It’s been a little over twenty years since The Cars as a collective released an album of new material. But on May 10, 2011, with the appearance of Move Like This, it was as if The Cars had never been away. Featuring fresh songs like “It’s Only”, “Blue Tip”, “Keep On Knocking” and “Drag On Forever”, The Cars are making the world a better place once again.
For those of us who were footloose and fancy free in the late 70’s and early 80’s when The Cars were the kings of the music world, the release of Move Like This has been a blessing too long in coming. And recently, Glide had the good fortune to spend a few moments with Cars electrifying guitar player Elliot Easton.
Hi Elliot, so how does it feel having a new album out with The Cars after so many years?
It’s very exciting. And the fact that it’s doing well and people are receiving it so well, that’s really the exciting part to me. I was excited about getting back together with the guys and I felt great about making the new album and we all liked it. But the reaction has almost been overwhelming cause people really seem to be excited about the record. I’m just knocked out by that.
It sounds like The Cars, like you guys never went away, but it also has a newness to it, almost a maturity to the sound.
We like to think so, that there’s been some growth. It’s been twenty-four years since the last record and we’ve all changed and grown and learned new tricks (laughs). But still, you know, at the bottom of it all, that’s how we sound when we play together. I mean, there’s not much we can do about it, that’s just the sound of The Cars when we play. It’s nothing we think about when we play or ever try to do, that’s just how we play.
What did it feel like the first time all of you got back in the same room together? Did you kind of just fall back into place?
Oh yeah, it’s family and so it’s kind of like being reunited with old family members. Maybe there’s a couple of awkward minutes but before long you’re talking about old times and the old humor comes back and, you know, people don’t change that much and there everybody is. So a lot of the old chemistry just came right back and we all got along just great.
Was it noticeably different without Benjamin (Orr) ? Or did you feel his presence there with you guys?
It was hugely different for sure. And we missed him terribly and we’d loved to have had him be [there] … I just wish he was still around beyond any recording. I miss him as a friend. But, sure, of course if Ben was around he would’ve been on the record and part of all of it. He’d have sung a bunch of songs and played his bass. There’s nothing we could do about that, you know, and there was no way we could replace him so we decided that we wouldn’t even try.
You only did a handful of concert dates. Was there a reason for that?
We’re just kind of taking it slow. You know, we haven’t done this in a long time and we want to make sure that it’s comfortable and enjoyable for everybody and we didn’t know what it would be like getting back out on the road playing shows. So we just wanted to take it slowly. These first twelve shows were like medium-sized venues and they were more intimate settings and we could just kind of get our sea legs back and get the feel of playing again. We may do more. I don’t know exactly but I know we’re going to play in August at the Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago. There’s a possibility we may do more shows but I haven’t heard anything definite yet.
Do you prefer the intimacy of a club or smaller venue compared to the larger arenas?
I think it was very enjoyable [in the smaller venues]. You could see everybody and the sound is good in those places and stuff, but all the various sizes are fun and I have no problem playing to more people.
How long did it take to record the new CD? Did you all get together or was it more like you did this here and Ric did his part there and Greg and David were over here?
We recorded it all together. We did it in two sections. Half the record was done upstate in New York and half of it was done in Los Angeles with an outside producer. I’d say probably recording time all totaled up was maybe four weeks or something. It wasn’t real long. We work pretty fast. Maybe even less than that. I mean, it came really naturally and we just kind of, I don’t know, it just fell together really well.
How much actual input did you have at the beginning stages of these songs?
Ric writes all the songs in our band so we basically start with demos from him. We get a pretty good idea of the direction of the song and then we start kicking around ideas of arranging it and what might be some interesting parts of songs to add to it and we just grow like that. It’s a cooperative and we just sort of kick ideas around until everybody thinks it’s good. Sometimes there’ll be parts on the demos that we’ll keep on the record because they were great parts, you know. Of course, Ric writing the song, he knows in his head exactly how he wants it to be and we just try to enhance it all.
How long have you been playing guitar?
I guess I got real serious about it when I was nine or ten.
Who did you hear that made you want to pick up a guitar in the first place?
As a really small child it was the cowboys that played guitar, like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. By like age three, I had some kind of guitar, like a Roy Rogers or Mickey Mouse guitar or something like that. I always had guitars but I guess I started getting serious about trying to play when surf music came out. I was like eight or nine and I tried to play “Wipe Out” and those songs. Of course, right after that the Beatles and all the British bands came and I really got into it and started trying to learn to play seriously.
Is there a guitar player or band out there that is tickling your fancy right now?
Yeah, but, you know, I just hate to name names cause then if I leave somebody out then someone gets offended. I listen to a lot of alternative radio and I still like a lot of the classic stuff that I always loved – the Beatles, Dylan, Beach Boys, Rolling Stones and all that stuff; the Band. But I like a lot of new stuff too. I’m hesitant to start naming band names (laughs).
I’m curious – can you tell me something about Elliot Easton that maybe not everyone knows about?
I’ll tell you something about me that probably not a lot of people know is that when The Cars aren’t working, I have a little side project that I do and it’s called Elliot Easton’s Tiki Gods. It’s myself and several of the members of Brian Wilson’s backing band. And we play instrumental music, like movie soundtrack stuff from the sixties, like spy music and original music and what they call exotica, like loungey kind of stuff. It’s real cool.
Is there anything else you would like to say?
I would just like to thank everybody who have supported the band over the years and tell all the fans how knocked out I am by how warmly the record was received and also at the live shows that we did. The audiences were phenomenal. It was great to see everybody come out.
