For nearly 25 years, Ric Ocasek has been asked some variation of the same question by countless journalists and fans: When are you going to get The Cars back together? For most of that time, Ocasek’s answer has been simple and unequivocal: never. Ocasek’s resolve to not return to one of the most popular rock bands of the New Wave era seemed to only strengthen when co-lead singer and bassist Benjamin Orr died of pancreatic cancer in 2000. When bandmates Greg Hawkes and Elliot Easton opted to tour and record as The New Cars in 2005, with Todd Rundgren standing in for Ocasek, the likelihood of an actual reunion of the surviving Cars seemed even more remote. (Drummer David Robinson also opted not to participate in The New Cars.)
So it was a major surprise in 2010 when word surfaced online that Ocasek had changed his mind. With a batch of newly written songs in tow that he liked, Ocasek decided the time was right to make Move Like This, the first proper Cars record since 1987’s Door To Door. Perhaps even more surprising is that Move Like This is a worthy addition to the band’s canon, displaying Ocasek’s mastery of the synth-spiked power-pop sound that’s been imitated by numerous contemporary bands. The A.V. Club spoke with Ocasek about his decision to re-form The Cars, the baggage that prevented a reunion in the past (including The New Cars), and whether he’s looking forward to touring again.
The A.V. Club: Let’s start with the obvious question: Why did you finally decide to make another Cars record?
Ric Ocasek: Gosh, I think I had enough of a break. It was just… wanting to let go of the past. After I finished writing all those songs it was like, “Why don’t I just get the other guys?” Originally, I wasn’t going to do it, because Ben was gone. But then I thought, you know, I’m just going to get the other guys and we’ll just do it ourselves. We will just do it, the four of us, and see how it comes out. And we got in the rehearsal area and started doing things and it just sounded great right away.
AVC: For many years you were adamant about not reforming The Cars. Why were you so against the idea?
RO: I guess I just thought we left on a good note, a high note, and I never wanted to return to that again. I didn’t want to return to the whole game of it: the touring, the albums, the record deals, the whole bit, you know? Over all of the years if anybody would ask I never even thought about it. Then I wrote all of these songs. I was thinking, “Okay, so how do I want to do this record? Do I want to do it myself or do I want to get other people?” And I thought, “Why don’t I call the guys and see if they want to do it because they’re going to save me a lot of hassle.” Because they already know the whole thing. They know how to play songs that I write. They always contribute the right stuff. I am going to let the past go by. I am going to let The New Cars go by. I’m going to let all of the sadness of Ben’s death go by. And I’m just going to see if they want to do another record. It seems like a cool time. There is enough crap going on in the world. There is enough angst in the world. Maybe if I just circumvent all that stuff, we can make another record. And everybody jumped at the chance, and as soon as we met up it was just like we had done it last week.
AVC: Did these songs sound like The Cars in your head when you wrote them, as opposed to material for a solo record?
RO: No, but I knew if The Cars played on them they would. When I write songs I don’t think, “This would be good for The Cars” or “this would be good for me”—it’s really just writing songs and then picking the ones you like and then playing them with someone. But if you play them with The Cars then you’re going to get The Cars thing. Which was a sound that was magic, you know? You’ll get that every time you put those people together. It’s the magic of having a band. When it’s the right combination of people and they have a sound, that’s exciting. When I produced records I would always look for a band that had their own sound already. It was easy to produce bands like that because they already had it. There’s no mystery. You didn’t have to recreate the band or recreate the songs or try to get anything else out of it. It was usually already there.
AVC: Because Move Like This has that classic Cars sound, it actually sounds weirdly contemporary, given how many bands are now combining New Wave-sounding keyboards with guitars. Did that make you feel better about doing another Cars record at this point?