RIDGEFIELD - One of dozens of early British Invasion acts, The Zombies was so ahead of its time that the band had already broken up and scattered its members to other projects long before its seminal album Odessey And Oracle was even released in 1968. And it took the passing of a dozen years before musician and record producer Chris White reached out to co-founders Ronnie Argent and Colin Blunstone to inform them that the project - yielding the sustaining hit "Time of the Season" - was rapidly gaining cult status among music lovers across the globe.Odessey, which was famously misspelled in the psychedelic album cover art and left that way, has found even more recent popularity among a new generation of fans, so the original lineup, minus the late guitarist Paul Atkinson, decided to mount a tour to showcase the album in concert before it was too late.Rolling Stone has dubbed one of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." Fans can hear it in its entirety being played by all the surviving band members in a stop at The Ridgefield Playhouse on Thursday, March 30, at 8 pm.Odessey And Oracle is rivaled by the likes of Lennon and McCartney. Building on standard R&B and rock 'n' roll influences, the Zombies introduced both class and sophistication into a genre not noted for either - and in a most natural, unselfconscious way, propelling them past contemporaries like The Kinks, Yardbirds, and Animals.Zombie Heaven, each new musical generation has been able to discover for themselves the undiluted magic of the band's catalog.The Newtown Bee ahead of their arrival in Connecticut, and just a few days ahead of sitting down with their touring ensemble, which features Poi Dog Pondering and Brian Wilson band alumnus Darian Sahanaja, along with founding bassist Chris White, his wife Vivian, and drummer Hugh Grundy playing the Odessey And Oracle segment of the show. An opening set will feature Blunstone and Argent backed by bassist Jim Rodford (formerly of Argent and The Kinks), Rodford's son Steve on drums, and renowned session guitarist Tom Toomey, who all join the founding members for set number two.The Bee opened the interview asking Blunstone about The Zombies biggest hit.The Newtown Bee: I was born in 1961, so one of the earliest memories I have of hearing pop music of the day was that catchy opening riff to "Time of the Season," so I'm excited to finally hear it live a half-century later!Colin Blunstone: That's fantastic. Listen, if you were born in 1961, you're a youngster as far as I'm concerned. I hope that when we play "Time of the Season" you really enjoy it because we've got a really good band, both in the present incarnation of The Zombies that are playing in the first half of the show, and then the original Zombies who will join us for the second half of the show where we'll play the entire Odessey And Oracle with, of course, the last song on Odessey And Oracle, which is "Time of the Season." And the present band will be supplementing the harmonies in the background to make those vocals sound really full. You know when we went into Abbey Road to record this album, we followed The Beatles who had just finished recording Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. And they had developed some changes in recording techniques, where we couldn't use eight tracks, but by putting two four-track machines together, they lost one track but we were actually able to record on seven tracks. So this was the first time we could ever double-track harmonies and vocals and even have two keyboards playing at the same time.The Bee: That's interesting because when I interviewed Alan Parsons, who started as a production assistant on Sgt. Pepper at Abbey Road, he talked a lot about the limitations of the studio and coming up with a way of putting those two machines together.Blunstone: Wow. Well, that's where I first met Alan Parsons, when we recorded Odessey And Oracle. He was an engineer at Abbey Road and from that we became pals and I ended up singing on six or seven of the Alan Parsons Project albums, because of that friendship that formed at Abbey Road.The Bee: Did he have his hands on any of the finished product that became Odessey And Oracle?Blunstone: Remembering it was 50 years ago, back then engineers usually worked with an assistant, and as I remember Alan was a very young chap in those days and was an assistant engineer. The engineers on Odessey And Oracle were Geoff Emerick, who recorded with The Beatles, and Peter Vince, who recorded with The Beatles as well. Although I think a couple of tracks were recorded at Olympic Studios, which was where the Rolling Stones were recording. So ten of the tracks on Odessey And Oracle were recorded at Abbey Road in Studio 3, and the basic tracks for two of the other songs were recorded at Olympic.The Bee: So maybe Alan Parson's job on Odessey And Oracle would have been to fetch you your tea?Blunstone: (laughing) Well he might have, I don't know. Back in that time the way studios were set up it was kind of a dual thing, so an engineer would always have an assistant and there were specific jobs to do, but the assistant would be learning his craft by watching the main engineer. And of course shortly after that Alan was recording on so many huge albums, and went on to be incredibly successful with the Alan Parsons Project. Probably one of my most satisfying recording adventures besides with The Zombies, was with the Alan Parsons Project on a song that I really love called "Old And Wise," from an album called Eye In The Sky. In some countries in Europe, that is a huge, huge hit. So if The Zombies go play in Holland, we have to play "Old And Wise," and that will be the biggest song of the night. In different countries, you realize how different songs are more successful. If we go to the Far East, there are songs they demand that we will never even put on a set list in