Colin Blunstone is a stone rock legend. From his heyday as vocalist for The Zombies, the English rock group that gave us “Time of The Season,” “She’s Not There,” and the great psychedelic LP Odessey and Oracle; to his long string of unfairly neglected solo albums; to stints with The Alan Parsons Project, prog-rock band Keats, and finally back with the reformed Zombies, Blunstone has been on the music scene for more than half a century.
Blunstone has spent decades longer on rock’s endless highway than that whiner Robbie Robertson ever did, yet if there’s one thing I learned by chatting with him, it’s that he’s anything but burnt out or jaded. He laughs easily, calls you mate, and seems genuinely excited to be hitting the road once again. In short, Blunstone is a force of nature, and a likeable one at that.
The Zombies came together at St. Albans School in Jerusalem’s Green and Pleasant Land, and almost called themselves Chatterley and the Gameskeepers, a name taken from the vaguely risqué D.H. Lawrence novel near and dear to every English schoolboy’s, er, heart. Unfortunately, the original incarnation of The Zombies only released two albums and a handful of singles before hanging it up. Which is where I began my “interrogation” of the intriguing Mr. Blunstone.
Why did the Zombies break up?
We go where we’re led. We’re pawns in the game. We were very young, and we’d played continuously on the road for 3 years. Our label had released some singles in the UK, and they hadn’t been a commercial success. It was a singles-oriented business back then. We had the feeling we’d given it our best, and it hadn’t panned out. So we amicably decided to pack it in.
Despite Odessey and Oracle?
As time passed, there has been a huge recognition of that album. But it didn’t start until some 10 years after its release. I think it’s a bit of mystery. Without any marketing it… let’s just say it seems to have a life of its own. It’s eating its way into people’s consciousness on its own behalf.
Did you tour America before you broke up?
Three times. In those days, shows always had 14 or 15 acts on the bill. We played a Dick Clark Caravan of Stars. We played Murray the K’s Christmas shows—seven performances a day.
You can’t imagine how excited we were. I was just 19, and here we were in the U.S.A., where all our rock’n’roll heroes came from. We toured with the Searchers—very exciting—and played a concert with the Beach Boys. That was a big highlight for me.
Why did you go from pop into the insurance business? Did you really intend to give up rock? I mean, what about the groupies, the drugs, the limelight?
I never felt insurance was my vocation in life. The three non-songwriters in the band—and I was one of them—were in a poor space financially after the Zombies disbanded. I got a number out of a phone book, and suddenly I was in the insurance business.
But I only worked in insurance for a few months. Suddenly “Time of the Season” was a hit in the U.S., so I restarted as a solo artist. Soon I was back with Rod Argent and Chris White [the former Zombie band mates who co-produced Blunstone’s first several solo albums]. There were characteristics of those albums that went back to The Zombies.
You briefly recorded as Neil MacArthur. How’d you come up with the name?
Mike Hurst, who produced the early Cat Stevens records, recommended we do some recordings. This was in 1969, before I recorded the first of my solo albums. I’d go in the evenings and put vocals on his recordings. At the time, I was still putting my foot back in the water. I wanted to see how I felt back in the studio, and whether I wanted to be back in the music business. “She’s Not There” was a hit for Neil MacArthur.
I love your 1972 solo LP Ennismore. Do you think your solo work has been unfairly neglected?
It’s another mystery, isn’t it? Why one thing takes off and another doesn’t? I had a few hits. “Say You Don’t Mind” off my first solo LP One Year was a big hit in the UK. But I’m glad to hear some of the solo LPs are receiving some recognition.
How did you wind up working with Alan Parsons?
I met Parsons when he was working as an engineer at Abbey Road. Years later, he wanted me to record some vocals for The Alan Parsons Project on the Poe album [1976’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination], but I couldn’t do it. I did sing “The Eagle Will Rise Again” on Pyramid and “Old and Wise” on Eye in the Sky.
It’s odd. Different songs are huge in different parts of the world. For example, in the Philippines they love “Miles Away.” [A Blunstone single from 1981.] I don’t know why. But it pays to do some preparation before you go.
How did you end up in the band Keats?
Keats was an Eric Woolfson project. Eric was the co-creator of The Alan Parsons Project, but he was more or less a silent partner. He liked to stay in the background, wrote most of the material, sang a lot of the songs. He was a very good businessman. One of those sensitive artist/tough negotiator types.
So bring us up to the present day.
Skipping forward to 1999 I asked Rod [Argent] if he wanted to do six concerts—he’d been in the studio all that time. Here it is 2014 and we’re still going at it. We came to realize there was a worldwide interest in The Zombies. We talked to the other Zombies, and they threw in with us. We do Zombies numbers of course, and try to throw in some originals by Rod. We do some Argent, and the songs I sang with The Alan Parsons Project… Sorry, but I have to be going, mate.
It’s been an honor to be called mate by you. One last question: Would you have rather played Woodstock or Altamont?
(Long silence.)
Woodstock, I’m sure.
Colin Blunstone’s On the Air Tonight is on store shelves now.
Our 2012 interview with Colin Blunstone is here.
Colin Blunstone Official | Facebook | Tour
PHOTO OF COLIN BLUNSTONE: TOYAH BOER
Colin Blunstone & Solo Band Tour Dates:
(Edward Rogers opening)
Thursday, May 8, Tupelo Music Hall, Londonderry, NH
Friday, May 9, Bridge Street Live, Collinsville, CT
Saturday, May 10, Parilla Center, Rockville, MD
Sunday, May 11, World Café Live, Philadelphia, PA
Tuesday, May 13, City Winery, New York, NY
Wednesday, May 14, Boulton Center For the Arts, Bay Shore, NY
Thursday, May 15, City Winery, Chicago, IL
