Colin Blunstone has played 4 concerts in the Netherlands with his solo band, early October. In P60 in Amstelveen I had the opportunity to interview him.
The whole interview is published in Dutch on http://www.rockportaal.nl
The interview is on youtube via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqoUN4SWCGE
You
just got back from a successful tour in the United States, with the band The
Zombies. The third in this year.
How was it received?
Very
very well. The Zombies have existed from
1964 to 1967 and now, many years later people are still interested in our
music. This year we did three American tours,
the last of Seattle down to Los Angeles, and then also through the States.
With all three tours we have been covering the entire
country. We always have to do a lot of travelling,
and a lot of driving.
But you'll find it nice though, touring in the States?
I like
to tour the States but I actually like to tour anywhere, whether it's with The
Zombies or with my solo band that I play here tonight. We are musicians and we love to play, that's what we love
to do. But sometimes it is tiring.
You've
been a very long time friends with The Zombies co-founder Rod Argent, for over 52
years. How do you succeed to maintain a
friendship for so long as you also have a working relationship?
We just
keep that separated. We've been friends
for a long time but if we work then we are professional. We always know what we think of eachother. And you have to be professional, you're on time, you set up
everything, you do the soundcheck, you know your lines. What is different today is that we really need our rest.
If the concert is over I'm going to the hotel and to bed as quickly as
possible. When I
was young, the evening began only then. But
people tend to forget that we must be there the next day.
Do you
not miss the wild nights?
Not
really now.
I have
a question about how to stay focused on the stage. If you play with The Zombies, Rod Argent often tells a
story about the history of a song. These
are stories that you must have heard quite often. How
then do you manage to keep your thoughts from wandering ?
Your
thoughts sometimes wander anyway, not only when I play with Rod Argent, but in
general. I have a trick to get my thoughts
back and therefore I often use the illuminated "Exit" sign in the
hall. I look at that as a focal point.
Sometimes it's hard to stay focused, not only by
people talking, but also because I have long sing certain songs, 40 or 50
years. Most Zombies songs are indeed great
to sing, but some are quite demanding. I
can not sing when I'm only half concentrated, you have to stay focused.
And for a man's voice is quite high in terms of range,
to sing. That's why I always do a vocal
warm-up, for half an hour. Once for the
soundcheck and once for the concert. In
total I have therefore already sung an hour before the concert begins.
Your
voice is indeed very important, it is your main tool. But it is also a fragile instrument. Have you ever thought, I better played guitar or piano, then
I'm not so dependent?
No,
just the opposite. I wish people who have
colds would be more careful and not get too close to me. I've had a bad cold three times, one at the end of 2012 and
two in early 2013. And I know exactly when
they started and by whom I have suffered them. The doctor would say that I can not say for sure, but I really
know for sure. In November last year, I
had severe throat infection. I even had to cancel a tour in the Netherlands. That's
happened to me in 50 years only once before. You
can not do anything, you can not talk for 6 weeks, you just have to sit it out.
The repertoire that I sing is a challenge when you
are healthy, let alone when you are sick. And
it should also look as though it is very easy to sing.
The
Zombies in September this year in the U.S. released a video clip of the song Any
Other Way, released on the CD Breathe Out, Breathe In. The clip was recorded on City Island and the Cutting Room
in Manhattan. It is the first time that
The Zombies a video release, how did that come about?
Our
agents in the U.S.. TCI (Talent
Consultants International) has arranged for us. Rod Argent and I would perhaps never have started such a plan, but the
clip is now finished. Concerning their efforts I am very glad they did that, because it is a huge
undertaking. Not only because of the
money, but also because of the organization. There
are a lot of people involved, they worked with a big team. And the result was very succesfull.
Do you
have plans for a second clip?
Not
for the time being, but we are working on a new album with The Zombies. We have already recorded a track and we are working on a
second. Making an album is much work, I
think it's going to be released early 2015.Wat we have to consider is that with
The Zombies we are a lot on tour in 2014 and then we can not record.
Also, the album has to be ready around October 2014,
as the magazines like Q and other magazines and media need several months processing
time. They have three months in advance
to have the CD before writing a review, and the magazine can be printed.
 |
| Colin Blunstone in De Boerderij Zoetermeer, photo Toyah Boer |
The
Zombies have existed until 1967, and started again in 2000. This has given you the opportunity to start a solo career.
Suppose the Zombies would not have split up, but have
gone on in the 60s would you have just had a solo career? Isn’t it somewhere a “blessing
in disquise” for your solo work that The Zombies stopped?
Yes, I
probably would have had no solo career. However,
it is now gone in this direction. In the
present time I have two projects next to eachother, The Zombies and the solo band. It is sometimes hard to combine. We try to keep both bands separated. Both bands play totally different songs and have other
musicians. Only guitarist Tom Toomey is in
both the two bands.
In the
U.S. you have done so-called 'Storytellers' shows, ie only Rod Argent and yourself
play and you tell many anecdotes about your careers. In the Netherlands we are quite jealous of that, there is a
chance that you are going to do that in Europe?
It's a
matter of being asked. If venues want to
book us then we will of course look at it seriously. We have done one in New York, and the Moody Blues cruise.
