Todd Rundgren thinks that the re-tooled Cars, The New Cars, may actually be better than the old model.

Rundgren, guitarist and lead singer for the band, says that based on initial reaction to the band's live performances, the audience may connect with the band better this go-round than they did back in The Cars' heyday in the late '70s and early '80s. This even in spite of the fact that The New Cars is missing former Cars vocalist/guitarist Ric Ocasek, drummer David Robinson and the late bassist Benjamin Orr.

"I personally was a bit apprehensive about what the response would be without Ric and David, and of course Ben Orr can't make it under any circumstances," Rundgren says. "But we seem to have compensated. Anyone who remembers the original band members remembers them as stiff on stage. We don't have that kind of rule, the no smiling rule, that aloof '80s attitude. I think people like that."

Rundgren is joined by former Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes, guitarist Elliot Easton, long-time Rundgren associate Kasim Sultan on bass and Tubes drummer Prairie Prince to form The New Cars. So far, he says, response to the new band has been positive, even if the incarnation begs comparison with the old band.

"We did go to some trouble to put a qualifier in the title (of the new band)," he says. "We couldn't go out as The Cars because it would be possible for Ric to change his mind and go out as The Cars. But the first question is always, 'Where's Ric?' so we had to put it to bed that there was any long-simmering feud. Ric just hates to tour.

"We've gotten people to accept the fact that we're going on with the lion's share of original players and a simulacrum of the original sound but with a higher degree of precision. That was kind of an advantage, that we could actually make an improvement on the original."

Rundgren says that so far he has not heard any feedback from Ocasek, but he says audience response "has been great." Indeed, there would be little reason to criticize the band if its performance earlier this year would indicate. Rundgren even affects Ocasek's vocal quaver on songs like "My Best Friend's Girl" and "You Might Think."

Rundgren says he had heard rumors he would be asked to join the new band, but was a little surprised when he got the call because he thought the project had already hit the road without him. And although he has been used to top billing, even touring as a solo performer with Joe Jackson last year, he had no problem with the idea of joining the band.

"Well, the solo shows are actually rather a more unusual way for me to go out," he says. "That Joe Jackson thing actually came about from a response to a one-off gig we did the previous summer. That was kind of an idea we had and we followed up on that. But playing with some sort of band, it's more normal.

"I've done various collaborations over the years. I don't necessarily have to be the headliner. I thought 'let's give it a try,' and we've managed to pass our milestones along the way. We started playing some gigs and that went all right. It wasn't a big decision to do it."

Rundgren, who says his favorite Cars song is "Let the Good Times Roll" for a "surreality" that broke out of the disco and punk modes of the time, has, of course, had a successful career on his own. "I Saw the Light," "Hello It's Me" and "Can We Still Be Friends?" are signature songs, he had success with his prog-rock band Utopia, and he has also produced numerous albums for other artists such as Patti Smith, the Tubes, the New York Dolls and Meat Loaf.

But perhaps his best-loved song is "Bang the Drum All Day," a number well-known to Packers fans.

"A lot of people wouldn't know who the hell did that," he says. "I enjoy that from a different perspective. A lot of people have hit records and then the song fades into history. But there are other pieces of music that penetrate the culture more than a mere hit record does. I like the fact that nobody knows who's singing it. It's given the music a life of its own.

"It's probably the song I get called most often for permission to use. It depicts party time. Every time they have a movie trailer that involves a party, you can always hear that song."

Rundgren says he is not a great predictor of musical trends, but he is not fond of some current patterns in music.

He says that many of the bands have great musical skill, but that they are merely homage to earlier work by other artists.

"I was watching My Chemical Romance on Saturday Night Live and it appeared they were trying to do their own version of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody,'" he says. "And there's an affectation to the way people sing. You could blame it all on Billy Joe (Armstrong) and Green Day. But it's an affectation and I find it somewhat annoying."

As for The New Cars, it's not clear what will happen after the current tour winds down. So far, there are no plans to do a studio album following the tour, but Rundgren says the future of the band depends on audience response.

He adds, however, that the idea of a new album has not been ruled out.

"It's one of those things where there has to be a legitimate business foundation to this," he says. "You can't do it on a whim. The audience has a lot to say about the longetivity of the idea. If they come out and buy tickets, there's life. If they do not, then the audience has spoken. If we can't leverage a brand that's already famous to so many people, it doesn't make sense to start over."

4 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by Racilla.Killah on Aug. 12, 2007 at 10:24 p.m. (report)

god... anybody that actually thinks this version of the Cars with Todddy is better than the original (classic) band, is HIGH. They're prolly the same people who like the Doors better with that dork from The Cult and the Allman Brothers without...like..all of the Allman Brothers. LAME.

Posted by JamieC5361 on Nov. 23, 2006 at 5:10 p.m. (report)

This band is a must see. I have seen them in Detroit on November 22 and they put on a show that will leave you stunned it's so good. I agree, Todd has made this band ,"even better than the real thing!"

Posted by dukefame on Nov. 21, 2006 at 9:32 p.m. (report)

Sorry Todd, without Ric and Ben Orr it isn't remotely as good as the vintage Cars of the late 70's. Good luck wrting an album with as many hits as the first Cars album had.

Posted by sandstorm on Nov. 21, 2006 at 7:08 a.m. (report)

since when does "lion's share" equate to only 2/5's?