Although Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees The Zombies ceased to be a touring group after keyboard player Rod Argent suffered a stroke in 2024, their former singer Colin Blunstone remains an enthusiastic performer of solo shows. Here he previews a 16-date jaunt around the UK.
On this tour you’ll be performing some brand new material, songs from your debut album One Year and some of The Zombies’ best-known songs.
We’re going to play more Zombies material than usual. There wasn’t much point while the band was active, but it makes sense now that we no longer tour, and over time we might even add more of those. At the Tivoli [in Wimborne] and in London and Milton Keynes we will be joined by the wonderful Q-Strings.
Article continues belowGiven that you’re including some previously unheard material, can we assume that a new solo album is on the way?
I’m recording it at the moment and I would hope that it will be finished by the autumn.
Steve Rodford, the son of late Zombies bassist Jim, is the current drummer of your solo band. It’s nice to keep it in the family.
Absolutely. Steve is a really, really great drummer. He started with the new incarnation of The Zombies in 1999 and played all of those gigs and my solo ones as well, so we’ve worked together for twenty-seven years now.
Do you ever tire of singing The Zombies standards Time Of The Season or She’s Not There?
I don’t, though there are some songs that become a bit testing due to repetition. There are some really good Zombies songs that deserved to be hits and weren’t, so I try to feature quite a few of those.
Those Zombies songs keep on returning in the most unlikely circumstances, don’t they? They’ve appeared in The Crown, The Walking Dead, Schitts Creek and Mad Men, and Time Of The Season was even in a Guy Ritchie show.
They crop up in commercials and movies all the time. It’s a bit of a contradiction; there’s a timelessness about that old Zombies material, but certain songs conjure up a specific feeling of the sixties. Especially Time Of The Season, because soon as you hear it you go: “Wow… that takes me right back!”
It must top up the pension funds, right?
[Laughs] In the back of my mind, yeah. But it’s also great for us that the work we did all that time ago is still appreciated. It validates what we did back then.
At the age of eighty, how do you retain a voice that Suzannah Hoffs of The Bangles once described by as “just plain sexy”?
Look after yourself. It’s not terribly rock‘n’roll, but eat sensibly, stay hydrated and get to bed early. My advice to singers is that when the time feels right, see a singing coach. You’re never too old to learn a bit about technique.
The Zombies retired from touring in 2024, but is new music still possible?
It might be. There is some new material and we’re talking about recording it, especially one song in particular. So let’s see what happens.
What’s your view of last year’s Zombies documentary Hung Up On A Dream?
Robert Schwartzman [director] did a great job. Our concern was that there wasn’t a lot of [vintage] film, but he found things we didn’t even know existed. As a film it’s beautifully – magically – presented.
Colin Blunstone’s Believe In Miracles UK tour begins on May 7 in Newport. For full dates and tickets, visit the Colin Blunstone website.
