In the June issue of Esquire, the five guys in Maroon 5 will be featured in a fashion spread. Stands to reason, because the smooth L.A. rock/funk band is made up of hotties who could pass for models, especially the darkly handsome lead singer, Adam Levine.

The band's sex appeal means that the audience at its show tomorrow night at Everett Events Center will likely be overwhelmingly female, ranging from teenagers to college girls. You can bet they'll be singing along to Maroon 5's hits, and that there will be some screams, like when Levine takes off his leather jacket or does a little dance step.

Maroon 5 is at a high point in its career, finally headlining a major tour, after working hard on the road for three years behind its debut album, "Songs About Jane," released in June 2002. The CD has been on the Billboard 200 album chart for 101 weeks and sold more than 3 million copies.

That nearly nonstop touring has already brought the band to these parts five times, starting in November 2002, when it opened for O.A.R. at the Moore. In 2003, it opened for Guster at the Showbox and John Mayer at the Gorge, and last year played a free show at the Puyallup Fair, and the "KISS-FM Jingle Bell Bash" at the Tacoma Dome.

At all those shows, they did basically the same set — songs from their only album, along with a few covers. This time they'll work in new songs from their sophomore CD, which they will begin recording in the fall. And some of the songs from the first album will have new, extended versions, with new solos.

That second album could make or break Maroon 5. Levine and his songwriting partner in the band, guitarist James Valentine, have said that they plan a grittier, harder-edged sound, saying their debut album was more polished than they had anticipated. Will their female fans follow them into harder-rocking territory? The reaction to the new songs in tomorrow night's show may provide some clues.

Levine and company have changed course musically before. As a teenager, Levine had a shrine to Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam in his bedroom in the family home in tony Brentwood. Along with friends at his West Los Angeles junior high — guitarist/keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, bassist Mickey Madden and drummer Ryan Dusick — Levine, in 1995, at age 14, founded a hard-rock band called Kara's Flowers. Signed to Reprise Records, they released an album, "Fourth World," in 1997.

When it stiffed, and they were dropped from the label in 1999, the four headed off to various colleges. Levine and Carmichael went to New York City, but didn't stay in school for long. In less than two years, they were back in L.A., writing songs, influenced by the R&B, rap and hip-hop grooves and beats they'd heard on New York radio. The other two former bandmembers dropped out of college, too, and joined them. That's when Valentine entered the picture.

Levine developed a fixation on Stevie Wonder and tried to model his singing and songwriting after him. Because the band had a whole new direction, it renamed itself Maroon 5 (a name it has never explained). Signed to tiny Octone Records (a division of RCA), the newly reconstituted and enlarged band released "Songs About Jane." The disc got some notice on modern-rock radio, but not enough to satisfy the band, which decided to hit the road and make the record happen through self-promotion and hard work.

Touring helped, especially when they landed the opening spot on Mayer's tour. But the real turnaround came when MTV viewers got to see the band in the raunchy video for "This Love," with Levine making out with model Kelly McGee, who became his girlfriend — for a while (he's now single, girls!). "She Will Be Loved," also with a sexy video, became an even bigger hit.

Levine soon became a celeb, so much so that when Paris Hilton's Sidekick address book was stolen and ended up on the Web, his name, number and e-mail address were in it, along with those of other movie and rock stars. You can't get any hipper than that.

Opening the show tomorrow night is the Thrills, an Irish band that plays sunny music inspired by classic California surf-rock.

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312

or pmacdonald@seattletimes.com