were a British pop group of the 1960s. Following The Beatles in 1964 as part of "The British Invasion" of the USA, they were the second UK group to score an American #1 hit. The Zombies were uniquely different, with a subtler style, often jazzier and more inventive chord structures, the prominent keyboards of Rod Argent, and the distinctive voice of Colin Blunstone. She's Not There and Tell Her No were quick hits, but despite continually stunning musical output that has influenced other artists ever since, another hit record was more than four years away, after they'd broken up! See the Biography page for their amazing story. Only in recent years has the richness of The Zombies' entire catalog been discovered by a whole new generation of fans.

Photo, left to right: Hugh Grundy (drums), Colin Blunstone (lead vocals), Chris White (bass), Rod Argent (keyboards), Paul Atkinson (guitar).

NEWSY BITS:

  • For all the latest updates via email from Colin Blunstone and The Zombies, contact andrew(dot)barnes(at)tesco(dot)net and ask to get on the mailing list.
  • 2007, June 25: Today is the release date for Into the Afterlife, a collection of Zombies-related recordings made in the two years following The Zombies break-up. The CD is available from Amazon.com and the usual outlets. Andy Barnes passed on the following from the disc's compiler, Alec Palao: "Ten years is a long time for a compilation to come to fruition, but at Ace Records we firmly believe that it is well worth the wait to do things properly. Such in the case with Into the Afterlife. I had originally planned this collection of post-Zombies odds and sods to come out shortly after the release in October 1997 of Zombie Heaven, almost as a sort of adjunctal fifth disc. Some tracks on Afterlife had in fact at one time been contenders for inclusion on the box. However, one learns that not everything in life is quite so simple, and thus it has taken the best part of a decade to gather the appropriate clearances for the contents of Afterlife. I think you will agree, though, that it has indeed been well worth the wait.

    This is technically not a Zombies album, though it does contain performances by Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent, Chris White, Hugh Grundy and Paul Atkinson, together and separately. In their seven years together, the St Albans quintet had gone from rags to riches to rags again, both literally and metaphorically. As 1968 dawned, with an imminent dissolution of the five friends’ partnership, it seemed that for some of the participants at least, the Zombies had been a magical but ultimately fleeting adventure. Rather, Afterlife is, essentially, what the members of the Zombies did next. It documents the relatively brief but murky period between the end of the group, and the establishment of long term music careers by its main protagonists: two years that were also highlighted by the sudden re-emergence of the Zombies brand as a major commercial force, thanks to the belated and quite unexpected American success of the final single Time Of The Season and the group’s brilliant swansong, Odessey & Oracle.

    It is thus a fascinating, if fleeting chapter, that draws from three different sets of repertoire: Rod and Chris’ initial demos on the way to the formation of Argent, pop experiments that on the one hand are markedly different to what these two exemplary writers had done in the past, yet bear the classy hallmark of the Odessey songbook; the augmented Zombies material that the duo prepared for the aborted R.I.P album; and the small cache of recordings Colin made as Neil MacArthur, including his revamp of She’s Not There which charted in the spring of 1969.

    Virtually everything on Afterlife has not been reissued before, and over half has never been available anywhere.

    The demos provide a chance to hear fabled lost songs such as Unhappy Girl and To Julia, which were deemed inappropriate for the direction the band Argent would take, as well as the embryonic versions of much-loved tunes like She Loves The Way They Love Her. The personnel utilized for the demo sessions was a dry-run for Rod’s planned new group, including Jim Rodford on bass and Hugh Grundy on drums. We also hear a rare Chris vocal on the legendary track Mr Galileo. The enviable harmonies of messrs Argent and White are also to the fore on the orchestral mixes of vintage Zombies outtakes redressed for R.I.P., remixed so as to showcase both the overdubbed vocals and Mike Vickers’ expert string and horn arrangements.

    Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Afterlife are the Neil MacArthur sides, which are rarely discussed even by diehard fans of Mr Blunstone. Though they were unrelated to Chris and Rod’s concurrent activities and, as Colin himself explains in the liners, it was a most uncertain period in the singer’s career, this material nevertheless features some great and overlooked performances from one of the most distinctive voices in British pop. Overseen by producer Mike Hurst, we feature all six tracks originally released on three Deram singles in 1969, including exemplary versions of Nilsson’s Without Her and Billy Vera’s Don’t Try To Explain, and Hurst’s own World Of Glass. A special bonus was the discovery in the producer’s vault of two unreleased cuts from the sessions, including Colin’s absolutely gorgeous rendering of the Buffalo Springfield’s Hung Upside Down. The arrangements are all late 60s British record-making at its classiest.

    Last but not least, there are a couple of continentally-flavoured bonus cuts: the super-rare Italian language version of She’s Not There, and Going To A Go Go, as performed live by the original Zombies on French TV in late 1966.

    Though it consists of live rave-ups, bare-boned demos, or ultra-commercial items aimed squarely at the charts, Into The Afterlife actually hangs together in an oddly satisfying manner, a cohesion that could be expected of few others in pop at the time. As the last Zombies single of the 60s postulated, If It Don’t Work Out: a lot of what’s here indeed did not work out, but most other artists should be so lucky as to have ephemera of this calibre to throw away.

    Alec Palao

    Ace Records UK

  • 2004, December 2: Here's a great web site dedicated to an in-depth look at The Zombies recent tour of The Netherlands, featuring a brief voice-over by Colin Blunstone. The Zombies: The Dutch Tour 2004. [link verified 07/16/07]
  • 2004, April 1: Sad news -- Paul Atkinson died after a long illness. [link verified 11/26/04]
  • 2003: Colin and Rod continue playing together in the studio and on the road. For the latest Blunstone & Argent tour info, please check out the Rod Argent web site and the Colin Blunstone web site. [links verified 11/26/04]
  • Another source of Blunstone and Argent tour dates. [links verified 05/08/04]
  • 2002: Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent continued touring with their group, and they made landfall in the USA again in September. Also, Alec Palao put together another Zombies CD collection, collecting stereo mixes of the band's entire output during their years on Decca Records. Read Alec's description of the The Decca Stereo Anthology project.
  • 2001: Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent teamed up again and recorded a new album, Out of the Shadows (available for sale at Amazon UK), early in the year. They put together a band featuring Rod's cousin Jim Rodford (ex-Kinks, ex-Argent) on bass, Rod's second cousin Steve Rodford (Jim's son) on drums, and session star Mark Johns on guitar. The group toured the UK to much success in the spring, and played four fantastic, sold-out shows in New York City at The Village Underground from May 24-27. This was the first time the two performed together (other than a three-song one-off in 1997) in 34 years, and included selections from The Zombies, Argent, and Blunstone's solo and collaborative work.

BIOGRAPHICAL / HISTORICAL INFO:

