 5 had played a show at Water Street Music Hall, and we somehow found ourselves crowded in the corner booth at Mark's Texas Hots in the wee hours of the morning. The band had yet to break colossal, and was touring behind its "Songs About Jane" album for a while. The California quintet was getting tired. I'd like to say I was the one that said to "hang in there," but I wasn't. Regardless, soon after, Maroon 5 exploded, going on to top the charts and win six Grammys in the following years. The band's mega hit "This Love" would become the first song certified as a platinum download. The band's blend of soul and clever pop rocketed Maroon 5 to the moon.

Since then the band released "It Won't Be Soon Before Long" in 2007, and the promise of album No. 3 looms. Valentine gave me a call (his mouth wasn't full this time) and we talked about the upcoming record, his tennis game, and yodeling in the Alps. An edited transcript follows.

CITY: Are you working on a new record? When can we hear some new Maroon 5?

James Valentine: Yeah, we're almost through the new record. We have eight songs in the can and we're going back to finish them up in December in Switzerland. It should be out by the spring.

Switzerland, huh?

We wrote and demo'd it there as well.

Cool. Any yodeling on it?

There is no yodeling...so far. But you never know

How does this new album compare to your previous efforts?

You know, whenever you're working on a record, it's always your favorite. It's always got to be fresh for us. We always feel the need to push the envelope.

Would it be easier if there were no Maroon 5 albums out there to compete with and be compared to?

For sure, but we're OK with that. "Songs About Jane" ended up being such a success; it was a fluke and you can only hope for that success again. You always go for it, but you never know what'll happen.

You guys are notorious for last-minute changes in the studio. Any pop up on this project?

Well, we're still in the last minute, so stuff is still going to happen. You know, it's funny, a lot of our best tunes come out right at the last minute. "This Love," "She Will Be Loved" - those were the last songs written for ["Songs About Jane"].

Is that self-doubt, or just how the ideas present themselves?

You go through the first part of writing and you get to the end of the process and you think, Is that really it? And then you try some more. And when you can see the finish line, you get that extra burst of energy to see it through to the end.

What's going to be different about this new record?

We've been working with Mutt Lang on this record, and there are a couple of tracks that definitely have Mutt's fingerprints on them.

A little more rock 'n' roll?

Yeah, definitely. Which is a little bit different for us, because we've always sort of ridden on that edge between rock and soul.

What do you think hardcore Maroon 5 fans will think?

Throughout any of it... I mean, Adam's voice and the tone of his lyrics, they remain the same, and that's what I feel our fans respond to. Stylistically we could go any number of ways and I think our fans would still be satisfied.

Anything you'd like to add?

I wanna talk more about my tennis game.

Sure. How's your tennis game coming along?

It's coming along pretty good. I've been playing pretty much every day even when we were in Switzerland - they have beautiful clay courts over there.

Does it help your guitar playing?

I swear to God it does. There's this book called "The Inner Game Of Tennis" that sort of set me on this idea. You know, on the court, just looking for the zone where you can just play effortlessly...and that's what you're looking to do on stage or in the studio

So when we see you on stage with an elbow brace, we'll know why.

Yeah, exactly.