K'Nort
03-20-2006, 08:50 AM
On the radio this morning. There's a free song floating about the internet, including the iTunes Music Store. I can't get excited about it, however. Changing vocalists seems to pretty much turn it into a cover band.
March 14, 2006 Rundgren at the wheel of New Cars
Cars guitarist Elliot Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes have drafted Todd Rundgren to front a new version of the band, dubbed the New Cars, Billboard reports.
The lineup is rounded out by singer/bassist Kasim Sulton (a partner with Rundgren in Utopia) and Tubes drummer Prairie Prince (Rundrgen has produced albums for the Tubes).
The New Cars will hit the road with new Rick and Roll Hall of Famers Blondie beginning May 12 at the Grand Casino Tunica Event Center in Robinsonville, Miss., the first of 28 scheduled shows.
"The hopes are after that to do Europe and beyond that, Australia, Asia and New Zealand, and then come back, and do another swing of the States," Easton says.
Original Cars vocalist Ric Ocasek and drummer David Robinson are not involved in the new endeavor; original bassist/vocalist Ben Orr passed away in 2000. and drummer David Robinson.
"When Ric made it clear to us that he really no longer wished to tour, and Greg and I wanted to do this thing, we sort of cast about for who we could get to be in the band. Who would be a great frontman and a great writer?" Easton told Billboard.com. "I sort of came up with a very short list, and Todd was at the top of it. To my very pleasant surprise, he was receptive to the idea. It's just a great fit. It sounds terrific. He's a lot of fun to play with."
The newly formed quintet debuted in front of an invite-only audience in January in Burbank, Calif. Several tracks from that show will be released May 9 on the album "It's Alive" via Eleven Seven Music. The set also features three new tracks penned by Easton, Hawkes and Rundgren, "Not Tonight," "Warm" and "More."
"We have played, but they're not shows in the sense that it was a venue where somebody could buy a ticket," Rundgren said. "We had to come up with some sort of recorded product, and it was always the intent to come up with a live album. It just was also the intent to have played live before we did that. So we had an invited audience on a soundstage, and we played three nights. We tried to make it as much of a gig as possible, but reality-wise, it was the first three shows we ever played."
As for the new tracks, Rundgren said "they were the final product of a process of various combinations of us getting together and trying to write songs -- including alone, in twos and sometimes all of us together. Just trying to figure out what we wanted to play, and how we could update the sound and not lose original Cars fans."
Fans who purchase the concert tickets via VH1Classic.com or Ticketmaster.com will receive free five-song download bundles from eMusic.com of tracks from "It's Alive" plus unreleased live Blondie recordings and the band's new cover of Roxy Music's "More Than This."
Easton said there is no ill will between Ocasek and the New Cars. "I have been in contact with (Ocasek)," he says. "I read in some press thing that Ric did where he said he just wanted to see Greg and I be happy. I thought that was a very nice thing to say, and I wish him the same."
The Cars broke up acrimoniously in the late 1980s amid declining sales. By calling itself the New Cars, the band avoids legal traps that dog acts when they reunite with different lineups.
March 14, 2006 Rundgren at the wheel of New Cars
Cars guitarist Elliot Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes have drafted Todd Rundgren to front a new version of the band, dubbed the New Cars, Billboard reports.
The lineup is rounded out by singer/bassist Kasim Sulton (a partner with Rundgren in Utopia) and Tubes drummer Prairie Prince (Rundrgen has produced albums for the Tubes).
The New Cars will hit the road with new Rick and Roll Hall of Famers Blondie beginning May 12 at the Grand Casino Tunica Event Center in Robinsonville, Miss., the first of 28 scheduled shows.
"The hopes are after that to do Europe and beyond that, Australia, Asia and New Zealand, and then come back, and do another swing of the States," Easton says.
Original Cars vocalist Ric Ocasek and drummer David Robinson are not involved in the new endeavor; original bassist/vocalist Ben Orr passed away in 2000. and drummer David Robinson.
"When Ric made it clear to us that he really no longer wished to tour, and Greg and I wanted to do this thing, we sort of cast about for who we could get to be in the band. Who would be a great frontman and a great writer?" Easton told Billboard.com. "I sort of came up with a very short list, and Todd was at the top of it. To my very pleasant surprise, he was receptive to the idea. It's just a great fit. It sounds terrific. He's a lot of fun to play with."
The newly formed quintet debuted in front of an invite-only audience in January in Burbank, Calif. Several tracks from that show will be released May 9 on the album "It's Alive" via Eleven Seven Music. The set also features three new tracks penned by Easton, Hawkes and Rundgren, "Not Tonight," "Warm" and "More."
"We have played, but they're not shows in the sense that it was a venue where somebody could buy a ticket," Rundgren said. "We had to come up with some sort of recorded product, and it was always the intent to come up with a live album. It just was also the intent to have played live before we did that. So we had an invited audience on a soundstage, and we played three nights. We tried to make it as much of a gig as possible, but reality-wise, it was the first three shows we ever played."
As for the new tracks, Rundgren said "they were the final product of a process of various combinations of us getting together and trying to write songs -- including alone, in twos and sometimes all of us together. Just trying to figure out what we wanted to play, and how we could update the sound and not lose original Cars fans."
Fans who purchase the concert tickets via VH1Classic.com or Ticketmaster.com will receive free five-song download bundles from eMusic.com of tracks from "It's Alive" plus unreleased live Blondie recordings and the band's new cover of Roxy Music's "More Than This."
Easton said there is no ill will between Ocasek and the New Cars. "I have been in contact with (Ocasek)," he says. "I read in some press thing that Ric did where he said he just wanted to see Greg and I be happy. I thought that was a very nice thing to say, and I wish him the same."
The Cars broke up acrimoniously in the late 1980s amid declining sales. By calling itself the New Cars, the band avoids legal traps that dog acts when they reunite with different lineups.