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The Zombies React to Rock Hall Nomination: 'You Know You're Not Forgotten'
The Zombies
Despite releasing just two studio albums during their initial run in
the '60s (one of which failed to find much of an audience despite later
being hailed as one of the best albums of all time), the Zombies are now
regarded as one of the most respected and influential British bands of
the era. Sure, their enduring, iconoclastic Billboard hits ("She's Not
There," "Tell Her No") are part of that, but the bulk of their legend
relies upon that aforementioned album, 1968's Odessey and Oracle,
which continues to grow in stature with each passing year. While new
generations may struggle to understand the appeal of certain Flower
Power hitmakers, the restrained, elegant beauty of Odessey is universal.
On
Thursday (Oct. 5), the Zombies were once again recognized for their
immense (albeit slow-and-steady-wins-the-race) impact on music with a
well-deserved Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination. Billboard got on
the phone separately with the band's Rod Argent and Chris White, its two
principal songwriters, to talk about their elation at the Rock Hall
nomination and why Odessey still feels so relevant 50 years later.
When you heard about the nomination, what was your first reaction?
Rod Argent:
Well, we heard this morning. I phoned everybody else. Everyone in the
band feels exactly the same as me -- we feel honored and delighted. It’s
not something we expected. I mean, third-time nomination. We’re hoping
the third-time is lucky for us. We’re delighted and excited.
Chris White:
I’ve only just heard. I'm absolutely pleased, to be quite honest. I’ve
been out in my car all day, so I haven’t been in touch with anybody so I
just found out when I came back. I’m very excited and quite honored
because of all the luminaries who have gone before us.
This isn't your first nomination, so what does that feel like coming around again? Are you hopeful?
White:
Oh, I’m hopeful. I mean, we’ve been going for so long. We’ve gone for
years. It would be great to go in because who's gone in before, which
have been heroes and people we’ve appreciated as well. It’s so nice to
get this recognition -- again. It’s wonderful, to be quite honest.
From my perspective, it might be the time for you guys. The
album has grown in stature over the years, and you guys were on the
anniversary tour, so I feel like the album's greatness is front and
center in a way it wasn't before.
White: It feels like justification for writing it,
to be quite honest. Because of course back then nobody was interested in
it when it came out, but we enjoyed doing it. That was reward enough in
the way of just making the album. I mean, the biggest thing about music
is making music that moves people, and over the last 50 years we’ve
moved more and more people. Some are great stars who have quoted us in
being instrumental in making them like music. That’s the wonderful
thing. That’s the nice thing. When people come up to you and say, ‘That
song really moved me,’ or ‘We played it at our wedding.’ That sort of
thing.
Argent: I really hope you’re right, Joe.
It’d be great. I mean, it really would. We had a No. 1 hit with “Time of
the Season” in 1969, but in fact, we recorded [Odessey] in
1967 and then broken up. And then, you know, kept in touch with each
other of course. But, Colin [Blunstone] and I through a complete
accident around the year 2000 started playing for fun and in the most
gradual way, the momentum gathered. It’s exciting that the band is
better than ever now and to have created success with the new stuff as
well, and to feel that we can actually relate to people of this
generation as well. For us to be in the position now where people are
getting excited about us and hopefully getting into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame, it’s just great.
Going back to the time when
you were writing that album, do you remember what kind of headspace you
were in? And after you broke up and "Time of the Season" became a big
hit, was that frustrating?
Argent:
Basically, we were in a very happy place. We just loved -- as we do now
even -- we loved getting excited about creating new material, being able
to record it. At that particular moment in time, we’d started to get
quite frustrated with the way that some of our recent singles had been
recorded and produced. Chris and I shared a flat, and I remember the
process of writing that album. I would go from one room to another and
say, ‘Chris, I’ve got this idea.’ And he would come into the other room
and play me what he had. We wrote it between us, in that flat, and we
were very excited to be in the position of being able to record as we
wanted for the first time, exactly as we wanted things to sound. We were
having a ball. We were very excited. We thought we made a great record
at the time. We got some great reviews, actually, but nobody listened to
it. It just didn’t sell. It was, as you know, 18 months later in the
States, there was one DJ in Idaho -- in Boise, Idaho, there was one guy
who loved the single “Time of the Season,” and by that time, we’d broken
up. Eighteen months, I was producing the Colin Blunstone album, which I
also think is a beautiful album, and I was forming Argent and starting
to write material for that, and we were in a very happy position at that
point of being in New York as “Time of the Season” hit [No. 3] in
Billboard [Hot 100]. And it made our negotiations with Clive Davis very
easy -- you know, for the new Argent stuff and the new Colin Blunstone
stuff. It was a very happy time in a strange way for us, even though we
were frustrated that no one listened to the album initially and we had
to break up. We were just so full of creative ideas, and the energy and
the joy of being able to do what we wanted to do. It wasn’t an unhappy
time.
White: We were very happy. I’m very lucky to work
with such a great voice as Colin’s, and he gets better and better. The
nice thing is we remained friends. Rod put Argent together after the
Zombies finished and produced Colin’s first three solo albums, and we’re
still friends.
How was it bringing those songs back on the road for the 50th anniversary tour?
Argent: It’s still a joy to play those things and be able to do it. I mean, when Paul Weller came to all three nights of the Odyssey and Oracle premiere
that we did in in London in 2008, he said, "That was absolutely
fabulous," and he bought us champagne. It was lovely. It’s still his
favorite album, I know, he told me just a couple weeks ago that it was
his favorite album, but he said at that time -- and I think he’s right
-- he said, ‘Don’t just keep doing it forever because it will lose its
specialness.’ And I really believe that. I really think it was something
to celebrate the 50th anniversary and then, with a big smile, draw a
line under it and move on.
If the nomination is confirmed and you're in the Class of 2018, how will that feel?
Argent:
I know there are some people that actually portray themselves as
unaffected and don’t care and, ‘Oh, well, it would be nice, but, really I
don’t get it. It’s not something that I particularly want.’ We’re not
those people at all. It feels like a joy that people are taking this
much notice of us. If we did manage to get inducted, we’d be over the
moon. We’d be flattered, gratified and absolutely delighted.
White: I
would be elated! Listen, being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I’ve
seen many people inducted into that, and it’s an honor -- to be quite
honest. Votes from all the luminaries. It’s a bit like people voting for
the Oscars, I should imagine. I love the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so
it is wonderful to be nominated again. You know you’re not forgotten.
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