the US or in Europe.The Bee: Speaking of Abbey Road, a significant element to the album is the use of the Mellotron. Is it true that the only reason you had access to that early stage synthesizer was because John Lennon left it behind after the Sgt. Pepper sessions?Argent: Yes, John left it in the studio because they were the previous band in that studio before us. So John's Mellotron was just lying around so I jumped on it and started using it... without permission (laughing). It was my first experience on that extraordinary invention. You know how it works? With each note, there is a tiny cassette tape loop of four or five seconds. So when you were playing voicings of chords, you had to be aware that the notes you were playing would run out after five seconds. It involved a bit of a technique in playing, but I loved it. It was responsible for a lot of the mood on Odessey, so thank you, John Lennon.The Bee: Were you involved in any of the songwriting on Odessey And Oracle?Blunstone: No that was Rod and Chris. Actually I was just the singer,The Bee: Rod, what was the extent of your involvement in the songwriting process?Argent: I wrote by myself about half the songs and Chris White wrote the other half. But I did have a strong hand in the arrangements of all the songs. What's interesting is we weren't consciously trying to match each other stylistically. We had a way of working where I often arranged the harmonies and some of the instrumental side of things. So when Chris brought "Beechwood Park" to us, it was a lovely song. But right before that we were quite knocked out by the Procol Harum song, "A Whiter Shade of Pale," and while we didn't want to copy it, I suggested to Chris that it might be great if we brought some of that classical mood to "Beechwood Park" with the organ, and he agreed. So we added that counterpoint and it worked very well.The Bee: What were a couple of the other songs on the album that you based on real people or your own experiences?Argent: Generally speaking, I was very much one for weaving a little story around a musical idea. So very little was inspired by actual events in my life, although I would say "Hung Up On A Dream" was. Like everybody else, we were profoundly moved by the youth movement of the time. It seemed like for the first time, the youth of the world through music and the culture that was inspired by the music was able to make a real difference. That was a heavy feeling of power, but it was a power that had to be used in the right way. And for the first time we had access to some of the TV footage from Vietnam, for example, and the musicians along with all the youth of the world could stand up and say we weren't going to be a party to this. And be taken notice of - and while we were extremely aware of the naivety, that love and peace thing felt like a very strong power. I mean you could have a huge gathering like Woodstock, with its births and deaths going on, but at the same time no violence. It was quite extraordinary. And "Hung Up On A Dream" comes from those feelings. Other songs on the album like "Care Of Cell 44" just started with a little phrase in my head, that was going to be a jaunty love song - "Good morning to you I hope you're feeling better, baby." And then I thought, let's do something different with this... put a twist on the story. So I just let my imagination run freely, and it ended up as a letter to someone in prison who is coming home soon, and the excitement that soon things were going to get back on track again.The Bee: Do you know if Chris was going through the same type of process refining the songs he was writing?Argent: I think it was true with Chris. For instance on "Brief Candles." He got the idea after reading an Aldous Huxley collection of short stories. And I wrote "A Rose For Emily" after reading a William Faulkner story by the same name. Now my song didn't have anything to do with the Faulkner story, but I just loved the title. It was very evocative to me and I thought I could spin a tale around that title. Chris would do that as well. But Chris was also good about writing around actual events. Like "Beechwood Park" - a park close to where he grew up. And "Butcher's Tale" was based in fact. He had a close relation who was killed in the First World War. He read about the campaigns and was moved about the needless loss of life.The Bee: It had been a long time since I heard The Zombies until I watched your NPR Tiny Desk Concert. And I was overwhelmed at how great your voice sounds, Colin. Do you have a regular regiment of exercises to help keep your voice in such great shape?Blunstone: Actually I was just talking with Rod about it. He worked with a vocal coach in London called Ian Adams, who's since passed away. Ian would work mostly with singers in the West End, the equivalent of your Broadway. So his clients were all in shows where they were performing five nights a week or more. So Ian would work to not only make your voice more strong and accurate, but without changing it - without getting you to be too operatic. I only had a few lessons with him, but he taught me a singing technique, and gave me a half-hour series of exercises which, when I'm on the road, I do once before sound check and once before the show. So by the time I'm going on for the show, I've done an hour of vocal exercise plus the sound check. I find it's helped me a lot and made my voice a lot stronger.The Bee: While I don't think you approached Odessey And Oracle as a concept album, it is most interesting how it flows so well from song to song and from top to bottom - although the song writing was from two different contributors.Argent: I agree with you, John. It does have a mood and continuity about it. It wasn't conscious, it was just a collection of songs. I think it was just us in a moment in time, really. It was a wonderful period for pop music, a time of great