upfront
Q&A
“There seems to be a great resurgence of interest in us”: The Zombies’ Colin Blunstone
Buzz’s Rhonda Lee Reali, a card-carrying fan of psych-pop pioneers The Zombies, was thrilled by their new album Different Game. Ahead of a month-long UK tour, including a Pontardawe stopoff, she let Zombies vocalist Colin Blunstone know about it, and received sage insight in return.
Last time I spoke to you The Zombies were recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Long overdue! With that, touring and your latest album Different Game, you guys are on fire. It’s interesting what’s happening, isn’t it? There certainly seems to be a great resurgence of in- terest in The Zombies, and of course it’s great to be part of that. We’re a band that – apart from the pandemic when everything stopped – tour all the time, and I think that really helped in broadening the band’s fanbase. Since 1999, we’ve been on the road all the time, and a lot of that’s been spent in America. So we’ve certain- ly built up the band’s profile there, and initial reaction to [Different Game] has been fantas- tic. It’s very exciting to see what’s happening.
I did see the livestream of your 2021 Abbey Road concert, and I thought The Zombies were incredible. You did several of the new album’s songs that night – You Could Be My Love and I Want To Fly brought tears to my eyes, so lovely and emotional. They’re beautiful songs. We just came back from America, and we played four new songs from the album. They all went down incred- ibly well, and I’m sure we’ll go on playing
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them. Over the years, we’ve played five new songs from the album, but we’ve dropped one and brought another one back. It’s constantly changing, but one of the amazing things for us is that when we play these brand new songs, we still get an incredible reaction. Pretty much the same kind of reaction we get from the clas- sic songs that were huge hits. That’s so heart- ening for us, because the thing that energises us is to write and record new songs. It’s quite an art to be able to put a set together where people will accept the new songs as enthusias- tically as they do the classic hits, but somehow we seem to be able to do that. It really bodes well for the future.
As soon as I heard those new songs, I thought if the rest of the album is as good as this it’s going to be fantastic! I’m so glad you had that reaction. Recording a new album, you’re never sure how it’s going to be. It’s a bit like doing a painting. You never really know how it’s going to end up until it’s finished. So it’s always reassuring to hear peo- ple really enjoyed it and our interpretation of these new songs.
The song Rediscover, to my ears, sounded like a combination of The Beach Boys and Gershwin. That’s a very flattering observation! Quite in- teresting. Just before we started recording this album, we toured with the wonderful Brian Wilson band in America, for about six weeks. We listened to all these wonderful harmonies that were coming from the band – maybe that influenced us a little bit, but Rod [Argent, Zombies keyboardist and founder member] wrote that song. In no way are any of these songs copied, I’m not saying that! When you tour with other bands, I think, some of their music will always rub off on you, and hope- fully it’s true the other way around. [Early Zombies hit] Tell Her No was influenced by touring with Dionne Warwick, when she was singing all the Burt Bacharach songs. We are a band that do sing harmonies, but the beginning of Rediscover does emphasise that side of the band. I’d like us to do more of that – we’ve got some great harmony singers in the band, and it’s well within our capability.
The Zombies,
Pontardawe Arts Centre, Wed 12 Apr. Tickets: £30.25. Info:
pontardaweartscentre.com
Alex Lake
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