Pianist Rod Argent and vocalist Colin Blunstone are resurrecting The Zombies [ tickets ] for a number of festival, club and casino gigs this July.The tour revs up July 3 at Detroit's CityFest, formerly known as TasteFest, and continues through July 31, when the band performs at Winnipeg, Manitoba's Club Regent Casino. Argent and Blunstone will be joined onstage by bassist Jim Rodford (formerly of Argent and The Kinks), Rodford's son Steve on drums, and session guitarist Keith Airey.On March 7-9 in London, the four remaining members of The Zombies--Argent, Blunstone, bassist Chris White and drummer Hugh Grundy, along with Keith Airey taking the place of guitarist Paul Atkinson (who died in 2004)--played live in its entirety the album "Odessey and Oracle," which first surfaced 40 years ago. The Zombies were the second UK group--following the Beatles--to score a No. 1 hit in United States, according to a press release. In the 1960s, the band scored hits with "She�s Not There" and "Tell Her No." The group disbanded in 1968 just prior to achieving their greatest success with the chart-topping single "Time of the Season" from "Odessey and Oracle," their second and final album. The set recently was ranked No. 80 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and No. 32 by the UK's New Music Express in a similar list of British albums. Blunstone went on to develop an acclaimed solo career, while keyboardist/songwriter Argent rocked arenas in the '70s with his eponymous band, Argent.