Next year we will even play two times on the Moody
Blues cruise. It is something that Rod and
I do not rehearse, otherwise it will be too artificial. In my solo shows I tell a story sometimes several times,
but prefer not to do that too often. I do notice that
people like it and laugh about the stories.
If you
write songs, how do you start? You compose
on the guitar?
Yeah,
I just start to play and sometimes there will be an idea. There are also songwriters who start at 9:00 and continue
until 17:00. That is admirable, but that
is not how it works with me. There is just
something, like a line, where I go further along. Usually it takes a long time before the whole song is
finished, weeks and sometimes months. It
is rare that a song is finished very quickly. That did happen with the song I Want Some More, I
had that one written very quickly. If I
start with the chords, the music or the text that can be both.
How do
you get to a topic, it is something that happens in life, something you've
read, for example?
I
usually get a topic because something happened in my life. I must say that I have a lot of issues to grab back to in the
past. I do not do as much as I used to be.
Wherever
I am curious about is how you record the songs. If you go to the studio, the songs are already finished, or
are you still working on songs?
No, with
The Zombies, the songs are already finished. We
work from the demo. We do try to have all bandmembers
play live. It's not that we only record
the different tracks separately. Live
recording makes it livelier. The only
exception is the vocals. What I do is that
I sing live but my vocal track is recorded again later. We usually 5 or 6 takes to get it right. That's
not very much. With my solo band is the
same way. On my last album On
The Air Tonight I actually sing only live and these versions were put
on CD. Sometimes it is technically a
challenge not to let dominate one instument, for instance drums should not
dominate the vocals.
You
have a bond with the Netherlands as a musician who has long goes back,
at least until the early 70's. How do you
experience playing in Netherlands?
Yeah,
I thought of that yesterday. As a solo artist I have come here from the early 70's, but
with The Zombies, we have also played here in the 60s, for example at the
Paradiso in Amsterdam and throughout the country. I love the Netherlands, and I find the people friendly and
the venues are also nice. The audience is
very enthusiastic and that is very pleasing for us as a band. I find the food tasty too. What
sometimes happens is that the venue where we eat, serves our dinner, very
shortly before we have to play. For me as a singer that
is very difficult, because I can not eat much short in advance.
Are
there any noticeable differences between British and Dutch people?
I
think they are very similar. Perhaps they
are still even more polite than the English. As the
British used to be. For example in the
early days, in a shop, "Exsuse me, if it's not too much trouble, would you
care to..." Now if that would be in England nowadays, the person would
have long gone. In the present time, the British became more direct.
The Scandinavians are also much like the Dutch and
the English. Something else that I really
like is the Dutch architecture. Here I do
notice a difference and I found out what it is. The windows in Dutch buildings are much larger. That makes them more attractive on the outside and inside the
buildings have a lot more light. I'm not
sure why that is. Probably it has something to do with building regulations.
But I love the architecture, whether it is modern or
old. Even the smallest houses have a
garden and people maintain that well. That
reminds me of the England of the past. Now
that's different.
When
we tour in the Netherlands, we always stay in Haarlem and from there we go to
the venues. In America or Britain we can’t do that, but in the
Netherlands we can. Haarlem is a great
city for walking. There are also beautiful
museums like the Frans Hals Museum.
Do you
love art?
Yes, I
really love art. I would have liked to do
something with it. When I was young I wanted
to go to art school. I had already done
the required exams. But my father said,
"All they do there is drink beer and chase the girls." And I thought
that’s a wonderful idea! But he did not
think of it as a good idea and then I just got a job. Through an employment agency
I got an office job. But we also played
with The Zombies and at the end of the year we won with The Zombies a major
talentshow and we got a record deal with Decca.
That was the end of my office career. But when The Zombies
broke up I did the same. I work in an
office again. It has helped me to get over
a difficult period because I was very disappointed and sad about the break-up
of The Zombies. Working in a busy office
does help to move your thoughts. I've also
done that about a year until I went on recording (solo)records again.
 |
| Colin Blunstone Zoetermeer 2012 - photo Toyah Boer |
In the
present time, it has become common to connect with people through social media
like facebook, what do you think in general about social media?
If
you're in the music business I think it is necessary. That's why I do it. If
I wasn’t in that business I would not be on social media. I think it's something for the younger generation.
I am not as proficient on the computer, and I can
just manage facebook. However,
it is nice to
get in touch with old friends again and make new friends. And I can tell what
I'm doing musically, with The Zombies and solo. But it is very time consuming. I also maintain my own account, that is a personal account
and a fan page. And I am active on another
fan page which is invitation-only. And I
have my own website www.colinblunstone.co.uk Both Rod Argent and myself,
we find it important to be on top of the business aspects Also at the two different record companies, on my solo band
I have my own record label (Ennismore Records, ed.) we ensure that we know
exactly what's going on.
Well,
you have to go to the soundcheck, I want to thank you so much for this
interview!
And
thank you, I really liked it and I also particularly liked your questions, yet
again unlike in many interviews.
For more info check www.colinblunstone.co.uk
Thanks to Toyah Boer for her moral and technical support concerning recording this interview
Edit 16 October: The news came that The Zombies are nominated to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is of course wonderful news. Please cast your vote via this link (scroll down towards the end of the page): http://rockhall.com/get-involved/interact/poll
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