The Cars are working on a new LP, but they asked me not to make any “this is ‘Just What I Needed’” jokes, so… I got nothing

The Cars are working on a new LP, but they asked me not to make any "this is 'Just What I Needed'" jokes, so... I got nothing

Okay, so let’s talk about “cars” as a thing. Fact is, they aren’t as cool as they used to be. Instead of being desired for their loud engines and sexy chrome bodies, they’re kinda more well known for… uh, good mileage and sensible leasing options. Not exactly the hippest thing to name your band after, here in 2010. But when it comes to things like dance beats, prominent synths, and hooky, beach party choruses, new wave synth-poppers The Cars are the hippest damn band around in 2010. Hell, the only current artist(s) not taking advantage of at least one of those criteria is like, I don’t know, Kings of Leon or something. And let’s face it, nobody who’s credible wants to be like Kings of Leon. Because then that artist would sound like Kings of Leon. Ew.

And like all savvy musicians, Ric Ocasek and his band are doing all they can to differentiate themselves from Kings of Leon by making a new Cars record (the band’s first studio effort in 23 years, to be exact) that sounds decidedly like The Cars of yore. As Billboard recently reported, the band, who had reformed earlier this year, have holed up at a studio in Millbrook, New York and recorded “a number of songs” there. Last week, the group even posted a preview of a new track called “Blue Tip” on their Facebook page. (Sure, that might be a weird place to leak a clip, but give ‘em a break. They haven’t had to promote themselves since Back to the Future II.)

Additional details are pretty scarce at the moment, but the band has hinted that they might actually tour behind this new record. Ocasek, along with keyboardist Greg Hawkes, drummer David Robinson, and guitarist Elliot Easton, comprise the four surviving members of the original Cars lineup (bassist Benjamin Orr passed away in 2000 after a bout with pancreatic cancer). Gee, I sure hope they’re ready to get browbeaten into playing Candy-O songs all night long on this “new album” tour.

• The Cars: http://thecarsunlocked.com

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