Zombies Still Breathing After 50 Years

Such a band is The Zombies.

The band still has two original members in the shape of Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone, and the bassist was present at the band’s first rehearsal (since they borrowed some of his equipment) – although he decided against joining.

That bassist is the legendary Jim Rodford, who played for 20 years in The Kinks.

The band is completed by guitarist Tom Toomey and drummer Steve Rodford, Jim’s son.

The band, who are undertaking a short tour throughout May which culminates in a gig at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, have just recorded a brand new album entitled ‘Breathe Out – Breathe In’, which is to be released on the band’s own Red House label.

“It was about time we released a new album,” says Rod Argent, keyboard player and chief songwriter with the band, whose 1968 album ‘Odessey and Oracle’ is part of music folklore.

“Basically, it’s part of my and Colin’s (Blunstone) philosophy to have a creative path forward.”

He contines, “Writing and recording is very important to us. We didn’t want to recreate the past, but we wanted to capture The Zombies’ essence and meaning.”

The album also commemorates a milestone for the band.

“It was Colin who pointed out to me that Easter of 2011 is exactly 50 years since our first ever rehearsal, so it seemed very germane to coincide the album’s release with the anniversary.”

The album is trademark Zombies with lots of Hammond Organ and lots of harmonies.

“We wanted to explore harmonies,” Rod explains. “Some of this came about after having toured the ‘Odessey and Oracle’ album live recently, ‘cos it struck me how good the harmonies were.”

Going back to their classic album, there wasn’t a temptation to re-record the album in the studio using more up-to-date methods.

“Absolutely not,” affirms Rod. “I’m pleased we did it live, but enough is enough – although we still have about half of it in the set.”

The recording of the album took place in Rod’s own Red House studio, and he explains how the album took shape.

“The album took about a year to record, and the songs were all recorded as they were written.”

“I did a demo of bass, vocals and keys and play it to the rest of the band. Steve (Rodford) and I would work out a drum part and it went from there.”

“We would then go in the studio and generally get the song recorded in a day, which pretty much reflected how we used to do it in the early days.”

It was apparent at an early stage that this was going to be a special album.

“That’s right, we did feel that it would be special early on in the recording process, although we worked hard on it, it seemed easy which is always a good sign.”

Although there is no overall theme to the album, the ten tracks seem to gel together.

“We had a criteria.” Rod explains. “The songs had to be concise and they reflected the feeling so well that I could imagine them being played live (which of course helps when you do play them live).”

“It’s quite an organic album, not loads of overdubs and it reflects the band interacting with each other.”

“It’s very much a band album,” Rod says proudly, “Colin and I have been playing with this band for 10 years now and we’ve grown into a very tight and sympathetic musical unit and so going into the studio was a really enjoyable experience.”

The ten tracks on the album were almost all written or co-written by Rod. ‘A Moment In Time’ was written by Rod and guitarist Tom Toomey, and Colin Blunstone wrote ‘Any Other Way’ which featured on his 2009 solo album. (“But I always saw it as a band song” says Rod.) Rod wrote ‘Shine On Sunshine’ and ‘Christmas For The Free’ with ex-Zombie Chris White during the time he fronted the band Argent in the seventies.

“A couple of the songs – ‘I Do Believe’ and ‘Any Other Way’ - have been in the live set for ages, and I think ‘Play It For Real’, ‘Show Me The Way’, and ‘Breathe Out, Breathe In’, which will be the first single off the album, will feature in the set for the tour, as well as ‘A Moment In Time’ which is my favourite track.”

“The title track is a joyous song,” Rod enthuses, “I was at a concert in a pub and it felt so good to be alive, and the song’s about that – living the moment.”

As well as the songs already mentioned, we can expect to hear the hits ‘She’s Not There’ and ‘Time Of The Season’ during the set, as well as Colin’s solo ‘Say You Don’t Mind’ and ‘Old And Wise’, as well as Argent’s ‘Hold Your Head Up’ and ‘God Gave Rock And Roll To You’, which was a hit for Kiss.

The Zombies’ music, over the past 50 years has become well respected, and Rod has an idea why.

“My pet theory,” he begins, “is this. We never ever tried to manufacture songs. We always took a musical idea and worked it through. If you can move yourself then other people might be moved also.”

He continues, “We may have missed out on commercial success, but our music hasn’t dated as much – except for the recording techniques.”

As for influence, The Zombies’ sound still has relevance as the cast of Glee has covered ‘She’s Not There’.

“And, The Foo Fighters are doing ‘This Will Be Our Year’ (from ‘Odessey And Oracle’) on their next album.” Adds Rod.

“I’ve got high hopes for this album,” the ever-youthful Argent says.

“For the first time ever, a record company is going to put it out in Europe – it’s our first pan-European album.”

Also, a recently recorded show entitled ‘Legends’ is to be released on DVD on May 23rd. Recorded in Metropolis TV Studios, it should be broadcast on TV in the not too distant future.

And if that wasn’t enough, the band has a new website – www.TheZombies.net .

After the UK tour, the band isn’t going to sit around with their feet up.

“We’ve got tours to the US, Japan, Germany, France and Greece coming up, and we’re hoping to do another UK tour towards the end of the year.”

‘Breathe Out – Breathe In’ will be released as an album (Red House Records REDHCD 6 P) and single on May 9th 2011, and the first UK tour of the year runs from May 14th to 27th.