"The Cars" Americas best guitar/synth symbiotic relationship?

[AUSSIEKEYS]

14 minutes ago, eric said:

 

That's so cool that we both love The Cars and ska music! I had the best time playing ska for so long and I still listen to a lot of ska. My old ska band does a few reunion shows each year.

 

Eric any links to your old band or current one?

 

Re The Producers having dropped out of favour for modern dancers i fear in Australia The Cars will have been forgotten in s similar way although huge hit at the time here.

 

I asked a young couple did they know of a famous Aussie muso and his famous band. 80s icons Iva Davies & Icehouse. Huge aussie icons in Australia.

 

They looked at me blankly with a long silent pause. 

 

That is sad.

[eric]

17 minutes ago, AUSSIEKEYS said:

 

Eric any links to your old band or current one?

 

Re The Producers having dropped out of favour for modern dancers i fear in Australia The Cars will have been forgotten in s similar way although huge hit at the time here.

 

 

Here's my current cover band, which is also in the YouTube video above playing Let's Go.

http://flatelvisband.com/

 

My old ska/reggae/etc. band doesn't have a website as we're kind of "retired" though we do have a Facebook page called Fighting Gravity Music and there's some good tidbits on YouTube and a little bit on Wikipedia that probably needs updating. The YouTube video below gives you a good sense of the original music and stage antics - if you watch it for a bit you will see me rolling around and doing acrobatics with my keyboard rig.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Gravity_(band)

 

 

[AUSSIEKEYS]

8 minutes ago, eric said:

 The YouTube video below gives you a good sense of the original music and stage antics - if you watch it for a bit you will see me rolling around and doing acrobatics with my keyboard rig.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Gravity_(band)

 

 

Thanks mate aporeciate it

 

ill do a binge watch later today (early morning here now)

 

Dont know why but im bingeing on watching stuff lately.

[S_Gould]

@AUSSIEKEYS

Has Australia forgotten Cold Chisel? 😵

 

 

(not that this has anything to do with the Cars, but I never see Aussies mention them among their greatest bands - bad oversight IMO)

[AUSSIEKEYS]

1 hour ago, S_Gould said:

@AUSSIEKEYS

Has Australia forgotten Cold Chisel? 😵

 

 

(not that this has anything to do with the Cars, but I never see Aussies mention them among their greatest bands - bad oversight IMO)

 

Not forgotten nor an oversight in this thread.  I actually play and sing one of their hits which is piano based called "Choir Girl". 

 

But this was a thread to learn more about the Cars from those who saw them Live. As i had never.

 

Cold Chisel is a band I enjoy very much now but not necessarily a favourite AussIe band back in the day..neither is INXS a fav in the day but I do appreciate them now.

 

 

I could tell you my fav Aussie Bands were and still are 

 

Australia Crawl.

Goanna. "Goanna Band"

Mental As Anything.

Men at Work

The Angels (this is as heavy as i like as I dont like AC/DC. To me the Angels should have been in AccaDacca's shoes as they are so much more interesting. I could handle early AC/DC when they were still doing Catholic girls school dances but hate they progressed to Stadium Rock.) PS: I think AC/DCs bagpipe lead break was inspiring though. But he didnt play it I believe. He did try to learn it though.

 

And of coarse my admiration for Split Enz then later Crowded House who are really New Zealand bands. Love New Zealands musos.

 

 

COLD CHISEL are indeed one of the biggest bands in Australia but this thread was me trying to find out more about "The Cars" because most members are US based. So I ask about a US band from those who live in US and have actually seen them.

 

I am surprised Cold Chisel is well known in US so its great to hear you support them. Have you seen them live over there?? I had to check to see if you are in US on your profile to ask you that. Hee hee

 

Be great to hear your thoughts on them and other bands

[Dannyalcatraz]

Continuing the tangent on other notable Aussie (and nearby) bands:

 

The Atlantics

Rose Tattoo

The Chats

Kylie Minogue

Alien Weaponry

 

(Also, apologies for misspelling Split Enz- I know better!)

[AUSSIEKEYS]

Hi Danny. Theres 2 bands you mentioned there ive not heard of.

 

Some more are Midnight Oil. Another is Icehouse who were originally called flowers but changed name as there was a flowers already in US.

 

I know my dad taught singing to an Aussie band called Avalanche who went to US but i dont know if they were successful once there although i did hear one was but moving here to Melbourne I heard of another Avalanche band down here so maybe im not sure which now. Could be a common name for a band

 

Hey mate talking of a common name everytime i see your signature area down the bottom that mentions Murphys Music it reminds me when I worked in a store called Murphys Music in Sydney as a fill in for one day. I was a fill in at another music shop affilidated with murphys and they asked me to help out there. Must be Murphy Musics everwhere hee hee. So a bit like band names eh.

