ITV Colin Blunstone

interview with...

frontman of the legendary zombies

“Whether you like our music or not, we are survivors.”

Few rock ’n roll bands have been around for 55 years, mostly because the genre itself hasn’t been around for that much longer either. The Zombies were part of the first British invasion. Mainly known for their quintessential hits ‘She’s Not There’ and ‘Time of the Season’ from yesteryear, their 2015 album ‘Still Got That Hunger’ got some of the best reviews of the band’s career and proved their continued relevance. Prior to the gig at the Vostertfeesten in Belgium, lead vocalist Colin Blunstone takes Keys and Chords back to the very beginnings of The Zombies.

Julian De Backer: “You started out in 1961. That’s 55 years of Zombies-goodness. Do you still remember the spark, the impetus, the very beginning of when you wanted to create music and perform?”

Colin Blunstone: “I know, it’s a long time. I remember it very very well. We were all at school, and my parents bought me a guitar. That wasn’t easy for them, because they weren’t wealthy. As a result of that, Paul Arnold, someone I was in school with, just turned around to me one day. He sat in front of me and said: “You’ve got a guitar, would you like to be in a band?”. And that was my audition, and that was The Zombies.”

Julian: “One day, you were just a student, and the next day, you were a musician.”

Colin: “Well, it wasn’t quite as simple as that, but vaguely, yeah. We were only 15 years old, and we didn’t become professional musicians until we were 18, nearly 19. We were still in school during our first three years. The first year, we just rehearsed. Then we built up a local following which gradually grew, until we won a very big rock ‘n roll competition. That led to a contract with Decca Records in July 1964. Then came ‘She’s Not There’, which was a big hit.”

Julian: “That means you guys have been around since the very beginning of rock ‘n roll, together with The Rolling Stones and Golden Earring.”

Colin: “I know. It’s extraordinary, isn’t it? I don’t even know what to say.”

Julian: “And you’re survivors. You live to tell.”

Colin: “You have to admit that. Whether you like our music or not, we are survivors.”

Julian: “When you started out, the concept of a ‘zombie’ was not very well known. Nowadays, there are shows like ‘The Walking Dead’, there are movies, video games, the works. Zombies are more popular than ever. But you guys were the first to actually use the word ‘zombie’ in a popular culture context.”

Colin: “It’s true. There was no zombie culture. We were just desperate for a different name, a name that hadn’t been used by anyone else. It was our original bass player, Paul Arnold, who just came up with the idea of The Zombies. And it stuck.”

Julian: “I can imagine back then, your parents or your grandparents didn’t even know what a zombie was. It’s common today, but …”

Colin: “To tell you the truth, I’m not sure I knew what a zombie was. Haha. But as I said, it stuck. Everyone in the band really liked it, except me. I wasn’t very keen on it.”

Julian: “Did you have any alternatives in mind?”

Colin: “No. That’s why I had to give in, haha!”

Julian: “There’s a very recent Belgian band called Dadawaves. I talked to the band’s frontman Jasper Stockmans last month. They have just released their first album. I asked him what his influences were. He said: ‘The White Album’ by The Beatles, ‘Pet Sounds’ by The Beach Boys and ‘Odessey and Oracle’ by The Zombies.”

Colin: “Right, yeah!”

Julian: “It must be flattering for you that a young band, starring 30-somethings, are still influenced by an album that’s almost 50 years old.”

Colin: “I know. I don’t take it for granted. I’m very very grateful and thrilled when people say that. But it does happen quite often. Particularly about that album, ‘Odessey and Oracle’.”

Julian: “It’s timeless.”

Colin: “Maybe it is. It certainly has influenced many people, and we play a lot in America. We play more in America than we do in Europe. In America, ‘Odessey and Oracle’ has a huge influence on people. Every night, we’ll play four or five tracks from the album. We don’t do that so much in Europe. Tonight, we’ll be playing three. (humbled) I don’t know what else to say. Especially in America, it’s thought of in quite revered terms.”

Julian: “Talking about America: you almost had 10 hits over there, and just one in your native UK. Doesn’t it bother you that you’ve been sort of overlooked and neglected in your home country?”

Colin: “Well. It would have been nice if we had had more hits, of course. But there’s more to being a musician than having hit records. Hit records is only part about the music, it’s also about promotion, marketing, management, and all sorts of other things. I think we just have to let that side of the business take care of itself. We were always thinking about the future, and not the past. We’ve just recorded a new album, it got into the top-100.”

Julian: “You got excellent reviews.”

Colin: “It was a chart album in America, and already we’re thinking about the next one. It takes a bit of time to get a project together, and that’s where our energies are.”

Julian: “Do you know what happened in the UK?”

Colin: “Well, I’m not sure I really understand. We all have our own theories. I think the initial publicity for our band was very poor. It was really bad, and I don’t think we ever recovered. We were really young, 17 and 18 years old when we made our first record. We didn’t understand how the business worked. We let other people create a sort of false image for the band. I think it really affected how people perceived us, and to some extent, it still does. The first photos, the first handouts, stay with you forever. I think that was a factor in why the band was not so successful in the UK.”

Julian: “It is quite striking, because the UK normally has a sense of pride and showmanship towards native bands. ‘This is English’. They’ll show off. But they just neglected you, which is sad. You guys were one of the best.”

Colin: “It happens, and then you just get on with it. In this business, you have to go where your market is. We’ve been really fortunate. After 55 years, we still have markets all around the world.”

Julian: “You still pack ‘em in.”

Colin: “And actually, even without the hit records, we still play very big venues in the UK. A lot bigger than some bands who had far more hits than us. We can play all around the world. As I said, we go to America all the time, Canada, Europe, the far east, Japan, The Philippines. We’re probably the biggest in The Philippines! We’re lucky, because in retrospect, we have built up a very good market in the UK. But in the sixties, we did struggle.”

Julian: “Is it true there was a fake Zombies doing the rounds in the 70’s?”

Colin: “Oh yeah, there have been 2 or 3. It’s quite complicated to copyright a name, it’s not as easy as you’d think. Those bands took a shot when the real band wasn’t active. They saw a gap in the market, and they went for it. We tried to stop one of the bands, and something I thought I had done affected them, because suddenly they stopped.”

Julian: “What did you do?”

Colin: “I was talking to lawyers, sending letters, but as it turned out, it wasn’t me at all. They weren’t very good. They went into the dressing room after a show, and the audience was pretty disgruntled. Someone went into the dressing room and pulled a gun on them, and threatened them. They never played again! I thought it was me, but it wasn’t. Haha.”

Julian: “Great story. Thank you for your time.”