The Zombies
The Zombies
The Zombies
Rock Artist Management have had a long relationship with The Zombies for over a decade. One of the first gigs that Colin Blunstone performed was booked by Ram back in the 90's at the prestigious Green Room in London for a three week residency. Since then The band have performed numerous gigs and festival s for RAM. The Zombies Bass player and one of the founding members of Argent was in The Animals alongside Peter Barton, John Steel and Dave Rowberry for several years.
History
The group formed in 1959 in St Albans, England, and gained their initial reputation playing the Old Verulamians Rugby Club in that city.
After winning a beat-group competition sponsored by the London Evening News, the Zombies 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. One of 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". In January 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.
In early 1965, Rod Argent's "Tell Her No" became another big seller in the United States, 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
Their first LP, Begin Here (1965), was a collection of early singles, featuring half a dozen original songs combined with several R&B covers. 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).
In 1991 Blunstone, Grundy and White briefly reunited as The Zombies with guitarist Sebastian Santa Maria and recorded the album New World.
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".
Blunstone and Argent reunited for an album 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 Zombies name 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.
An album of new material released in 2004, As Far as I Can See..., received poor reviews from both Pitchfork and Allmusic. A 1997 120-track compilation of the original band's work, Zombie Heaven, was released on UK Ace/Big beat.[1] 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. (For the casual Zombies fan, this anthology, along with "Odessey And Oracle" are essential.)
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 Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent of The Zombies released a DVD and 2-CD album (Live At The Bloomsbury Theatre), which received excellent reviews.
In 2006, Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone carried on touring as The Zombies. Their U.S. tour of 2007 garnered stellar reviews. Their touring continued into 2009.
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.
The band continue to tour the world today headlining many festival and Tours.