A conversation with Rod Argent of the Zombies

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Rod Argent (organ, piano, vocals) and Colin Blunstone (vocals) of British invasion-era melody makers the Zombies are on the road on the road again, and playing the Zombies' classics. As the voices that drove such sixties hits as “She's Not There,” “Tell Her No,” “Time of the Season” and more, Argent and Blunstone gave the Beatles and the Beach Boys a run for their money. To this day, they're still churning out good songs, and before making their way to Southern Ground Amphitheater in Fayetteville, GA (just South of Atlanta), Argent took a few minutes to talk about the Zombies' history, their latest album, Breathe Out, Breathe In, and the mysterious allure of music.

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$30 (reserved seat), $20 (lawn), $250-$400 (tables for 8). 7 p.m. Southern Ground Amphitheater. 770-719-4173.

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Chad Radford: This year marks the Zombies' 51st anniversary, correct?

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Rod Argent: Yeah ... The first time we met and had our first rehearsal was 51 years ago. It was Easter, 1961.

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When you guys decided on the name, did you know that zombies were scary undead ghoulish things, or did it mean something different back then?

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The thing you have to remember is that there were no living dead films yet, no zombie films at all, really. We vaguely knew they were exotic and had some sort of occult things going on but that was all we knew. It’s so hard to find an original name, and for about a week we were the Sundowners along with about 35 other bands in England. I can’t remember what the other names were, but they were pretty terrible. Paul Arnold, our original bass player, said “what about the Zombies?” I loved it immediately. Colin hated it, but what’s important about a name is that it’s unusual and catches attention. It certainly did that, and if you’re lucky enough to get a little bit of success people will forget what the word means. They’ll associate it with the guys in the band: When you think “the Beatles,” you think John, Paul, George, and Ringo. You don’t think of insects scurrying around, and for those reasons, I thought it was brilliant.

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I remember the first television we ever did was called Ready, Steady, Go in 1964 when “She’s Not There” just came out. I was wandering down a corridor and one of my great loves at the time was the Miles Davis Band of around 1958, ’59, ’60... I was walking down the corridor and I heard a Miles Davis record playing and I wandered into the dressing room, and there was Manfred Mann. I asked, “Was that Miles Davis playing?” He said, “Yeah, yeah. You’re from the Zombies aren’t you?” I said, “yeah,” and he said, “Oh man, I love your record, but you have to change that name!” That was the first response we got from it, but we never changed it.