Colin Blunstone
Hello My Name is Colin
T
hat silky, expressive voice is instantly recognizable. Listen to Colin Blunstone’ s tour de force 2024 live album One Year and More( Live from Union Chapel), and the 60 years since the arrival of“ She’ s Not There” and“ Tell Her No” on pop radio don’ t matter. You’ re hearing
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the unmistakable voice of The Zombies. Remarkably, Blunstone is arguably out-singing his younger self today. After a health issue in 2024 sidelined old friend and Zombies bandmate Rod Argent, Blunstone increased activity with his solo group while continuing to carry the torch for The Zombies. The British Invasion act’ s long arc and circuitous route to success were explored in the 2025 documentary Hung Up on a Dream.
Blunstone’ s recent shows have allowed deeper dives into a rich solo catalog. Set lists have drawn from early‘ 70s gems One Year, Ennismore and Journey as well as other career touchpoints including songs for The Alan Parsons Project. Zombies favorites like“ Time of the Season” continue to be delivered with spirit and affection.
September finds the 81-year-old artist on a generation-spanning tour with fellow English rockers The Fixx and Peter Asher of Peter & Gordon fame. The tour visits the Genesee Theater in Waukegan on Thursday, September 17. Blunstone spoke with IE by phone from his home in England. IE: The lineup for this tour is terrific. How much time will you have for your set? CB: I was talking to Peter [ Asher ] just before this. He said he ' d been asked to do 45 minutes, and it ' s been suggested to me that I do 55 minutes. Presumably, The Fixx will do longer. In the UK, we normally play about an hour and a quarter. That ' ll be 21 or maybe 23 songs, because there aren’ t a lot of long solos. Now that The Zombies are not going to tour anymore, I play quite a few Zombies tunes. They ' re usually three minutes or under.
IE: What is the balance between solo material and Zombies material? CB: I haven ' t counted it up, but it might be close to 50-50 or 40-60. Some of the Zombie tunes are quite obscure. I dug deep to find some good songs that never really got a lot of attention.
IE: I peeked at your UK set list. It was a fan’ s dream. CB: Well, you probably know better than I do then [ laughs ]! I haven ' t looked at all. We will be playing a similar set to what we played in May on tour in the UK. It’ s different to the tour we last played in the States, though.
IE: You were playing“ Indication” this spring, which I’ ve never seen The Zombies perform. Hopefully, that song survives any necessary playlist cuts. CB: We have got to scale it down, but it will still be good. I ' ve never ever played“ I Remember When I Loved Her” [ from The Zombies’ 1965 UK debut album Begin Here ], but we ' re going to play that.
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