Colin Blunstone Discusses Solo Tour, Bus Incidents, and Zombie Fest

Colin Blunstone is rock and roll royalty. His honeyed, mellifluous voice is best known for the songs he did with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Zombies. This includes such touchstone classics as “Time Of The Season,” “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No,” “Care of Cell ’44,” “This Will Be Our Year,” “The Way I Feel Inside,” “A Rose For Emily” and others. His solo catalog, too, is filled with shoulda-been coulda-been hits like “Say You Don’t Mind,” “Caroline Goodbye,” “I Don’t Believe In Miracles” and “Let Me Come Closer. “

Blunstone is celebrating his 81st birthday in style, with a 19-city US trek throughout September across the Northeast and Mid-West with multi-hyphenate musician/producer/exec Peter Asher (Peter & Gordon) and massive ’80s breakthrough act The Fixx. When Pollstar caught up with Blunstone, he was on a train because his tour bus had just been in an accident. Here he spoke candidly about touring mishaps, good (Paladin’s Bruce Solar) and bad music agents, recording for Elton John’s Rocket Records, how Blood, Sweat & Tears Al Kooper saved The Zombies 1968 classic Odssey and Oracle ; playing seven shows a day; unexpectedly playing stadiums in the Philippines, The Zombie s Halloween fest in St. Albans, UK, new material and far more

Hey, Colin. How’s it going? I’m on a crowded train talking to you, and I’ve already been told off once. Talking in the quiet carriage. I didn’t realize it was a quiet carriage.

So what happened yesterday with the bus? We stopped at a red light and a white pickup truck didn’t. And she hit our trailer and then kind of went down the trailer and into the back quarter of our bus.

Oh my God. It was a miracle no one was hurt.  But she couldn’t get out of her car. We had to wait for the fire brigade to get her out of the car. But she was okay.

Thank God. And nobody on your team was hurt either? No. You know, when you look at what happened, she also hit a Porsche SUV. So she hit two vehicles, and, and no one was hurt. We were all really, really fortunate.

It sounds like it. And you made it to the show last night in Boston, right? The show must go on. And it was quite challenging because we had to be towed off the freeway, then got truck to take our gear and we took Ubers. It was a long Uber drive but we managed to get to the venue. We were late, but we did get there and we did the show.

That’s dedication. Speaking of, you’ve been touring for close to 60 years. Since 1964.

So is this the craziest thing that’s happened here, or have there been other incidents over the decades? This is probably the worst accident. We did a Dick Clark Caravan of stars in the’ 60s, and someone drove into the back of the bus. The only thing I can think of, but that is half a century ago. There was another one with our bus about four or five years ago. We were going into the desert, and it caught fire. That was a bit of a tricky one.

Touring is not easy, is it? It can be quite challenging. I was just reminded, I think we’d just done the Jimmy Fallon and we were driving out of New York and we hit a deer. And that took away the front quarter of the truck. So there have been a few incidents.

You never know what’s going to happen next. It’s really good if you’ve got a quick thinking road crew with you, which we do have. And they can take on these challenges and sort things out.

And it’s good to have an Uber account. That certainly helps.

So you’re now 81, on a 19-city US tour, you’re bus just got nailed, what keeps you touring? I enjoy it. I enjoy everything about it, including the challenges. Also, it’s an integral part of the industry. I like to write songs, and I like to record them. And then I love to go out and play those songs live to a live audience. To me, that’s what my profession is, to write, record, and perform.

So it’s still gratifying at age 81? It is, yes. I know I haven’t got forever, which perhaps actually intensifies the feeling. Logic tells me that at 81 things will probably start to quiet down, but it intensifies the feeling. In many ways, it makes me enjoy it more.

So Bruce Solar at Paladin is your agent? It’s been a good few years, at least 10 years. He’s a very active guy. He comes to our gigs. He’s a lovely bloke. We socialize. He’s a really good person to be around.

What’s your take in general of music agents. Well, like everything else, there are good and bad ones. I’ve been with a few of both types, and I’m not talking about Bruce at all. We’re always very well prepared for where we’re playing and course they work in tandem with The Rocks Management company so our travel is always seamless–except if we get hit at a red light. It can get a little bit challenging. But I have been with other agents who don’t prepare you for where you’re turning up and you can turn up at the most obscure places.

One of the ones was in the Philippines the’ 60s. Quite an ambitious trek, even just to get there. And we believed we were playing in the bar of a hotel, and we opened at the Araneta Coliseum in front of 28,000 people. Unfortunately, we were being paid as if we were playing in a bar in a hotel. So it was a bit of a shock when we opened to 28,000 people. And we played there for 10 days. And on the Saturday night, we played to 32,000 people. It was that sort of thing for 10 days. it’s a place called Quezon City, which is like a part of Manila in the Philippines. And we’ve been back there since actually, Quezon City is now grown into Manila. The Beatles had a lot of trouble in the Philippines. They got chased out of there. That’s right. Well, who was the next band that went in after the Beatles?

Was that you guys? It starts with a Z…

That’s crazy. And you played 10 stadium nights there and thought it was a hotel bar. Who was your agent then? Well, perhaps better not name him. Actually, he’s no longer with us so he can’t defend himself. It’s probably better if I don’t say his name. Even in those days, money has changed, but we were getting about £80 a night between us.

