The Zombies in 2017: Tom Toomey, Rod Argent, the late Jim Rodford, Colin Blunstone, and Steve Rodford. Photo by Andrew Eccles

The year 2018 is a good time to be a Zombie – of the musical singing and playing kind, not necessarily the walking dead variety. For decades, the group was beloved by a smallish-but-devoted audience, and rarely mentioned in the same breath as better known British Invasion contemporaries like the Beatles, Stones, Who, Kinks, Dave Clark Five, Yardbirds…even Herman’s Hermits.

After all, this was a band who scored a possibly career changing #3 hit on the U.S. charts in 1968…after they had already broken up (that would be FM radio staple “Time of the Season” off the album Odessey and Oracle). The Zombies had previously charted with “She’s Not There” and “Tell Her No.”

Their original incarnation only spanned a handful of years and put out fewer LPs. But their unique brand of smart, snappy pop-rock—anchored by Colin Blunstone’s breathy vocals and Rod Argent’s keyboard flourishes and backing vocals—made them cult favorites. But now the word is finally out.

In 2016, the band was included for the first time on the ballot for induction (but did not make the final cut) into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Their most recent album, 2015’s Still Got That Hunger, garnered mostly positive reviews. There’s even a coffee table book out on the band’s history. And their summer in 2018 is filled with appearances at festivals and headlining shows around the world.

“It’s been exciting to see how the audiences have grown over the past number of years. Just by word of mouth and good playing by professionals. Our profile has definitely grown,” Blunstone – in the most elegant-sounding, PBS-worthy English accent I have ever heard in my life – told me last year.

The cover of “Still Got that Hunger.” Art by Terry Quirk, a friend of the band who also did the cover for “Odessey and Oracale,” famously misspelling the first word in an error that has never been corrected and part of the band’s lore.

Most importantly, the Zombies last year wound up a tour celebrating the 50^th anniversary of Odessey and Oracle, with the album played in its entirety. Original members Chris White (bass) and Hugh Grundy (drums) joined the then-current lineup of Blunstone, Argent, Jim Rodford (bass), Steve Rodford (drums), and Tom Toomey (guitar). Original guitarist Paul Atkinson died in 2004. Jim Rodford – an actual early member of the group who left early on, but was a longtime member of the Kinks – died last year. Their new bassist is Soren Koch.

“Those shows were wonderful and emotional, and such vivid memories of the ‘60s came rushing back with Chris and Hugh onstage,” Blunstone adds. “It seems like almost yesterday we were playing together, even though it was a lifetime ago. It plays tricks on your memory.”

Still, it wasn’t an easy or predetermined road to today’s success. When Blunstone and Argent resurrected the Zombies name for concerts and records beginning in 2004, they had to grow an audience. I recall seeing them in Houston on that first tour in a room of about 40 (albeit diehard) local Houston fans. On their last stop, they played to hundreds.

In recording Still Got That Hunger, the Zombies looked back to look forward. “We decided quite purposefully to record the new album like we did with Odessey, which was to rehearse extensively before we set foot in the studio. Back then, it was to save money since we had a limited budget and were recording in Abbey Road Studios, which was expensive!” Blunstone laughs. “So we recorded very quickly, and that’s what we did, playing in separate sound booths, but live together.”

The original Zombies: Chris White, Rod Argent, Paul Atkinson, Colin Blunstone, and Hugh Grundy

The singer adds that his vocals on the finished album were originally just put down as a guide, but upon hearing them, the band agreed to use them as is. He also gives producer Chris Potter – who has worked with the Verve and the Rolling Stones – a lot of credit for the final work. Writing is already in process for a follow up, possibly also with Potter.

As for live shows, Blunstone is proud that at age 72, he still has his full vocal range, and the band plays all their material in their original keys. He credits a late voice coach – Ian Adam, who also tutored Argent – with creating a series of vocal exercises that he uses to warm up before every show. Although the material went from being on a cassette to a CD to its current home on Blunstone’s smart phone.

Then there’s the matter of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Blunstone hopes that the band will be inducted while four of the five original members “are still around,” adding they’re all in pretty good health.

“But you have to be philosophical about these things. I like to think of us – especially the present incarnation – as jobbing musicians. Our job is to go out and play live. The Hall of Fame would be wonderful, but we enjoy what we’re doing anyway. And we’re incredibly privileged to be doing it at this time in our lives. The Hall of Fame would be the icing on the cake.”

Finally, the Zombies have taken to the high seas on more than one occasion, and will continue to do so on jaunts with titles like The Flower Power Cruise and the Moody Blues Cruise. 2018 will see them play the On the Blue Cruise alongside Moody Blues vocalist Justin Hayward, former Genesis guitar player Steve Hackett, Wishbone Ash, Al Stewart, Dave Mason, and groups with various members and former members of Chicago, ELO, the Alan Parsons Project, and Procol Harum.

While being trapped on a boat in the middle of the ocean with rabid fans might seem like (and likely is) a nightmare for some performers, Blunstone takes it in stride – provided that he’s not hungry as soon as he gets up.

“It’s interesting. These ships are huge. They are like a town or a small city that just happens to be on the sea. But you’re actually travelling with your audience,” he says. “I like to get out and speak to people, but you really have to plan your time. It may well take you 45 minutes or an hour just to get to breakfast in the morning because people want to talk to you! But they’re incredibly respectful and enthusiastic and polite.”

Portions of this interview originally appeared in The Houston Press.