Coming to America
Rod: We were, we were eighteen and nineteen years old, and it was such a huge culture shock just to come to America and, and the fir- the very- very first thing we did was in the, in New York, the Murray the K show at the Brooklyn Fox, but as soon as we'd done that ten days, in the next year, we, we came over with [the] Dick Clark tour, and in those days- I mean, the world is, is more homogenous these days than it was then. Um, cu- different cultures were very different to each other, and coming over into this magic land for us because all, all our, all our musical heroes were here, you know, everybody from Elvis, you know, to Ray Charles and, and, and Miles Davis and, and, and everybody, um, and all the early rock and rollers like Little Richard and everything. It was, you know, when we were growing up and we were fourteen and fifteen years old or even earlier, actually, eleven- from eleven years old upwards, uh, and then for just a few years later to us find ourselves in America, in this culture which seemed like, uh, another universe, and suddenly we were topping the charts.
[clip of "Tell Her No" television performance]
Rod: And we brought our music, um, over to this place which seemed so remote to us and so far above what we could ever aspire to, and suddenly we were over there, and we, you know, w- we actually found out that Elvis had our songs on his jukebox, and it was Elvis that turned me on to rock and roll, certainly, all of us, really, you know, when we were eleven years old. I remember hearing "Hound Dog" for the first time. It was just a huge culture shock, but in a fabulous way, but a, a pretty bewildering way as well.
Colin: But it is funny, you know, uh, by the time we got over here, I think we were just nineteen, and when you're that old, you adapt very quickly.
Rod: Mm.
Colin: Yo- you know, I think that a year before that we were playing very local, small, little gigs, you know, and then suddenly we're playing auditoriums.
Rod: But I sort of dreamed my way through that tour. I don't know about you.
Colin: Yeah.
Rod: It was just on sort of autopilot, you know.
Colin: Yeah.
Rod: Sort of living in, living a dream, you know.
Touring
Rod: It's an enjoyable experience 'cause we got a fabulous band, and, and so I, you know, I often say on stage each night that the- we're not doing this to try and make a buck at this stage in our careers. We're doing it because we genuinely get excited, um, to be able to be of our age and playing in front of a really kicking band and, and, and getting off on, on playing every night and being able to write new stuff and feel there's a path ahead as well, obviously, as doing all the stuff that people- the old stuff that people wanna hear as well, um, so we do feel very at home on the road. A- you know, the tedious parts of being on the road are as tedious as they always were, you know, the traveling six, seven hours a day and, and then starting the soundcheck and everything, but what makes it worthwhile is that hour and a half or two hours at night when you can actually do your thing, you know, and, and it is a privilege to be our age and being able to muster that much energy and get that much energy back from an audience, too.
Reaching a Younger Audience
Interviewer: So how's that make you feel that [indistinct]
Colin: Old. [Both laugh.] No, I mean it's, it's- seriously, it's great to, to have people from all ages
Rod: Yeah, absolutely.
Colin: in the audience, and, and it, it's just, it's a bit of a phenomenon that- young people are very interested in the sixties, and in, and as far as we're concerned, we, we finished with this album called Odessey and Oracle, which has become a - I suppose a bit iconic really, and people are just intrigued to hear songs from that album, and we play what? four or five song from the-
Rod: 'Bout half the album, don't we?
Colin: Yeah, pro- from Odessey and Oracle we-
Rod: But one of the reasons that there is a young crowd, I think, also, is because so many artists have, have named the album- contemporary arti- artists that have just recently come out keep naming the album as their favorite album or, or one of their favorite albums, and that means that they, I think sometimes, they draw their curious fans in to hear, hear what they're talking about, so it's really nice, along with playing to older people as well, which is great, you know, of course, to have a young component, too.
A Song You Wish You'd Written
Rod: Oh, G--, yeah, I mean loads.
Colin: I-
Rod: Absolutely loads. [To Colin] Do you wanna choose one?
Colin: I al- I mean my, my favorite song is "Fragile" by Sting, so I, I wish I'd written that. I think it's so beautiful. It just sums up, sums up life, really. It's very, very special, an-
Rod: G--, d'you know, I was just thinking- sorry, go on. Finish.
Colin: I was gonna say also there's a very good live version by Stevie Wonder. Um, I think it was Sting's sixtieth birthday or something like that. He did a- put on a big concert, and Stevie Wonder sings that song. Wow, it's fantastic.