That’s evil. So you can imagine, it was an interesting experience.

So let’s talk a little bit about this current tour with Peter Asher and The Fixx. How did that come about? Well that’s more to do with agents and managers, really. I know Peter Asher from the’ 60s. I don’t know him well, but I’ve met him quite a few times. I’d never met The Fixx until last night. Really nice blokes. the makeup of the tour is more to do with agents and management than artists. We tend to be steered in a direction and that’s the way we go.

At the moment, in the UK, I’m recording an album, so I’ve just had to take a break from that to come over here and do this tour. It’s going to be great fun. And it’s going to be enhanced by the fact that the music of the three artists is so different. So people are going to have a really enjoyable and exciting experience seeing these three completely different kinds of music.

And it’s multi-generational . To some degree, it is, yes. Peter Asher and myself, we both started the business at the same time, but of course, he’s been very involved in production with people like James Taylor and management. And he’s also worked as a record executive firstly with with Apple Records but more recently with other labels. He has a very varied career, and he’s raconteur, he can tell stories about all sides of the business. Very few people who have had that variance in their careers. Obviously, I started in the’ 60s, but I’ve stayed as an artist and a writer.

Then we have The Fix, who’s a little younger than us, but they’ve made some wonderful records and had some really big hits, particularly in the States. So there’s a lot of experience, and there’s a lot of wonderful music there between us all.

Are you playing with a band or solo? I’m playing with a four-piece. It’s very similar to The Zombies. Keyboard, bass, guitar, and drums. It’s sort of half of The Zombies, what we call the second incarnation of The Zombies, so starting from, like, 1999. Soren Koch is on guitar, Steve Rodford on drums. And then the other half of the band is from The Strawbs. I don’t know if you’re familiar with The Strawbs, but Dave Bainbridge is on keyboards, and Chaz Cronk is on bass. And so we’ve got a good representative of British bands over the last few years. Yeah. All in my solo band.

Don’t you also have a Zombies festival you do? We do. We do. It’s on the weekend of the 31st of October. So the 30th, the 31st, and the 1st of November. It’s in our hometown, which is St Albans. And we just have many Zombie-themed events over the weekend. And on the Saturday night, we are playing a concert in St Albans Cathedral. It’s one of the oldest cathedrals in the country. But there are activities going on all the time, from Friday night through to Sunday evening. This is the third one that we’ve done, and it’s really good fun. You can opt in and out as the festival develops. You don’t have to go to everything, because it is just one thing after another. That’s The Fix song, isn’t it? It is, actually, yeah.

So is it blasphemy having The Zombies play at a cathedral? Well, it’s very interesting to play in a cathedral like that. In fact, it’s going to be more of an acoustic concert, and it’ll be built around myself and Dave Bainbridge, who’s the keyboard player in my solo band. He’s also a fine guitarist. He’s one of those guys who’s just a wonderful multi-instrumentalist. But we’re having some guests come. We also have a string quartet playing with us as well. It’s something the cathedral does quite often. As opposed to the spiritual side of the cathedral, they have an area where  they put on concerts. It’s a huge building.

Weren’t you signed to Elton John’s Rocket Records? I was, yes.

How did that come about, and what can you tell us about Sir Elton? Well it came about because my then manager was very friendly with John Reid who my manager was a guy called Barry Krost was very friendly with John Reie, who was Elton’s manager and was one of the owners of the label Rocket Records. And I met Elton quite a few times, but I worked with Elton’s producer, Gus Dudgeon and recorded three albums. The first one was called Plains, after an Elton John Bernie Taupin song. In fact, Gus Dudgeon, who was Elton’s producer, his very first session producing or as a record engineer was (The Zombies’) “She’s Not There.” It was our first session, and it was his first session. So Gus always remembered The Zombies. I think that was another reason the deal came together. Yeah. Elton was very active in Rocket Records, and he’s still, to this day, very involved in encouraging younger acts and acts that are just starting out on their careers. He’s just one of those guys who tries to help people.

So Elton’s kind of known for supporting younger acts like Chappell Roan, Billie Eilish, Sam Fender, Dua LIpa and many others, so I assumed he was a fan of your great work and wanted to put it out. I never talked to him in those terms, to be honest, but he certainly wanted me on the label. As did Gus Dudgeon and John Reid and Bernie Taupin. They were the four owners of Rocket Records. And, of course, I spent time with all of them.

Who is Neil MacArthur (your former pseudonym solo performer name)? It’s an assumed name. When The Zombies finished, I was approached by a producer called Mike Hurst to start recording again. I was slightly reluctant because of the sadness of The Beatles and I wasn’t absolutely sure I wanted to get back into the music business again, but he persuaded me to do it. And somewhere along the line, we started recording with the name Neil MacArthur. Now, I’ve spoken to him about it more recently, and he thought it was my idea. It was his idea. So the mysteries of the past have kind of clouded the exact reason for recording under that name. It may be something to do with the fact that he had the idea of re-recording “She’s Not There.” And it seems strange for the lead singer of The

_Originally reported by [Pollstar](https://news.pollstar.com/2026/10/01/a-zombies-odyssey-the-legendary-colin-blunstone-on-his-solo-tour-bus-mishaps-zombie-fest-more-qa/)._