[wineandkeyz]

On 4/9/2022 at 11:39 AM, The Real MC said:

A long forgotten band from the vein of The Cars is the 80s power pop band The Producers... Their only weakness was the lack of a lead guitar player -  keyboard player does some solos, Steve Lukather is credited on most of the guitar solos.

 

Speaking of Luke, when I read the title of this thread, Toto came to mind immediately.

 

 

[kaptainkeys]

33 minutes ago, wineandkeyz said:

Speaking of Luke, when I read the title of this thread, Toto came to mind immediately.

Same, although I'd consider myself a Toto super fan.  They did have a good balance between guitars and keyboards, two of their biggest hits (Rosanna and Pamela) both feature great keyboard and guitar solos.

[Dannyalcatraz]

9 hours ago, AUSSIEKEYS said:

Hi Danny. Theres 2 bands you mentioned there ive not heard of.

 

*****

 

Hey mate talking of a common name everytime i see your signature area down the bottom that mentions Murphys Music it reminds me when I worked in a store called Murphys Music in Sydney as a fill in for one day. I was a fill in at another music shop affilidated with murphys and they asked me to help out there. Must be Murphy Musics everwhere hee hee. So a bit like band names eh.

Which two?

 

As for Murphy’s…yeah, there’s probably one in every county in the English-speaking world!  The one near me is a family owned & operated business founded in the 1960s.  Good people.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

18 minutes ago, Dannyalcatraz said:

Which two?

 

As for Murphy’s…yeah, there’s probably one in every county in the English-speaking world!  The one near me is a family owned & operated business founded in the 1960s.  Good people.

 

The Chats and Alien Weaponry

[MotiDave]

On 4/9/2022 at 6:21 PM, harmonizer said:

I don't intend my next statement as a slam on The Cars, but my sister saw them live while they were on tour for their first album, and told me later the live show was pretty bad. It might have been that the venue they played at had bad acoustics (I went to the same University later on, and large band shows were done in a gymnasium with bad acoustics).

 

As far as The Cars as a band overall, I think their first album was excellent, and part of its power was in how well produced it was. I would expect that a lot of their songs would have been tricky to duplicate live. I also think their best songwriting was on their first album. Songs like "Let's Go" and "Candy-O" did not move me.

 

In a previous generation of our band, we played "You're All I've Got Tonight" and I actually sang the lead vocal. It was a really fun song to play.

I saw them on the Heartbreak City tour - perhaps the most boring show I have ever seen.  Audibly it was spot on as in it sounded like listening to the CD more or less.  They didn’t move more than 18” off their assigned stage spot, except Elliot occasionally moving around.  Ric and Ben seemed to hate each other.  It was not a live show.

[Dannyalcatraz]

6 hours ago, AUSSIEKEYS said:

 

The Chats and Alien Weaponry

The Chats are an amusing little punk band, and Alien Weaponry fuses native music & language with modern metal, kind of like what Sepultura did on their album, Roots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad

[KuruPrionz]

OK, they are gone now and Christina has left us.

 

But, any fans of the Divinyls? 

We covered All The Boys In Town long ago and far away. 

I saw them open for Aerosmith great live. 

We listened to their albums, great band.

 

https://youtu.be/HMJqjRhLWUg

[Dannyalcatraz]

They were definitely a fun band!

[AUSSIEKEYS]

1 hour ago, KuruPrionz said:

OK, they are gone now and Christina has left us.

 

But, any fans of the Divinyls? 

We covered All The Boys In Town long ago and far away. 

I saw them open for Aerosmith great live. 

We listened to their albums, great band.

 

https://youtu.be/HMJqjRhLWUg

 

Wow that amazing I didnt know they got big overseas. Yes they are great and I often find myself singing her songs in my head. Yes indeed an iconic Aussie band.

 

Thanks for awakening me to the fact they made an impact OS.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

2 hours ago, Dannyalcatraz said:

The Chats are an amusing little punk band, and Alien Weaponry fuses native music & language with modern metal, kind of like what Sepultura did on their album, Roots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad

 

FAR OUT DANNY. You gave me a big smile with both these and a tapping foot with the Chats. Even though both are not my style I thoroughly enjoyed watching them. I wasnt expecting either.

