Zombies, The

Zombies, The, one of the most under-rated and under-appreciated bands of the British Invasion. Membership:Rod Argent, kybd. (b. St. Albans, England, June 14, 1945); Paul Atkinson, gtr. (b. Cuffley, England, March 19, 1946); Colin Blunstone, voc. (b. Hatfield, England, June 24, 1945); Hugh Grundy, drm. (b. Winchester, England, March 6, 1945); Chris White, bs. (b. Barnet, England, March 7, 1943).

The group came together when Argent, Blunstone, and Grundy were studying at St. Albans. Their original bassist left the band for medical school and was replaced by White, whose father let them rehearse in a store attic. Early in 1964, the quartet won a contest organized by the London Evening News. The prize was an audition with Decca records. Decca signed them and their first single, “She’s Not There/’ rose to #2 in the U.S. pop charts. With its uncharacteristic minor key and keyboard solo (this was the era when the Beatles made the guitar king), it stood out among the pop music of the time.

After a couple of singles that didn’t chart, they hit the Top Ten again with “Tell Her No.” They toured supporting the Searchers and Herman’s Hermits, recorded a soundtrack for the film Bunny Lake Is Missing, and several singles that went nowhere. They left Decca and signed with Columbia. Feeling like they had nothing left to lose, they recorded one of the first concept records, Odessey and Oracle (the title misspelled by a Columbia art director). The album was so unusual it nearly didn’t get released. It probably wouldn’t have mattered to the band at that point, because as soon as they left the studio, they broke up. However, Al Kooper prevailed on Columbia, and the album came out.

Argent and White formed Argent. Atkinson went on to success as an A&R man. Blunstone became a successful solo artist. Ironically, in 1969, after the Odessey and Oracle album has slipped out of print, the single “Time of the Season” became their third top-10 single, going gold. The group, however, resisted invitations to reform. In fact, they didn’t play together for another 30 years, when Odessey and Oracle was re-released and they got on stage, impromptu. Ironically, having never played “Time of the Season” live, it was a struggle getting through it. With this late 1990s re-release and several other reconsiderations of their music in the 1990s, they enter the new millennium perhaps more popular than at any time since the early 1960s.

Discography

The Zombies (1964); Begin Here (1965); Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965); Odessey and Oracle (1968).

—Brock Helander