In 2006, Ryan Dusick seemed to be living the dream alongside his childhood best friends. The founding drummer of rock band Maroon 5, Dusick had first met his “annoying little brother” Adam Levine when he was 12 and Levine was 10, and after a false start with their underrated, pre-Maroon 5 powerpop band Kara’s Flowers in the late ‘90s, their decade of hard work had finally paid off. Maroon 5’s landmark debut album, Songs About Jane, had sold 10 million copies and spawned four top 40 hits. They were playing on SNL, jamming at Prince’s house, hanging out with Justin Timberlake and Bono and touring arenas with John Mayer. They’d even just won the Grammy for Best New Artist the year before.
But just as Maroon 5 began work on their follow-up album, Levine — who had long since emerged from Dusick’s shadow to become the group’s leader — called a band meeting at Rick Rubin’s “Houdini Mansion” home/studio to inform Dusick that his services would no longer be needed. Dusick was fired from the band he’d helped create.