 

Now the Chats Id call them an Aussie Social Commentary band. A typical commentary song seen on utube. A bunch of "Tradies" or "Bogans" sticking it to society (theyll embrace that name).

 

And my foot couldnt stop but tap while cracking a laugh. This is Aussie suburban humour that cracked me up & as corny as it is they're taking the "piss" out of society. 

 

Alien Weaponry (great name) a New Zealand band that i feel ive seen before with a similar song if not this song?

 

Although Heavy music is not my style i was mesmarised by the visual and matching music as I have a big big historical interest in Maori military history.

 

They certainly captured the story in their music and visuals. Impressed considering Im not a liker of heavy music. This is like putting a Haka to music. 

 

Danny you're full of surprises.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

7 hours ago, MotiDave said:

I saw them on the Heartbreak City tour - perhaps the most boring show I have ever seen.  Audibly it was spot on as in it sounded like listening to the CD more or less.  They didn’t move more than 18” off their assigned stage spot, except Elliot occasionally moving around.  Ric and Ben seemed to hate each other.  It was not a live show.

 

I always curious how loved big  bands are recieved in the live context.

 

Thru my life i have never seen many big bands due I was gigging or just too broke to spend money on others gigs when I prefered to spend it on gear or food. (Depending on mymoney situation at time).

 

So others thoughts are interesting.

[Phil Aiken]

I've met Greg and have friends that are currently working with him regularly. Now that I think about it, I play with him on a recording/video although it was a pandemic "Zoom" type deal recorded separately and remotely. I did get to play THE MiniKorg one time, which was cool. He still uses it a mainstay,

 

What I think Elliot and Greg share is a way of constructing a melodic line or solo that is indelible. Like David Gilmour, George Harrison and others, if one is covering them and trying to be relatively faithful to the original, and not reinterpreting, the solos and interludes kind of have to be learned. You can't just let 'em rip. 

[KuruPrionz]

8 hours ago, AUSSIEKEYS said:

 

Wow that amazing I didnt know they got big overseas. Yes they are great and I often find myself singing her songs in my head. Yes indeed an iconic Aussie band.

 

Thanks for awakening me to the fact they made an impact OS.

All The Boys In Town got FM airplay and was a cult classic of sorts. Kind of at the same level as Tatooed Love Boys by the Pretenders.

Pleasure and Pain got serious AM radio play and put on rock compilation "Musak" systems, it was in the cycle at the local Kinko's for instance. 

I Touch Myself was a big MTV hit and climbed the charts up to a point, I don't know the stats but I know I heard it on public broadcast. 

 

The Divinyls did pretty well. Honestly, when I saw them Aerosmith was going through the "drugs and booze" phase and it showed. Steven Tyler more than held his end up and Brad Whitford had to take some of Joe Perry's solos because he was not in good shape at all. My impression walking out the door was the The Divinyls ate their lunch and that was not what I was expecting but I really enjoyed their set. They were tight and put on a great show. 

[Dannyalcatraz]

2 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

 

The Divinyls did pretty well. Honestly, when I saw them Aerosmith was going through the "drugs and booze" phase and it showed. Steven Tyler more than held his end up and Brad Whitford had to take some of Joe Perry's solos because he was not in good shape at all. My impression walking out the door was the The Divinyls ate their lunch and that was not what I was expecting but I really enjoyed their set. They were tight and put on a great show. 

I’ve only seen a handful of performances when someone on the stage was clearly under the influence, of something.

 

The most memorable one was a nightclub show in Austin in the 1990s.  Local studs Black Pearl were opening, followed by a band from Houston.  The headliner was BLUE ÖYSTER CULT!!!

 

I had broken my foot, so I my friend and I had stationed me up against a wall near the restrooms.  As we leaned there, this huge, incredibly drunk blonde dude who was topless but for a sheepskin vest kept hitting on her.  She did her best to ignore him while Black Pearl blew the lid off the club.  After their set wrapped up, they called the second band to the stage…and the drunk blond dude peeled himself off the wall and stationed himself at the keyboards.  The lead singer grabbed the mic and announced they were Galactic Cowboys, and had just signed their first major label contract,

 

Drunk blondie got it ALL wrong- tempos, keys, songs, even particular notes as his fingers stumbled over themselves.  I heard he got fired a few weeks later.

 

BÖC, of course, simply killed it,  it was essentially a best of show by a great band that was playing a 3’ tall club stage like they were on a stadium tour.

[KuruPrionz]

6 minutes ago, Dannyalcatraz said:

I’ve only seen a handful of performances when someone on the stage was clearly under the influence, of something.