positivity and creative exploration. There was just so much in the air both culturally and musically. And we were caught up in it. We just expressed how we were. We loved the album when we made it. It was the best we could do and we were very proud of it. It got some great reviews but it just didn't sell, at least immediately, so we broke up and I didn't listen to it for years afterwords. We got a phone call from Chris White about 12 years later saying it was becoming a real cult album with the young people in the universities and such. So I hung up and remember saying to my wife, "No it's not, he's in dreamland." But it was true. And people like Paul Weller and Tom Petty, and later on David Grohl [Nirvana, Foo Fighters] and many independent bands were discovering it and relating to it up to the present day. And I started listening to it again, and my God, Paul Weller was right, it has this wonderful English autumnal mood. It just captured something about the time.The Bee: It had elements of songwriting that incorporated a more innocent poppy nature of the music that came before it, while at the same time introducing early elements of what became the progressive rock of the early 70s. I think it was a head of its time in that respect.Argent: I think the band was somewhat aware of that, but in a most unselfconscious way. Like every band of the time, we were influenced by the mindset and creativity of The Beatles. I've always thought The Beatles were the real first progressive band, because they constantly pushed the boundaries with an enthusiasm and a love for music. Not because they thought it was a good way to go, but because they were in love with music, and they wanted to indulge that love by immersing themselves in what they were doing. All through my life I loved music. Even from that first raw exposure to Elvis Presley. And I'd also discovered jazz, especially that incredible Miles Davis group from around 1958. And I never consciously tried to incorporate those elements, but I think it enabled me in my own writing to embrace other styles. Changing chord sequences and such, and the guys really embraced those ideas in a really excited way. And mass audiences were ready to accept new ideas and exploration. It was a really healthy time for listeners and players, actually.The Bee: I'm also a longtime fan of Darian Sahanaja, who is in your band now. How did you run into him?Blunstone: Darian is a genius. It's very interesting because I'm not sure. I think our original bass player Chris White went backstage at a Brian Wilson concert to meet him. But the interesting thing is, is how Darian knows Odessey And Oracle better than we do. I mean, we recorded it and the band split up, so I probably didn't even listen to it for ten years or so. But Darian knows it backwards. Rod will tell you. It's so interesting spending time with him. Once we get to the states, he will be with us doing Odessey And Oracle, otherwise we won't know what we're playing. We are relying on him. You know he really rings the experience of having worked with Brian Wilson, and what we are doing is trying to recreate every note that was played on Odessey And Oracle, and he brings his experience working with Brian Wilson into that scenario, and it's invaluable because there are some big harmonies on that record, and he is a wonderful harmony singer. And there is a lot of Mellotron on Odessey And Oracle so he and Rod are constantly exchanging key parts all the time. With Darian, it's his musicality that is such a gift for us and we're so fortunate to have him with us. Rod will tell you that he doesn't want to do Odessey And Oracle if Darian isn't with us.The Bee: So Rod, does that make you the president of the Darian Sahanaja Fan Club?Argent: Darian is a jewel. I first met him around 2003 when Colin and I came back to America to do some Zombies concerts. We were in Los Angeles and Darian turned up and made himself known to us as a huge fan. So at first, to me he was just a lovely, lovely guy. But then I learned about the input and influence he brought to Brain Wilson's later work. And I soon find out he knew how to play all the Mellotron parts, and it's very important on some of the tracks to have keyboard and Mellotron playing at the same time to make them fly. And Darian knows it inside and out. It's true that I wouldn't want to do this album anywhere without Darian. There was one funny moment when we first went into rehearsals. We only had two days so we were moving through the material, and Darian says, "Hey Rod, why aren't you singing that vocal like the original album?" And I said, "I am." And he suggested I listen to the album again, and don't you know Darian was right. He's bit of gold dust that Darian, just fantastic.The Bee: While you guys followed The Beatles into Abbey Road studios, I don't imagine you had the sort of blank check privileges that they enjoyed when you were making Odessey And Oracle.Argent: (laughing) Absolutely not - we were real penny pinchers. It was in the air that we might be breaking up. So it was important for me and Chris to get our musical ideas down on tape. So we went to CBS Records asking for the money to do that. But since we didn't have any commercial success for several years, they would only give us a thousand pounds. We had to make the whole album for one thousand pounds, which even in those days didn't go very far. So we had to prepare meticulously because there was to be no writing going on in the studio. There was space to add to what we had already meticulously prepared, and that was off the cuff. So the album was the product of being meticulously prepared and instantaneous ideas that was caused by our financial restrictions. That was a very healthy thing for that album, I think.ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a nonprofit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street.

