INTERVIEW PART I: Colin Blunstone on his 51 years with The Zombies

Colin Blunstone’s voice is an iconic staple of radios across the world. His crisp, almost dreamlike vocals have given life to some of the greatest hits from The Zombies, the British Invasion band that’s still touring some 51 years after their first rehearsal. Whether it’s “She’s Not There” or “Time of the Season” or “Tell Her No,” Blunstone is able to paint vivid pictures with his unmatched voice.

The Zombies, much like their namesake, refuse to walk away. They have gained a legion of dedicated fans and continue to play dates around the world. Currently, Rod Argent and Blunstone, the two founding members, are gearing up for an American tour with the latest incarnation of the band, which includes Jim Rodford, Tom Toomey and Steve Rodford. They will make stops in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Wisconsin, New York, Connecticut and Washington, D.C.

Recently, Hollywood Soapbox interviewed Blunstone about his half century of work with The Zombies, his solo career, the legendary album Odessey and Oracle, and what fans can expect on the upcoming tour. Questions and answers have been slightly edited. Here’s Part I of our interview (click here for Part II).

Are you anxious to get the tour started?

Of course. We love coming to America, and it’s really exciting for us. It’s always the home of rock ‘n roll for us on one side, and it’s just a beautiful place to tour on the other side. So, yeah, we’re all getting very excited about coming over. We played a festival last weekend and had a chance to get together and go through the tunes. So we’re ready to go.

Because you know the band so well, does the set list come together very quickly?

Well, we do try to vary the set list. We’re always adding new songs, and I emphasize the word new songs. Because we’re not a band that just dwells on our back catalog. We’re both writing new songs and recording new songs all the time.

So, the set list is constantly evolving, although it’s quite an interesting balance really. There’s a backbone of songs that people expect us to play. But then with the rest of the show, we have a free hand. We try to keep changing and bringing in new songs.

But with regard to having played together for a long time, certainly obviously Rod (Argent) and I have. We’ve played together off and on all our lives, since we were 15. But this incarnation of The Zombies has played together with one change for about 12 years. And it really does help. There’s no substitute for constant touring. If you do that constant touring, a band does gradually become tighter and tighter. I think this is a very tight unit that we have at the moment. It’s a lot of energy on stage, because we’ve played together for a long time. I think it shows in the tightness of the band.

Fans also must be excited to hear songs from the band’s latest album, Breathe Out, Breathe In.

Absolutely. We’re playing four or five songs from the new album. And it’s brilliant for us because what surprises us in a really nice way is that these new songs, first of all, they seem to really fit into The Zombies repertoire. But also we get just as good a reaction from the audience from the new songs as we do from the really established, the classic hits. It really works well together, the new songs that were recorded 18 months ago and the old classics that were recorded 45 years ago.

I guess because to a large extent they were written by the same person. Because Rod is the dominant writer in The Zombies. And they’re sung by the same person, which is me. So you can feel a thread between the old classics and the new material.

Last year the band celebrated 50 years. Could you believe you would still be touring this many years later?

Absolutely not. I think that, along with most people in the music business, I tended to think of careers as a two- or three-year adventure. And then it would probably come to an end. But I think in some ways, what America calls the British Invasion, the bands that had hits starting in ’63 with the Beatles, they are sort of making the rules as they go along. Because we are the first generation of British bands who had worldwide success, that have gone through their careers and are now probably in the autumn of their careers. And we are actually writing the rules.

We are sort of saying, ‘Yes, you can have a lifetime’s career in contemporary music. It is possible. You don’t have to just have your couple of hits, and a two-year career, and then it’s all over.’ I certainly didn’t think that this was possible. We were 17 or 18 years old when we were recording. I didn’t think it was possible, and I didn’t imagine that I would still be doing this. But I’m very, very pleased to have had this opportunity. We often talk about how lucky we are to be in this position at this time in our careers. We play all around the world to packed houses, and we just have a wonderful time.

What do you think it is about The Zombies that have kept them going?