 

The most memorable one was a nightclub show in Austin in the 1990s.  Local studs Black Pearl were opening, followed by a band from Houston.  The headliner was BLUE ÖYSTER CULT!!!

 

I had broken my foot, so I my friend and I had stationed me up against a wall near the restrooms.  As we leaned there, this huge, incredibly drunk blonde dude who was topless but for a sheepskin vest kept hitting on her.  She did her best to ignore him while Black Pearl blew the lid off the club.  After their set wrapped up, they called the second band to the stage…and the drunk blond dude peeled himself off the wall and stationed himself at the keyboards.  The lead singer grabbed the mic and announced they were Galactic Cowboys, and had just signed their first major label contract,

 

Drunk blondie got it ALL wrong- tempos, keys, songs, even particular notes as his fingers stumbled over themselves.  I heard he got fired a few weeks later.

 

BÖC, of course, simply killed it,  it was essentially a best of show by a great band that was playing a 3’ tall club stage like they were on a stadium tour.

I LOVE BOC, wish I'd seen them back in the day. I had the opportunity but failed. 

Herbie Hancock on the Headhunters tour, his guitarist could barely stand up and played poorly. Herbie was pissed but he played like the genius he is and it was a great show despite the guitarist's overkill buzz. 

Other than that, I can't think of anybody who failed to deliver due to drugs or alcohol. 

I felt like Manfred Mann failed because they just weren't very good at all but that's another topic. 

[RABid]

In my first band as a keyboardist we did a load of cars songs. It was great playing songs with actual synth parts. When starting out I covered a lot of the parts with a little 2 octave Casio board and the sounds matched up. While the two other keyboardists in the area were spending wasting their money on things like Rhodes, Whurleys and those Yamaha portable grands, I kept buying more and more synths and it paid off when playing The Cars.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

On 4/13/2022 at 5:12 AM, RABid said:

 When starting out I covered a lot of the parts with a little 2 octave Casio board and the sounds matched up.

Hee hee loved it that the early casios filled big shoes. Im a fan of Casio and love stories like this.

 

On 4/13/2022 at 5:12 AM, RABid said:

I kept buying more and more synths and it paid off when playing The Cars.

Cant say thats a bad thing The Cars inspired either.

[kaptainkeys]

13 minutes ago, AUSSIEKEYS said:

Im a fan of Casio and love stories like this.

I like Casio stuff as well.  They have some truly great modern keyboards (XW-P1, PX5S) as well as some cool classics (CZ-1, FZ10M, etc).  Their products also have a special place in my heart, my first keyboard was a Casio, still have it.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

2 hours ago, GotKeys said:

I like Casio stuff as well. Their products also have a special place in my heart, my first keyboard was a Casio, still have it.

Yeah Casio should have kept at the pro gear from when they first did them but then they dropped it till modern times. 

 

I still have my AZ1 slingon (keytar) that i still feel is one of the best. But alas by the time i bought it after owning other keytars they had gone out of fashion in my kneck of the woods (well perhaps the bands i was then in were not appropriate to use a keytar). So i didnt really get to use that one live. But it was far better than the earlier Rolands, yamaha & korgs i had used (although I was not a big keytar user)

 

This and their synths were what I respected about them in their early days.

[Iconoclast]

One surprising thing about the Cars is how OLD they actually were. Ric Ocasek was only a year younger than Mick Jagger, yet the Cars didn't really break until about 78-79. It's hard to think of those two as contemporaries.

The pre-cursors to the Cars had been playing in bands since the late 60s, yet I always thought of them as more of a leading edge band when they first came out.

Really loved their early albums. There were so many bands that did a good job of mixing keys and guitar in a live sound back then. Cars, Kansas, Styx, Yes, Asia, Genesis...there's many more.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

2 hours ago, Iconoclast said:

One surprising thing about the Cars is how OLD they actually were. Ric Ocasek was only a year younger than Mick Jagger, yet the Cars didn't really break until about 78-79.

 

Yes ive only seen that now a days being able to view their videos closeup finally. At that time i only started gigging 78 so i figured they were younger like me. 

 

Having access to internet has shown me how old many bands were i formerly thought of as young.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Surprisingly old musicians- compared to their contemporaries or bandmates- also included Ronnie James Dio (started in a doo wop band!), Andy Summers, and Mick Mars.

[Iconoclast]

Van Halens first couple tours opening for Black Sabbath, DLR and Ozzy used to hang out with each other because they weren't that far apart in age. Ozzie was very young when Sabbath first broke and DLR was comparatively old. They're 5 years apart. Ozzie is 74 now and DLR is 69.