Colin Blunstone is Still Living the Time of the Season

 

Just under two months ago, I took in a screening of Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Boston. Here are my concluding thoughts:

All the surviving members expressed gratitude that they were able to have another chance to play music and to have it resonate across generations culminating in their induction into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. In this respect, they were not hung up on a dream. They got to live it. 

Sadly, all things do come to an end. After the film was completed in 2023, Rod Argent was forced to retire from touring after suffering a stroke last summer. Despite this setback, Argent and company give the sense they are content with their lot in life. For this reason, I was able to leave the theatre with a smile.

On Friday night, I would leave the Somerville Theatre with an even bigger smile. Not only did I see another screening of Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary but I got to see and hear Zombies lead singer Colin Blunstone perform a short set with the indie band Rooney. Following the performance, Blunstone participated in a Q&A session with Hung Up on a Dream director and Rooney founder Robert Schwartzman (who as it happens is the son of actress Talia Shire and nephew of Francis Ford Coppola) who were interviewed by music journalist Jim Sullivan.

Whether he is singing or in conversation, Blunstone, who turned 80 last month, conveys the sense of someone who enjoys his lot in life and does so with enormous geniality and warmth. During the interview, Schwartzman said in his capacity as a filmmaker he tried to seek out internal conflict and found virtually none. Most of the conflict were from external forces which engaged in dishonest business practices rendering them living a hand to mouth existence despite their enormous success during the 1960's. 

The closest thing Schwartzman found regarding internal conflict was Blunstone and drummer Hugh Grundy wondering aloud in Abbey Road Studios what life might have been like had the Zombies not parted ways in 1969. When they did so, keyboardist Rod Argent and bass player Chris White (who were also the two principal songwriters in The Zombies) said the band had to go its separate ways with the departure of lead guitarist Paul Atchison and Argent and White's collaboration with Argent. However, they did not dwell on the subject. Schwartzman was struck by how amiable Blunstone, Argent, Grundy and White were with one another after all these decades considering how many musical acts cannot stand to be in the same room together. This was something Schwartzman considered uplifting. 

For his part, Blunstone said it was so much easier to go through life with people with whom you get along than with people you don't. It seems such an obvious statement to make. Yet there are many people who see fit to stay in situations which make them miserable. Granted it isn't always easy to leave such circumstances. Nevertheless, Blunstone's outlook does help explain his youthful attitude of wonder. It also doesn't hurt that Blunstone's voice remains in fine form and can still hit the high notes he sung six decades ago. 

The one question I wanted to ask was how Rod Argent is doing. Fortunately, Sullivan posed the question. While the stroke ended Argent's career as a touring musician and with it The Zombies, Blunstone made a point of saying that Argent is "fine" and was emailing him while he was backstage. Blunstone added that Argent is writing and recording new material and will lay down vocals on a newly written song returns to the U.K. after this leg of the Hung Up on a Dream tour concludes later this month. This is most welcome news.

Following that, Blunstone returns to Boston at the end of next month to participate in On the Blue Cruise and will record a new album in the fall. Colin Blunstone is still living the time of the season.