I have to say that there’s a part of me that doesn’t know the answer to that question. It’s been a big surprise, but it’s been a wonderful surprise, the interest that still remains with regards to The Zombies. There’s a part of me that doesn’t really understand that, because no one’s been promoting the band particularly. No one’s been marketing the band, certainly for many years before we started playing again in about 2000. But I suppose from then on, I suppose because we were playing, we were promoting the band and the music.

But there was a long period there was no work going on to promote The Zombies material. But still record sales were going up year by year. It’s been of a phenomenon. I don’t understand why. Odessey and Oracle probably sells more now than it did in the late ‘60s. I just don’t understand it.

One thing I would say, it’s kind of a bit of a contradiction. Odessey and Oracle, those songs including “Time of the Season,” they do kind of conjure up a picture of the late ‘60s. On one side, they are of their time, and for a lot of people, they musically represent that era. But it’s a bit of contradiction in that they also have a bit of a timeless feel about them, and a lot of The Zombies tracks do have a timeless feel about them. And they work quite well when you’re playing in a slightly more contemporary way. You can give them a little bit of a contemporary kick, and they sound just as fresh and energized when we play them now as they ever did in the ‘60s. In fact, I think they sound more relevant now than they did in the ‘60s. They are really good songs.

You have a very distinctive voice. Have you been singing since you were a kid?

I sang for pleasure and for fun. But the band originally formed when we were 15, and I hadn’t sung on a stage before that. In fact, when the band first got together, I was rhythm guitarist. I still play guitar, but I just don’t play on stage. And Rod was going to be the lead singer right at the very beginning. Because of a mixture of things, we quickly realized that he was just a superb keyboard player, and he wasn’t going to play keyboard in the band.

It seemed crazy. There was a particular incident where at our first rehearsal Rod went over to a broken-down old upright piano in the corner of the rehearsal room, and he played “Nut Rocker” by the B. Bumble & the Stingers. And I was just amazed at how good he was, especially compared to myself on guitar. (laughs) And I think almost from that moment when I heard him play piano, certainly I tried to pressure him to play keyboards in the band. He felt that all bands should just have three guitars. That was the way bands were presented in those days.

We managed to talk him into playing, and then he always said he heard me singing a Ricky Nelson song, and said, ‘You know what? You should be the lead singer.’ And that was very, very early on in the first couple of rehearsals we ever had. And so I became the lead singer. When the band first got together, I didn’t join to be a singer. I joined to be a guitarist. That’s just how the band evolved.

Later on, both Rod and I, probably about 12 years ago, we both studied with a singing coach called Ian Adam. And it was a very interesting experience because I had no technique or knowledge of singing or performing until then. And he did teach us some technique, which I think has helped us both, especially when you sing night after night. If you have a little bit of technique, it does make your voice a lot stronger. Many singers I know they don’t have any technique, they don’t warm their voices up before they sing, and on the second or third night of the tour, they lose their voice regularly. And it’s because they’re not looking after their voice. Well, both Rod and I try to do that.

The guy we studied with, Ian Adam, for the most part, he dealt with people in the West End, which would be like … Broadway in New York. People that perform in musicals they have to sing night after night after night, and he would teach them a technique that would allow them to do that. And we’ve really benefited from that.

The Zombies went their separate ways for some years, and you began a solo career. Do you have a new solo album coming out?

That’s right. It’s just finished now. In fact, today I’ve been working on the artwork for it. I did a tour with my solo band in February, and I’m going to Holland with the solo band in November. And we are playing a few UK dates as well. Yeah, when there’s a gap in The Zombies calendar, I like to get my solo band out there. We play a very different show. I probably only play a couple of Zombies songs. I know for a fact I will play two Zombies songs at the most, and the rest of it is solo material. And it’s good fun.

I think that the two projects can work very well together. In no way are they in competition. I hope that they complement one another.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• The Zombies tour begins July 27 and continues throughout the summer. Click here for more information.