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The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and United States hit in 1964 with "She's Not There". In the USA two further singles, "Tell Her No" and, in 1968, "Time of the Season", were also successful.
Their 1968 album Odessey and Oracle, comprising twelve songs by the group's principal songwriters, Argent and Chris White, is ranked 80 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
The group formed in 1961 in St Albans, England, and gained their initial reputation playing the Old Verulamians Rugby Club in that city. The group was formed while the members were at school. Some sources state that Argent, Atkinson and Grundy were at St Albans School, while Blunstone and White were students at St Albans Boys' Grammar School (since renamed Verulam School). Argent was a boy chorister in St Albans Cathedral Choir.
Their choice of names was out of desperation, and The Zombies won out over Chatterley and the Gamekeepers, according to Blunstone and White. After winning a beat-group competition sponsored by the London Evening News, they signed to Decca and recorded their first hit, "She's Not There" (Argent's second song, written specifically for this session), which was released in mid-1964 and peaked at number 12 in the UK, where it was their only UK Top 40 hit. This minor-key, jazz-tinged number, distinguished by its musicianship and Blunstone's breathy vocal, was unlike anything heard in British rock at the time. It was first aired in the United States in early August 1964 on New York City rock station WINS by Stan Z. Burns, who debuted the song on his daily noontime "Hot Spot". The tune began to catch on in early fall and eventually climbed to #2.
Like many other British Invasion groups, The Zombies were sent to the United States to tour behind their new hit single. Among their most memorable early U.S. gigs were Murray the K's Christmas shows at the Brooklyn Fox Theatre, where the band played seven performances a day. Hugh Grundy later recalled also contributing to the sets by the Shangri-Las — not as a musician, but by revving a motorcycle brought backstage as a sound effect for their performance of "Leader of the Pack". On January 12, 1965 the band was set to make their first in person appearance on U.S. television. The Zombies were to appear on the first episode of NBC's Hullabaloo. They played "She's Not There" to a screaming hysterical audience full of teenage girls.
After the follow-up single "Leave Me Be" stiffed in the UK (and not issued as an "A" single in the US), Rod Argent's "Tell Her No" became another big seller in the United States (in 1965), but failed to make the Top 40 in the band's native UK. Subsequent recordings such as "I Love You" (which became a hit for People! in 1968), "Indication", "Whenever You're Ready", and "Is This the Dream" failed to achieve the success of the previous two singles (although they had continued success in Scandinavia and the Philippines).
Their first UK LP, Begin Here (1965), was a collection of early singles, featuring half a dozen original songs combined with several R&B covers. While continuing recording in 1965-66 and trying to achieve chart success, they recorded enough material for a follow-up album, but the lack of chart success kept most of those tracks from being issued (most of them were the basis for the unreleased follow-up to their "Odessey and Oracle" LP, which was going to be titled "R.I.P.")
In 1967, The Zombies signed to CBS Records, for whom they recorded the album Odessey and Oracle. (The word odyssey was misspelled by cover designers.) Because the band's budget could not cover session musicians, they used a Mellotron, a device designed to imitate orchestral sections.
By the time Odessey and Oracle was released in April 1968, the group had disbanded. The album sold poorly and was only given a U.S. release because musician Al Kooper, then signed to Columbia Records, convinced his label of the album's merits. An album track, "Time of the Season", written by Argent, was released as a single and eventually (1969) became a nationwide hit (Billboard #3).
The band's original lineup declined to regroup for concerts, so various concocted groups tried to capitalize on the success and falsely toured under the band's name. Another such group toured in 1988, going so far as to trademark the group's name (since the band had let the mark lapse) and recruit a member named Ronald Hugh Grundy, who was passed off as being an original member.
After The Zombies disbanded, Rod Argent formed a band called Argent, with Chris White as a non-performing songwriter (it should be noted here that the Chris White who had a hit in 1976 with the single "Spanish Wine" is a different person). Colin Blunstone started a solo career after a brief period outside the music business, including working in the burglary claims section of an insurance company. Both Argent and White provided him with new songs. He also did studio vocals for The Alan Parsons Project.
In 1991 Blunstone, Grundy and White briefly reunited as The Zombies with guitarist Sebastian Santa Maria and recorded the album New World.
A 1997 120-track compilation of the original band's work, Zombie Heaven, was released on UK Ace/Big beat. The compilation contains all the band's Decca/Parrot recordings (in mono), the entire "Odessey And Oracle" LP (in stereo), the material that would have made up the unissued "R.I.P." LP, several unissued recordings and a disc of recordings made for the BBC. On 25 November 1997, all five Zombies reunited at the Jazz Cafe in London's Camden Town as part of a solo show by Blunstone to perform "She's Not There" and "Time of the Season" to promote the release of Zombie Heaven.
Blunstone and Argent reunited for an album ("Out Of The Darkness") and tour together in 2001 under the Blunstone & Argent moniker and continued playing live shows together into 2004 when they began going out under the name "The Zombies" again. The new line-up included Rod's cousin Jim Rodford (formerly of The Kinks and Argent), his son Steve Rodford on drums, and Keith Airey (brother of Don Airey) on guitar.
In 2002, Ace/Big Beat released the 48 track "The Decca Stereo Anthology", which, for the first time, mixed all of the Decca/Parrot recordings into true stereo.
An album of new material released in 2004, As Far as I Can See..., received poor-to-scathing reviews from both Pitchfork and Allmusic, but better reviews elsewhere.
Guitarist Paul Atkinson died in Santa Monica, California, on 1 April 2004. Having retired as a performer, he was an A&R man for many years.
In 2005 Blunstone and Argent released a DVD and 2-CD album (Live At The Bloomsbury Theatre) and continued touring with The Zombies.
To mark the 40th anniversary of Odessey & Oracle, the four surviving original members of The Zombies participated in a three-night series of concerts at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire Theatre between 7 and 9 March 2008. Blunstone and Argent's respective websites had advertised that the 8 March concert was recorded for a CD and/or DVD release later in 2008, and the CD was officially posted by Amazon.com to be pre-sold for a release of 1 July 2008. Both CD and DVD were officially released in the UK and several countries around the world.
In 2010 Tom Toomey replaced Keith Airey on guitar, and in 2011 "The Zombies featuring Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent" released their new studio album Breathe Out, Breathe In. Reviews were generally strong, and included 4 star reviews from publications including Record Collector, Q, Uncut, the Daily Mirror, and The Independent.
The band tour the USA and Canada every year now, as they also do in The Netherlands and the UK. 2011's tour schedule will include Japan, France, Germany, Greece, and Israel. Full listings of gigs when confirmed are published on the band's website.
Members
Colin Blunstone
Rod Argent
Tom Toomey
Jim Rodford
Steve Rodford
Past members
Paul Atkinson
Chris White
Sebastian Santa Maria
Hugh Grundy
Keith Airey
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