With bands like
the Killers,
Interpol, and
Franz Ferdinand breaking through in 2005, former
Cars guitarist
Elliot Easton and keyboardist
Greg Hawkes got to thinking. With all this '80s-influenced music appearing on the pop charts, perhaps it was time to revive
the Cars and reconnect with music fans. The two approached the other surviving members, David Robinson and
Ric Ocasek -- fifth member
Benjamin Orr had lost his battle to pancreatic cancer in 2000 -- but neither was interested. It seemed like the idea was finished until
Easton brought his old friend
Todd Rundgren's name up, and while
Hawkes was skeptical the rock & roll maverick would even consider the gig, he was pleasantly surprised when
Rundgren enthusiastically accepted.
Rundgren brought in two old friends who he had worked with before, former
Utopia bassist
Kasim Sulton and former
Tubes drummer
Prairie Prince. Rehearsals were held in secret, and then the band played a couple West Coast club dates in early 2006 and released a snippet of the new but incredibly vintage
Cars sounding song "Not Tonight" to the Internet. A handful of appearances on late-night television talk shows followed, all promoting a spring/summer tour the band would be co-headlining with
Blondie. As the tour was kicking off,
the New Cars made their full-length debut with
It's Alive, a collection of old
Cars hits recorded live during the West Coast shows along with "Not Tonight" and two other new songs recorded in the studio added as a bonus. ~ David Jeffries