Greg Hawkes

Greg's original stack of keyboards on the first record consisted of a MiniKorg 700S, a APR Omni MK1, and a Yamaha CP-30 electric piano. The CP-30 is heard on "Bye Bye Love" and "All Mixed Up", just to name two songs. He continued using it up until or after Panorama.

Greg Hawkes, of The Cars, is seen performing with his Univox K1 synthesizer, as captured in a Getty Images photo. This instrument has been a staple in his career, including during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction concert.

Another big-time keyboard in The Cars early records was the ARP Omni, which is what Greg used mostly for the "strings" type sounds (String Synths were huge in the late 1970's). If you listen to songs like "Moving In Stereo", "All Mixed Up", "It's All I Can Do", "You Wear Those Eyes" - you can really hear that ARP Omni in full effect providing the wash of strings in the back.

The ARP Omni is visible below the MiniKorg 700S during the solo on Moving in Stereo during the clip. It is also visible in a LOT of other early Cars live footage.

In a Getty Images photo, Greg Hawkes of The Cars is seen performing with a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer.

It's actually a misprint, there was never a PPG Wave 3.2, but there was a PPG Wave 2.3

Greg Hawkes Both Greg and Ric used the Fairlight CMI extensively on Heartbeat City, but also used the Roland Jupiter B and Vocoder, the Memorymoog, the Yamaha DX7 and DX9, the Mini-Korg, a Prophet 5 and a PPG 3.2 Wave synthesizer.

In a Getty Images photo, Greg Hawkes is seen performing with a Roland Jupiter-8 synthesizer onstage with The Cars.

In this Getty Images photo, Greg Hawkes of The Cars is seen performing with a Roland Juno-D Synthesizer.

Greg's main Synth on the early Cars records was a Korg MiniKorg 700S monophonic synth. He continued to use this synth all the way through The Cars career up until the breakup in 1987. It's quite visible during the Musikladen performance.

In the article "Ric's Right Hand Man Greg Hawkes" from the Daily Events Book Page Three, it is noted that Greg Hawkes extensively used the Fairlight CMI during the production of The Cars' album Heartbeat City in 1983-1984. This 16-bit sampling synthesizer, featuring an advanced touchscreen interface for editing waveforms, was a standout piece of equipment on the album. It played a significant role in tracks like "Hello Again," contributing orchestral hits and various other sounds. Alongside the Fairlight CMI, Hawkes and Ric Ocasek also utilized other synthesizers, including the Roland Jupiter B and Vocoder, Memorymoog, Yamaha DX7 and DX9, Mini-Korg, Prophet 5, and PPG 3.2 Wave synthesizer.

Greg Hawkes used a Synclavier during the Heartbeat City tour. You can see it during the Live Aid concert.

Four Roland MSQ-700 sequencers can be seen in Greg's synth rig during this concert. A better shot of them can be seen around the 12:11 mark in the video, during "Touch and Go".

A Jupiter-4 can be seen behind Greg at 0:11 in this performance of Touch and Go. It also appears in this Instagram post (https://www.instagram.com/p/CEPUInKjbpH/?igshid=1fgjolos6381k) along with many other synths from his days with The Cars.

In a photo featured on the "Vote Now To Get The Cars Inducted!" page, Greg Hawkes, keyboardist and founding member of The Cars, is seen using the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer.

Greg Hawkes, known for his work with The Cars, occasionally played rhythm guitar on tracks not originally featured on their albums, such as "You Just Can't Push Me" and "Take What You Want." These songs, available on expanded editions like The Cars Deluxe Edition, notably lack synthesizer parts. In these recordings, Greg's guitar, often delivering a fuzztone sound, adds depth to the mix.

Additionally, Greg Hawkes is pictured with an Ovation Breadwinner guitar on the inner sleeve of The Cars' album "Panorama," alongside his bandmates and their respective instruments.

On the 2011 tour for Move Like This, Greg Hawkes upgraded from the Juno D to the Juno Di. It's visible in the clip above, from the Showbox SoDo show - their first concert in 24 years, on May 11 2011, I was at this show, front row - I saw the logo on the front of Greg's Roland.

When The Cars recorded Candy-O, Greg Hawkes used an unknown Farfisa. When touring for the album in 1979, Greg started using a Vox Continental.

He prefers this to the Farfisa they used on the Candy-O record on "Got a Lot On My Head." Source.

The Continental that Hawkes used with The Cars was sold at auction in 2020.

During The Cars' 2011 tour for the album "Move Like This," Greg Hawkes played a Fender Mustang Bass on several songs, including "Touch and Go" and "I'm In Touch With Your World." While it's often thought that he used a valuable white Fender Active Precision Bass owned by the late Benjamin Orr, that bass was only used in the studio. Greg likely chose the Mustang for the tour to avoid the risk of damage or theft to Orr's bass. This is evident in a live performance video from May 12, 2011, at the Hollywood Palladium, available on YouTube. Interestingly, I attended the tour's opening show on March 10, 2011, in Seattle, and I own a similar Vintage White CIJ/MIJ Mustang Bass, which was released around 2003 after Orr's passing.

It's mentioned as a part of Greg's setup for the 1984 Heartbeat City album - and was also used extensively on Door to Door in 1987 as well.

http://dailyeventsbookpagethree.blogspot.com/2006/03/rics-right-hand-man-greg-hawkes.html

Greg Hawkes Both Greg and Ric used the Fairlight CMI extensively on Heartbeat City, but also used the Roland Jupiter B and Vocoder, the Memorymoog, the Yamaha DX7 and DX9, the Mini-Korg, a Prophet 5 and a PPG 3.2 Wave synthesizer.

Greg Hawks was said to have recieved a Pink Fender Telecaster for The Cars 1982 Shake It Up tour. Greg played guitars on the songs "Take What You Want" and a few others, mostly all songs The Cars never recorded in the studio on their original run.

One thing that may keep things interesting on the tour is Ben Orr's pink bass. Pink bass? "There are going to be four guitars," he explains. "and they're all going to be pink. Ric has his old Fender Jazzmaster, Elliot's getting a Stratocaster, Greg's getting a Telecaster, and I'll be playing a Precision bass. Just a little flash for the folks, I guess."

A D-50 can be seen on Greg's keyboard rig starting around 1:14 in this video.

According to this posting on Google Books - Greg used an Echoplex on parts of the Candy-O record.

According to the article in Google Books that I linked to, Greg also used a Roland Chorus Echo on Candy-O in some places.

Greg Hawkes can be seen playing his Roland VP-330 in “Gimme Some Slack” and “Touch and Go” during live performances on the show, Fridays.