Photo: The Zombies were co-founded by, from left, Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone. Photo courtesy of Hung Up on a Dream / Provided by MPRM with permission.
The Zombies, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band that began in England more than 60 years ago, are sadly no longer touring around the world, but thankfully singer Colin Blunstone, keyboardist Rod Argent and the band they co-founded have left behind a treasure trove of tunes for fans to enjoy. Still to this day, radio stations blast “Time of the Season,” “Tell Her No” and “She’s Not There.”
The Zombies’ legacy will be further cemented thanks to a new documentary from Robert Schwartzman, known for being the lead vocalist in the band Rooney, for acting in The Princess Diaries ,and directing features like The Argument and The Unicorn. In the movie, titled Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary, the story of this influential band enters the spotlight.
“I think that probably Rod and I both knew that the Zombies wouldn’t go on forever, and it’s a nice thought that we have some kind of legacy to leave behind,” Blunstone said in a recent Zoom interview. “And so with this documentary, we have a sophisticated visual history of the Zombies from their inception in 1961 certainly up until their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. I think it’s comforting for us to realize that we have, in some respects, left this visual history of the band behind us. We will not be touring anymore. Since Rod was very ill last summer, he’s decided not to tour anymore, so it was a very attractive prospect when we went with Robert. He has a wonderful track record of making films, scripted feature films, but also he’s a musician as well. And it became very apparent when we started talking to him that not only does he make films and he’s a musician, but he’s also a big fan of the Zombies. And it was just great fun to talk to him, and we couldn’t wait to start on this documentary.”
Schwartzman has an eclectic career, which is only matched by his eclectic taste in music. He can’t quite remember when he first encountered a Zombies song on the radio, but he became an admirer of the band because of his fascination with early pop sounds.
“My listening habits in my early days were really all over the place, and I really loved early pop music,” Schwartzman said. “I remember ‘Runaway’ by Del Shannon was the song I would just play on loop when I was 9 years old. I found myself really loving early pop, short songs, hooky melodies, great vocalists, great feel. I just became really obsessed with early pop, and then British Invasion is a part of that when you really follow the thread. Now you have all these great artists coming from England that write their own music and sing their songs, a shift from American pop, which were songs written by other writers sung by singers.”
Ultimately, Schwartzman appreciates solid, smart songwriters, and he places the Zombies in that category. He credits them with excellent performances, stellar musicianship, and interesting chord progressions and transitions. He appreciates the “little curveballs” that they threw into their music.
“In the documentary, you start to understand Colin’s personality and maybe how he felt about his own voice, but on the outside, I don’t know how you not love his voice,” the director said. “It just feels like a fabric; it’s like a texture. You can grab on to it. It just had all the pieces, and I loved the band so much. I didn’t make this movie as a fan of the band wanting to make a fan documentary or something. I made this as someone who loves the music, wanting to know more about the band because I didn’t know enough about it, and I think that’s what a great documentary is. It’s like take me into this world, show me more, I need to learn, I’m hungry.”
Those who buy tickets for Hung Up on a Dream will likely be from several different camps. There will be the Zombie-heads who know many of the inside stories about the band, and this new documentary provides an affirmation of their musical tastes. Then there are the newcomers, who only know the surface-level facts of this British Invasion band.
“You’ve got this human storyline about friendship and family and connection that never was contaminated by the icky sides of the music business,” Schwartzman said. “At the end of the day, there’s just a very wonderful message in Hung Up on a Dream that I think even if you’re not familiar with the band’s music, the Zombies’ music, there’s still something in here for you.”
The stories in the film date back more than 60 years. Blunstone said he remembers an early form of the band winning a big rock competition with maybe 100 groups represented. Three or four months later, the Zombies would release “She’s Not There.”
“And that was the first time I dared to think in terms of us perhaps becoming a professional band,” Blunstone said. “I didn’t dare to say anything to anyone. It sounded so extraordinary that five young guys from a little town where we all lived would even dream of being professional musicians, but I just thought maybe there’s a way ahead.”
Joining Blunstone and Argent in the early 1960s were Hugh Grundy, Chris White and Paul Atkinson. At the time, Blunstone thought “She’s Not There” could be a hit, but he had no idea that the tune would kickstart a musical career that would last 60 years. That song, plus other songs that would follow, offered Blunstone, Argent and the rest of the band the chance to travel the world several times over.
“Anybody who has got a day job is going to have to give up the day job,” the singer said. “This is going to be a way of life for the next 60 years. I didn’t think in those terms. I just thought, ‘She’s Not There’ could be a hit record, but after that, I would say my knowledge of whether our records were going to be hits or not is a bit patchy at least. I would say I was at best 50 percent right. I certainly didn’t think ‘Time of the Season’ was going to be a hit. Of the songs on Odyssey and Oracle, ‘Time of the Season’ probably wasn’t even one of my favorite tracks, so I often think I would have had a very short career as an A&R man in a record company because I missed so many of the songs that were successful. So, yeah, about 50 percent of the songs I spotted would be hits, but the fact that we would become a professional band and travel the world and become quite famous in our own way — I’m not comparing us with the Beatles or the Rolling Stones — but become quite famous in our own way, it took me a long time to realize that that was a possibility.”
The band emerged from St. Albans, England; for the unbeknownst, that’s a suburb of London, located approximately 30 miles to the northwest. Blunstone said there were a lot of bands on the music scene in St. Albans, including a young Donovan.
“I think Donovan was born in Scotland, but I know that he lived in my town because I used to see him walking around the streets and playing,” Blunstone said. “And on one occasion, the Zombies played with Donovan, so musically it was very active. But I think most people saw us in terms of being a successful local amateur band. I’m not sure that anybody thought in terms of becoming a professional band and having hit records, but it was a good time to be in a band. There was a lot of energy. There were a lot of places to play. So many of those places have closed down. It was comparatively simple for five young guys who only just started playing as a band to get gigs. I’m not sure that’s true now, so it was a good time to be starting a band. I think it would be much more challenging now with the situation in music now.”
When Blunstone used to walk those streets of St. Albans, he was always singing. In fact, before they knew his name, his neighbors would identify him as the “boy who sings.” He sang for pleasure and fun; again, he never thought of himself as being on a trajectory to become a professional singer.
“When the Zombies first got together, I was the rhythm guitarist really only for one rehearsal,” Blunstone staid. “Rod heard me singing to myself because I just sang all the time. As we were going home, I was putting my guitar in its case, and I was singing. And he said to me … ‘If you’ll be the lead singer, I’ll play keyboards,’ and perhaps that was when I first realized that someone recognized that I could sing. I had never really thought of it before then, and since then, it’s just been a gradual realization that I can sing. And as Robert knows, I do work on my voice, particularly when I’m on the road. I’m constantly doing singing exercises, and I’m constantly thinking about phrasing. And it’s the first thing I say when I go on stage: ‘How was the intonation tonight? Was I really on the note?’ So I do try to keep working at my voice. It’s great when people enjoy what I do. That’s what is the thrill for me and keeps me wanting to get better and better.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary, directed by Robert Schwartzman, is currently playing in movie theaters. Click here for more information.
