Interview: The Zombies Colin Blunstone

2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Zombies will return to Northeast Ohio for a show at MGM Northfield Park on Sunday, October 22!

Formed in 1961 (yes, 60+ years ago!) by Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone, The Zombies first achieved chart success in 1964 with the singles “She’s Not There” and “Tell Her No.” Four years later (1968), they returned to the charts with their biggest hit, “Time of the Season.”

Despite minimal success with singles in between and landing a significant spot on the charts in over 50 years, The Zombies remained one of the most critically acclaimed acts of their generation and maintained a strong following and packed live shows throughout the course of their lengthy career.

The Zombies continue to record to this day, even releasing a brand new album, ‘Different Game’ in 2023.

Lead vocalist Colin Blunstone checked in with CleveRock via ZOOM to discuss the band’s incredible career and their upcoming show in the area later this month!

CleveRock: Will you have an opportunity to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum while you are in Northeast Ohio?

Colin Blunstone (The Zombies): “I’d love to, if there’s time. It’s a real experience going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and I always recommend it to anyone who’s coming to the United States. If they get the opportunity, you must go, and if we get the chance, we will. Unfortunately, when you’re touring, you are on the move constantly and there’s not a lot of opportunity to do other things apart from just doing the concert. But, if we get a chance, we will go. Definitely.”

CleveRock: What does it mean to you to be recognized by the prestigious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Blunstone: Personally, I thought it was incredibly exciting. To some extent, because it’s recognition firstly from your fans in the fan vote, and secondly from fellow professionals in the actual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame vote, it means that your fans and your fellow professionals have noticed what you’ve been doing and have appreciated it. I think it helps to validate how you’ve spent the last few years. In our case, this band’s been together for over 60 years, and I found that extremely exciting and that we got that validation, especially as the band and its first incarnation ended before ‘Time of the Season’ was a huge number-one Cashbox hit. It was a kind of strange ending for the first incarnation of the band. I think in many ways, we felt the band had run its course and we felt that it was being unsuccessful, so it was rather sad when that first incarnation ended.

I think it was in 1967, actually,. we had a huge number-one hit, and it all got a bit confusing. When we’re inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it makes you think that we did do some things right and people have appreciated what we’ve done over the years. And of course, there’s this second incarnation of the band, which started in 1999. It’s just been a joy to watch this band grow and it has been incredibly exciting actually because, without any hit singles, we’ve managed to completely change the profile of The Zombies over the years just through continually touring. I think it’s a very satisfying feeling when you can do that.”

CleveRock: The Zombies recently released a new album, ‘Different Game’ earlier this year. Obviously, the band could tour and draw crowds based on your past catalog. What motivates you to continue to write and put out new music?

Blunstone: “I think that magical process of seeing a song grow from the initial spark, where does the song come from? There’s this initial spark of someone coming up with a song on this new album. It’s mostly Rod Argent, our keyboard player. I just wrote one song on there, but I’ve always, and I think Rod shares this with me, always been thrilled to see how a song develops from the very initial idea it develops in the studio and then later on it’ll develop again when you start playing live and you’re touring these tracks. I just find it to be a really exhilarating and fulfilling experience to see new music being developed and then eventually, it’s played to hopefully an appreciative audience. I think that’s what energizes us to keep writing and keep recording and of course keep performing.”

CleveRock: Are you performing many of the new songs on ‘Different Game’ on your current tour?

Blunstone: “Yes! we’re playing four songs and possibly a fifth, but we’re going to look at that fifth song. We tend to work a lot of things out when we’re actually on the road and it seems to work for us. But we’ll be playing four new songs, as I said, and possibly a few more.“

CleveRock: With a catalog that spans more than 60 years of making music, is it difficult for The Zombies to compose a setlist for the tour?

Blunstone: “I think you have to remember that you’re never going to please everybody, but we always play the big hits. We usually play a selection from our last album as well as ‘Odessy and Oracle,’ which Rolling Stone named as one of the top hundred albums of all time.“”

CleveRock: I read that The Zombies recently bought back the rights to your entire catalog. How did this come about and how important was it to you to be able to get the right back?

Blunstone: “I think it’s great to be in control of your masters, which we are. And I think that was the main motivation for doing it. It happened that the company that had been looking after it for years probably needed to go down the same road as well. I mean, obviously, there had to be some kind of business arrangement that had to come together, but I think everyone was on the same page. We’ve been with that company since the beginning, since 1964, and it was time for us to get our masters back and then we’re in charge of our destiny and we’ll see what happens.”

CleveRock: So many artists have performed or recorded covers of The Zombies’ songs. Do you have a favorite version of one of your songs that someone else has covered?

Blunstone: It is great that people do cover The Zombies’ songs, but the other thing that really thrills me is that The Zombies’ material is in so many films and also in commercials as well. It’s great when you’re sitting watching a film and sometimes this has happened to me and I don’t know, there’s a song in the film and I’m watching a film and a Zombies track comes out and you would be amazed how many Zombie tunes are in films. That’s another sort of aspect of what we do. We’ve been really lucky that it’s down to the two main songwriters in the original band, Rod Argent and Chris White. They wrote many timeless songs that sound as fresh and as relevant today as they did when they were first written and recorded. We’re just really fortunate to have had those two guys in the band.

With regard to covers, the one that always comes to mind I think is the Santana cover of ‘She’s Not There,’ which is really great. Eminem did a cover of ‘Time of the Season,’ but he set it to new lyrics I think that was a really good track, but there’ve been many covers. Those are two that come to mind.”