The New Cars
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The New Cars | |
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| Origin | Boston, United States |
| Years active | 2005 – present |
| Genres | Pop, Synth Pop, New Wave, Rock |
| Labels | Eleven Seven Music |
| Members | Todd Rundgren Prairie Prince Kasim Sulton Atom Ellis Greg Hawkes Elliot Easton |
The New Cars, the latest incarnation of The Cars, is a supergroup comprised of Todd Rundgren, Journey/Jefferson Starship/The Tubes drummer Prairie Prince, original Cars members Greg Hawkes and Elliot Easton, as well as a rotating membership between Meat Loaf's bass player Kasim Sulton and bass player Atom Ellis. The band performs The Cars' classic songs, as well as Rundgren's solo work and some original material.
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[edit] History
In 2005, rumors began circulating that Easton and Hawkes would be teaming with Todd Rundgren in a new Cars lineup, who would replace Cars frontman, Ric Ocasek. The rumors turned out to be true, with the revamped lineup calling itself The New Cars. Two regular Rundgren collaborators, bassist Kasim Sulton and drummer Prairie Prince, replaced the late bassist Benjamin Orr and drummer David Robinson in the new lineup.
On May 9, 2006 a greatest hits/live collection, The New Cars: It's Alive!, was released on Eleven Seven Music. The album included classic Cars songs recorded live plus never-before-released studio tracks. Their first tour, the summer Roadrage Tour with Blondie kicked off May 12 in Mississippi.
Rundgren has referred to the project as "an opportunity ... for me to pay my bills, play to a larger audience, work with musicians I know and like, and ideally have some fun for a year." Ocasek — who has opted out of any possibilities of a reunion — has reportedly given his blessing to Easton and Hawkes, saying, "I want Elliot and Greg to be happy." He has also appeared on The Colbert Report and was asked if there was anyone he wanted to put "on notice" (a Colbert Report recurring element) and answered Todd Rundgren on April 17, 2006.
[edit] In the Media
Ocasek had several other appearances on The Colbert Report. Most appearances focus around a fictional storyline involving Ocasek's heading a team of commandos. During the August 17, 2006 episode, Colbert announced he was assembling a swat team to help "free Stephen Junior"
(an eagle named after him). Among the members of this swat team were Killer, a cable jockey and demolitions expert; Bobby, a stage manager and "handy expendable decoy;" and singer/songwriter Ric Ocasek, whom was needed for his new wave expertise and "raw muscle". Colbert commented that last he heard, Ocasek had made it all the way to Las Vegas. It was later reported by Colbert that
Ocasek did succeed in freeing the eagle, which flew to Canada. An angered Stephen Colbert used his fictional "Ric Ocasek tracking device" to hunt for Ocasek, whom he learned that Ocasek had avoided returning to New York City in favor of finding Todd Rundgren. It is likely that the rekindling of the fictional Ocasek-Rundgren feud storyline may have to do with promotion for The New Cars' winter leg of the Roadrage Tour. In reality, there is no feud between Ocasek and Rundgren; Ocasek gave his blessing to The New Cars, and some claim he actually suggested Todd Rundgren fill his place.
The New Cars played "Just What I Needed" on the June 6, 2006 CBS TV show Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. The spring leg of the tour had to be cut short because Elliot Easton had broken his collarbone and was playing in great pain. Despite the fact the album only sold 16,000 units, a winter leg of the tour ran from November through early December. The tour, titled Road Rage Winter Tour was a theatre tour, of venues much smaller than their previous arena tour. Blondie did not participate in this tour, as Rundgren apparently was not in favor of the idea in the first place, and the only reason the two shared a tour was because they both had the same management company.
[edit] 2006 and Beyond
The winter tour is that several dates will feature Kasim Sulton on bass, where as others will feature Atom Ellis. Kasim will be touring with both The New Cars and Meat Loaf, making it impossible for him to be at every show.
Elliot Easton has been quoted, on The New Cars' website, as saying "We've got a great show planned for the Road Rage Winter Tour '06, and relish the opportunity to delve a bit deeper into both The Cars' and TR's catalog of great songs, as well as performing more new ones from It's Alive, which time constraints on the summer tour wouldn't allow."
While The New Cars will be touring the US in November 2006, according to USA TODAY, Ric Ocasek has been quoted as saying that there will be a live DVD/CD of the original Cars being released in October of 2006. When asked if the original members of The Cars would reunite, he said he wouldn't discount it, but he wants to see how fans respond to the DVD. Ocasek also said on VH1 Classic in late 2005, that he would be open to doing another album with the surviving members of The Cars, and would also tour if it wasn't a long drawn out one that supplemented his schedule.
