The Zombies

The Zombies is a British band from the sixties .

The origin of the group is the school of St Albans . There were keyboardist Rod Argent, singer Colin Blunstone and guitarist Paul Atkinson in 1961 a band along with bassist Paul Arnold and drummer Hugh Grundy . Initially, the performances were limited to the school itself and the Old Verulamians Rugby Club. At first they acted asThe Mustangs, but decided to change their name. Arnold would have suggested the name The Zombies. He himself chose as eighteen to study medicine. His place was taken by bassist Chris White . After winning a talent contest, the group received in 1964 a recording contract with Decca .

The first song was released was a composition of Argent: She's Not There. The song was released in July 1964, with You make me feel good, written by White, the B-side. It became one of the greatest successes of the Zombies, with high rankings in as the United Kingdom itself (twelfth in the UK Singles Chart), continental Europe and the United States (first on the Cashbox list, second in the Billboard Hot 100). The successors of these were first single Leave me be and Tell Her No, only the last of which took a modest hitnotering.

The success of She's not there, the group had sufficiently work and opportunity to tour outside the homeland. However, the band members wanted on other roads and in1967 the decision was made ​​to stop. Before that, the Zombies were once the studio for the recording of the album Odessey And Oracle . With songs like This Will Be Our ​​Year and Time Of The Season does this album still considered classic for lovers of psychedelic pop, while it was also a source of inspiration for hundreds of bands who wanted to follow in the footsteps of The Zombies.   Time of the season became a worldwide hit and led to the demand for concerts. The five Zombies resisted but the call to come together again. So it could happen that a totally different band was performed under their name, to the hitsucces Time Of The Season to exploit. Rod Argent had been with Russ Ballard band Argent formed while Blunstone, after several years working in the insurance industry, a fairly successful solo career began to take care of later regularly singing on albums by The Alan Parsons Project .''

In 1990 there appeared a new work called The Zombies. It was a partial reunion which only Blunstone, Grundy and White participated. Argent and Atkinson both filled only a small role on the album Return Of The Zombies, each a number. This reunion was short-lived. However, from 2000 work Blunstone and Argent again regularly.

New start
After Blunstone and Argent in 2000 started to work together and act, which resulted in a new album (Out of the Shadows), they decided during the production of another new album using the name The Zombies again. This is because some songs of As Far As I Can See, the name of the new album, called memories, in the words of Rod Argent, to the sound of The Zombies from the sixties. Chris White to sing on some tracks.

Beginning in 2004 a concert organized to honor Paul Atkinson was where he received the Recording Academy's President's Merit Award. The show also had a (unique) performance of The Zombies. Paul Atkinson died in April 2004 from cancer.

Blunstone and Argent went after the release of As Far As I Can See on tour as The Zombies. The group was supplemented with a touring band, including bassist Jim Rodford . This version of the band still occurs. In the autumn of 2004 she first performed for decades in America (October) and to implement a successful theater tour in the Netherlands (November / December).

In 2005, the film Dear Wendy out, a film by Thomas Vinterberg, written by Lars von Trier . The soundtrack of this film consists solely of music from The Zombies, including songs like Time of the Season and She's not There.

In 2008 joined the four remaining original Zombies several times, supplemented by other musicians. During these performances, the album Odessey and Oracle was fully implemented so, forty years after the shots were heard for the first time live. These concerts released on both CD and DVD.