The Zombies, also known for the hit singles "She's Not There" (1964) and "Tell Her No" (1965), ended the first stage of its career delivering this masterpiece of pop/psychedelia - the band's only cohesive full-length album.

This year's tour marks the 50th anniversary of the recording that

In early 1967, at a time when their career had almost ground to a halt in the UK, The Zombies were playing live to massive crowds, including one festival that drew more than 30,000 in the Philippines. To date, their final single "Time Of The Season" has topped more than four million US radio plays, while "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No" also remain two of the most-heavily spun vintage hits on American classic-rock radio, according to the band's official bio.

Beyond those stats, the Zombies had several other attributes that set the band apart from other artists of its day. The consistent quality of Argent and White's songwriting as evidenced on

The band continues to influence musicians around the world, whether they be original fans like Tom Petty and Pat Metheney, or more recent acts like REM, Beck, Pavement, and Paul Weller. Even contemporary cutting-edge American and UK acts such as Fountains of Wayne, Spoon, Badly Drawn Boy, Belle & Sebastian, and Super Furry Animals continue to pay homage to the Zombies.

Thanks to high-profile reissues like the definitive 1997 box set

Argent and Blunstone both took time to call in to chat with

For tickets to see the show live ($75, Meet and Greet package upgrades available for $100), call the box office at 203-438-5795, or visit

Check out Zombies co-founders Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone performing "Time of the Season" at Paste Studios in New York in May 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N6vSEYGmgM

Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop in Austin, Tex welcomed The Zombies performing their hit "She's Not There" during SXSW 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8vjb3Ia-8U

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