The Cars to Reunite For Album and Tour

Seminal 70’s/80’s new wave band The Cars will be reuniting for an album and a tour. The band, which had tons of hits such as “Just What I Needed,” “Good Times Roll,” and “My Best Friend’s Girl” revealed the announcement in response to years of fan requests for a new album. However, this will be the first tour or album without the longtime lead singer/bassist Benjamin Orr, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2000. The rumor mill began in the midst of this summer, when a picture appeared on the Cars’ Facebook page depicting the band members sitting in the studio. Then, in mid-October, a new video titled “Blue Tip” was added, which was the first snippet of new music from The Cars since Door to Door was released in 1987. The band’s engineer Paul Orofino spoke to Billboard about the sessions, stating that the band, which features Ocasek, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson, recorded only new songs for the album at his studio in Millbrook, NY. He also added that Hawkes played and/or programmed all the bass parts, filling the role served by Orr during the Cars' original 1976-1988 run. The band is also said to be strongly pushing for a tour, though as of yet dates have not been confirmed. The Cars originally broke up in 1988, with members moving on to solo careers and other projects: Ocasek did a stint as senior VP of A&R at Elektra Records and spent time as a producer for artists such as Guided By Voices, Nada Surf, No Doubt, and Weezer. This is an interesting turn of events, because Oscasek has always remained firm that a reunion would never happen. He even declined to join Easton and Hawkes in 2005 in a group called the New Cars, which also featured Todd Rundgren, Prairie Prince, and Kasim Sulton. That project ended after a couple years of touring, which eventually produced the 2006 concert album "It's Alive!" What do you think? Would you go see the Cars, sans Orr? Are you interested in a new album? Until then… Let the Good Times Roll