The Cars Discuss Possibility of Rock Hall Reunion: ‘Pretty Sure We Will’
With their surprising 2010 reunion, the surviving members of the Cars proved it's impossible to ever count out the possibility of more performances or new music from the group. And now that they're getting ready to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, both singer Ric Ocasek and drummer David Robinson say there's a good chance fans will get to see them up onstage at least one more time.
"We probably will," Ocasek told Rolling Stone. "I don't know in which way we will. I've been thinking about that a bit since it came up. There's all kinds of different scenarios we could do. I don't know how, but I assume it would be expected and I'd be prepared for that."
While admitting that the members of the group "haven't talked about it" yet, Robinson said he was also confident a reunion would happen during a separate talk with Rolling Stone. "I don't know why we wouldn't," he mused. "I gotta drag my drums out and practice a bit."
As Robinson went on to note, he hasn't played much since the Cars wrapped their promotional performances for 2011's Move Like This LP — and he didn't really play at all between their 1987 breakup and their 2010 reunion. Joking that the unofficial three-song limit for induction ceremony set lists is "about as many as I can play," he professed not to have any idea what they'd end up playing if they were to join the bill.
"We've got a lot of songs to choose from. We'll get together and talk about it," said Robinson. "Actually, it'll be fun. Maybe we'll even throw a twist on some of the songs or just do something unusual, change it up a bit."
And while he added that "you never know" about the possibility of another Cars record, the group's future — and its Rock Hall induction — are shadowed by the absence of bassist and singer Benjamin Orr, who died in 2000 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As Robinson sees it, Orr would be "overjoyed" by the band's entry into the Hall.
"He's from Cleveland," Robinson pointed out. "Ben has been sort of a legend in Cleveland since he was a teenager. The town would go crazy if he were still alive and made a comeback appearance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame." Ocasek added, "I know Ben would have been flipped out by it."