  • The band's bio at Ultimate Band List. [link verified 11/26/04]
  • A short Zombies biography from radio station Arrow 93. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • A quick Zombies biography and disocography on the British Beat Boom pages. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • The excellent Zombies Page at Nostalgia Central . [link verified 05/08/04]
  • The Zombies artist page at Launch Music. [link verified on 05/08/04]
  • The Zombies entry in the Rockmine Ultimate Rock Cyclopedia. Scroll two thirds down the page. There are entries for the band members, too, although it is just names and dates - nothing else to read. There is a notable entry for a Spanish band, also named The Zombies. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • Listen to a 2004 BBC interview with Rod and Colin (in RealAudio format). Part 1. Part 2. Read the attendant article. [links verified 08/15/04]
  • A 1998 chat with Chris White on the Pause and Play music pages. [link down as of 11/24/04]
  • An April 2001 interview with Colin and Rod at the Pause and Play site. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • Crossfire Publications has released the book Time Of The Season by Greg Russo. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • An Amazon.com interview with Colin Blunstone about The Zombies. [link down as of 11/24/04]
  • Colin Blunstone did a 45-minute interview on the National Public Radio program Fresh Air with Terry Gross on January 28, 1998. It's a wonderful interview and I think you can order a tape from this site as well. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • Check out info on the book Then Play On, by Mike Ober, which features an original, 34-page interview with Zombies bassist/composer Chris White. Write to Mike first to confirm availability and current pricing. [link verified 11/21/04]
  • Kim Stitzel was very kind to transcribe the liner notes for three recently issued collections: Odessey and Oracle (1987 Rhino re-issue CD) by Rod Argent, Greatest Hits (1995 TransLuxe CD) by Robert John Jones, and The Collection (1988 Castle Communications CD) by John Tobler. [links verified 05/08/04]
  • The band is covered among the pop groups on the Sixties British Pop Culture page. [links verified 05/08/04]
  • A Colin Blunstone interview in Flagpole magazine. [link verified 03/15/01]
  • Several of The Zombies' past TV appearances are on videotapes, some for sale at Dead End Records. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • SAF Publishing has released a book by Claes Johansen, a Zombies biography published in mid-2001, called The Zombies: Hung Up On A Dream. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • The Zombies are covered in this (written in Japanese) History of the British Invasion. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • From Rod's site: two bits of a 2001 TV interview with Colin and Rod. Click the pics (RealMedia format). [links verified 05/08/04]
  • An article on Zombies tour manager David Blaylock. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • Andy Barnes publishes a Colin Blunstone newsletter called Photograph. He says, "Anyone interested in Colin Blunstone's latest activities can write to me to recieve a copy of my newsletters. All I ask is that SAE / 2 x IRCs are sent to: "Photograph", P. O. Box 336, Cheltenham, Glos., GL51 6YP, England." I'm sure you can write to him for more info, too. I'd email him first for details, at andrew.barnes @ tesco.net.
THE RECORDS / THE SONGS / THE MUSIC:
MISCELLANEOUS:
  • Check out the band known as the Japanese Zombies: The Carnabeats. [link verified 07/20/07]
  • This Billy Joel article quotes him naming The Zombies as his favorite band in the 60s. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • Rod's keyboard playing is applauded on this page on electric piano music. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • On the Byrd Watcher page, it is noted that Roger McGuinn credited Rod Argent with showing the world that jazz-inspired playing could be incorporated into popular rock music. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • Zombies Personally Handwritten Autographed Song Lyrics By Chris White or Colin Blunstone For Sale [link verified 11/21/04]
  • The Knowhere Guide to St. Albans, which is, of course, the Zombies' home town (band birthplace). [link verified 05/08/04]
  • There's a fascinating archive of Beatles-related Dates that documents a Beatles appearance at The Cavern Club on 20 September 1961 with another group called The Zombies - who apparently pre-date the band of the same name that became famous. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • Chris White talks about Irish musician Francie Conway. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • A few musings from Rod Argent are recalled by folk artist Nanci Griffith in the liner notes on the CD that Rod Argent produced for her. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • Rod's birthday is noted on this list of a rock birthdays. [link verified 11/24/04]
  • This page tells you how to get that Zombies organ sound on your Kurzweil K2000 synthesizer. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • Veteran session musician Joe McGinty (Ramones, Psychedelic Furs, Richard Davies, Deborah Harry, Chris von Sneidern, Pizzicato Five, Jules Shear, Lotion, countless others) organized an Odessy and Oracle tribute show with collaborating band The Kustard Kings. Other Zombies hits and even some Colin Blunstone solo material were also featured. This was in New York City at Fez under Time Cafe on February 13, 14, and 15th, 1998. Here is a review by Dave Goldsman. [link verified 11/21/04]
  • John Verity played with Argent and on various Blunstone and White recordings. [link verified 05/08/04]
  • For those who want to know what the word "zombies" means, they're hypothetical creatures described fully on the Zombies Invade Philosophy page. [link verified 05/08/04]


Please let me know if you have anything to add or correct.
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