The Cars restart musical engines

By Elysa Gardner, USA TODAY

NEW YORK � The Cars, one of the most successful bands of the new wave era, will release Move Like This, the group's first album in 24 years, on Tuesday. That night, they'll play the first of a dozen concerts (including a gig at Lollapalooza) in Seattle, their first performances in 23 years.

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  By Todd Plitt, USA TODAY

  The Cars' Elliot Easton, left, Ric Ocasek, Greg Hawkes and David Robinson are releasing Move Like This on Tuesday.

By Todd Plitt, USA TODAY

The Cars' Elliot Easton, left, Ric Ocasek, Greg Hawkes and David Robinson are releasing Move Like This on Tuesday.

But they'd rather you not refer to these projects as a reunion. Unless you must.

"How can you not?" frontman/songwriter Ric Ocasek, 62, admits, when pressed ever so gently.

Chatting in a Midtown studio, Ocasek and the other surviving members explain why they find the R-word a little problematic.

"The Cars will never be one of those bands that just says, 'Let's go play our oldies in a bunch of stadiums and make a pile of money,' " says guitarist Elliot Easton.

The group's dissolution (around 1988) had been soft. "There were people who didn't know we had broken up, five years later," says drummer David Robinson, also 62.

"We felt like we had nothing left to say," says Easton, 57. "And then 24 years later, we got to thinking that maybe we did."

Specifically, Ocasek found himself with a new batch of songs and a hunch that they cried out for old company. "Life is short," he says. "I knew it would be more interesting than if I got anybody else."

The four began rehearsals in October 2009 and started recording last June. The chemistry was instantly renewed, though one key element was missing: original bassist and singer Benjamin Orr, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2000.

"He was the greatest singer in the world, as far as I was concerned," Ocasek says of Orr, who sang lead on hits such as Drive. "We didn't want to replace him. It wouldn't have been The Cars."

Instead, keyboardist Greg Hawkes, 58, took on bass. All the musicians play various instruments, "and we're not too picky about who plays what," Ocasek says. The result is lean, savvy guitar-pop that sounds at once contemporary and very much in sync with their old recordings.

"Every time I hear one of their songs, I'm reminded how fresh their sound still is," says Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis. "You can easily imagine Glee taking classic Cars songs and representing them."

That's not in the cards ? not yet, at least.

"Our approach has been, 'Let's see if this is fun,' " Hawkes says. "If it is, we'll continue."

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