It's been 17 years since The Cars [ tickets ] last toured, but a reformed version of the seminal 1980s New Wave group is hitting the road with contempraries Blondie this May.

The New Cars [ tickets ]--Todd Rundgren on lead vocals, original guitarist Elliot Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes, and the rhythm section of bassist Kasim Sulton (Utopia, Meat Loaf, Celine Dion, Hall & Oates) and Tubes drummer Prairie Prince--will also release a live album this summer, "It's Alive," which will feature three new studio tracks, including "Not Tonight."

The Cars' 1978 self-titled debut reached No. 3 on Billboard's Pop Album chart, propelled by the hits "My Best Friend's Girl," "Good Times Roll," and "Just What I Needed." Currently the latter song can be heard on Circuit City television commercials.

Keyboardist Hawkes spoke with liveDaily while preparing for the tour.

liveDaily: Were you and Elliot always talking about bringing the band back together?

Greg Hawkes: Not always, but for the last two years or so, we've been talking about it. We of course talked to [original drummer] David [Robinson] and Ric [Ocasek]. After quite a while, it became apparent that Ric didn't want to be involved, or just wanted to concentrate on producing and other things that didn't have to do with The Cars, particularly.

Todd Rundgren made a comment that maybe part of this had to do with touring and being on the road.

Ric was never big on the touring aspect, and we weren't one of those bands that toured a lot, really. We did minimal touring.

Did you enjoy it more than Ric?

I don't know. I've always really enjoyed the recording process. That's really my favorite, being in the studio and working on new stuff. But I've gotten a new appreciation for performing.

With Ric and David electing not to join [and bassist Benjamin Orr having lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in 2000], you had to fill some holes.

Right, it came to a point where we started to think of alternatives. Somehow, Todd's name got brought into the conversation.

And you thought …

When I first heard Todd's name brought up I thought, "You think he would do it?" I was surprised that he would consider it. I think he definitely brings a large amount of artistic credibility to the project, because he's got a long history. It raises the level of just trying to sound like The Cars, because he's a great writer and talented producer.

We got together, at least the four of us with Kasim, Todd, Elliott and myself, I think it was in August of 2005. We talked about the idea and played together a bit, and more or less decided that we should all keep pursuing this idea.

What were the first few tunes you played together?

I know we did "Good Times Roll," I think "Just What I Needed," "You're All I've Got Tonight," and maybe "Shake It Up." Those are the ones that come to mind. Actually, right from the first song it was like, "Wow. This sounds a lot like The Cars."

One of the new songs that also sounds vintage is "Not Tonight." How did that get written?

That one started with a track that Elliott had come up with. We were presenting each other with song ideas, and we all picked that one out and changed it around a bit. I added a couple of bridge sections and Todd wrote the lyrics. This was a little later on, probably around November. We were rehearsing in Burbank, and then we got a house in Malibu to do more writing and rehearsing.

Your influence on bands like The Killers, Strokes, Weezer, etc., is palpable. Was this a reason for wanting to get back out there and play live again?

Yeah, and I agree, I think The Cars have influenced the current generation of bands to some extent or another. One of the things for me, personally, [that made me want to tour] was seeing the last couple of McCartney shows. I just love hearing Beatles songs, and he sounded great. The songs sound good 25 years later, and it's great to hear them and see him perform. So I got a bit of a performing itch again, I guess. Elliott has toured fairly constantly for the last decade or so, because he's been working with the Credence [Clearwater Revisited] guys. Whereas my performances have been few and far between.

Well, the Internet is a dangerous thing, and I happened across this site: www.ukeleledisco.com.

[laughs] Oh God.

So besides playing keyboards, you're a ukulele virtuoso …

I would not use the term "virtuoso." [laughs] I've been playing for five years now, because my wife gave one to me as a Valentine's Day present five years ago. So I figured, "Well, I'd better learn this." I was hooked, and I sort of take one around with me nearly everywhere I go these days.

It's a heck of a lot easier than carrying a piano.

That's for sure. And I've even been doing some solo uke performing, which has been way fun.

How many instruments do you play?

I don't know, I dabble in several. Besides keyboards and ukulele, I play guitar, a bit of bass, mandolin, harmonica, flute and saxophone.

Where did you grow up?

In the suburbs around Maryland, Baltimore and Washington.

Did you take a lot of music lessons early on?

I did take clarinet starting in school bands, in the second grade or so. I took piano lessons a little later. In fact, I wanted to give it up when I was in the sixth grade, but then my dad talked me into signing up for piano lessons for another year because he had just gotten Beatles tickets. "Sign up for another year and you can go see The Beatles." That was awesome.

Besides The Beatles, who were your influences?

Brian Wilson, Kraftwerk, and Todd's keyboard playing was an early influence on me too.

Todd's first group The Nazz goes back to the 1960s.

Right, and one of the songs we've been playing has been "Open My Eyes" by The Nazz, which for me is really fun. It's an extra treat to get to play some of Todd's songs.