Rod: I mean you've, you've just thrown that question at us, and, and there are loads. I, I know that the other day, I was saying to my wife, "Oh, my G--, I wish I'd written that song," and I was just tryin' to search my brain then to remember what song that was, and I cannot think what it is just at this moment, but d'you know what just came into my head then is an old Sam Cooke song called "A Change Is Gonna Come." I really wish I'd written that song, but there are many, though, many.
"The Way I Feel Inside"
Rod: I have to, uh, tell you a slightly amusing story - or maybe you won't be amused - about when that song was written because it was on a U.K. tour, and we were on one of the- we were touring with the Isley Brothers, actually, I think. [To Colin] Was that the one?
Colin: Yeah, Dionne Warwick and the
Rod: Dionne Warwick
Colin: And the Searchers.
Rod: Uh, and the Searchers, and, um, we had a pee stop, you know, and, and I went into the loo, and I got this idea for a song, and I stayed in the loo for about fifteen minutes, and, and everyone was saying, "Where the h--- have you been?" when I got out, you know, and I said, "Well, it- sorry, I was just writing this song," and, and Colin said, "What's it called?" I said, "'The Way I Feel Inside,'" which is really silly, you know.
The Music Business Today
Colin: I hope this doesn't sound too flippant, but the music business has always been a mystery to me. In the, in the sixties, I didn't understand it at all, and now we've been through these huge changes - it's almost week by week, the business changes - and it's still a mystery to me, and so in some ways for me, it hasn't changed at all. It's just always been a mystery. I, I, I don't know how, how bands break, break nowaday. In the old days, it was nice and simple: you just got a team of people to go out and buy records from chart shops around the country. It was nice and simple. You could bribe people, and, and you had a hit. Nowaday, I have no idea how you do it.
Rod: I tell you what I mean, I don't know if this is still the case, but it, it seems that, um, it's such a one- it seems to be such a one- or two-week chart now, and when, when we first came out, a record company would sign a band, and if they felt they had promise, they'd stick with 'em and stick with the record. The record would come out- because the record could take three months to break. "Time of the Season" took six months to, to really climb the charts in the States. That just could not happen now.
Advice for Your Younger Self
Colin: Um, I think I would say, "Remember that there's a lifetime's career in music." I wasn't aware that that career path existed when I was fifteen, but, um, and so for me, it was a wonderful adventure, but it, it was just fun, that first time from '64 to '67. I really didn't realize that there was a, a lifetime career path, so, uh, I think I would have made a few different choices if I'd have known that.
Rod: I don't know what to say because, um, I always desperately wanted to be a musician, and I always wanted it to be a career, so- I think most p- I think you're incredibly fortunate if you're fifteen years old and you know what you wanna do. Very, very few people do, and, and I des- and I definitely- I mean, I always remember John Lennon's comment saying, "When I was a young teenager, um, the real world to me was music, and what people called the real world was sort of out there on the periphery," and that was exactly as I- how I felt: the real, real world was in my head really, and it was, it was with music and, and- but I think you're incredibly lucky if you've got that sort of purpose 'cause most kids, you know, are desperately tryin' to find a way ahead or somewhere to go or a purpose or, you know, something they feel they're suited to, and I, and I think it helps you with your teenage years so incredibly if you, if you've got a focal point, and I always had that focal point, so I can't, I, I can't really- you know, I mean, obviously, you're very immature when you're fifteen, and, and I wish I'd- I think in, in a way I wish I could have taken things, um, more equably, you know, more- taken things as they, as they come more and not get so worked up about things. You learn that as you, as you grow older, but beyond that, I don't know what to say really.
The Future of the Zombies
Colin: Uh, it's been such a wonderful surprise that what started out as six concerts in 1999
Rod: Yeah!
Colin: It was very definitely just gonna be six concerts,
Rod: Yeah.
Colin: and here we are thirteen or fourteen years later still playing. Uh, to, to be playing the world at, at, at wonderful venues at, at our time in our- this time in our career, it's been a huge suc- uh, su- surprise, and, um, I think we should just go on enjoying it as long as we can.
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Thanks to:
Rod Argent
Colin Bluntstone [sic]
Melani Rogers
Marya Glur
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Filmed at the Observatory
Santa Ana, CA
September 10, 2013
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