Time of the Season Again: The Zombies' Rod Argent

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EVEN IF YOU can find an oldies radio station to listen to, the only Zombies song you're likely to hear is "Time of the Season." It's the go-to music any time a TV show or movie or tampon ad needs a '60s flashback. Maybe that's why it was a gimme for "American Idol's" "British Invasion Night" last year.

Blake Lewis was OK doing it, but you can hear the real deal on Tuesday when original Zombies keyboardist/songwriter Rod Argent and original vocalist Colin Blunstone hit the Birchmere with a few of their mates.

"Great band around us," Argent boasts by phone from a Detroit gig. "Jim Rodford on bass, who was with Argent and then The Kinks for 20 years. He's my cousin also, and he was the first guy we ever asked to be in The Zombies, because he loaned us the gear for our very first rehearsal. Jim's son Steve [Rodford] is on drums, and [guitarist] Keith Airey has played with Tom Jones and John Hiatt. It's not [original bassist and drummer] Chris White and Hugh Grundy. But of course they did join us for a very special concert in Shepherd's Bush in England."

Argent means the three-night gig in March when the four surviving Zombies reunited for the first time and played their landmark 1968 album "Odessey and Oracle" in its entirety. (A two-CD recording of the gig just came out a few days ago; a high-def DVD is in the works.)

How big a deal was this? Well, "Odessey and Oracle" is pretty much the British "Pet Sounds," so imagine reuniting the original Beach Boys plus a dozen other people onstage to fully replicate all the multilayered harmonies and off-the-wall instrumentation. (In a bit of karmic harmony, Darian Sahanaja from Brian Wilson's touring band played Argent's original mellotron parts.)

"There were [The Jam's] Paul Weller and Robert Plant and younger bands like Snow Patrol and Garbage in the crowd," recalls Argent, "and I thought, 'If we fall flat on our arses it's gonna be so humiliating.' But it was a lovely three days.

"We'd never ever performed it live, because we broke up before it came out. So that really seemed like a reason for doing it. And people continue to be so kind about it, including current contemporary artists. Just a few weeks ago Dave Grohl [was praising the opening track] 'Care of Cell 44.'"

Argent hopes to bring the full "Odessey and Oracle" experience across the pond next year. "It's quite a big operation; I think at one point we had 23 people on stage. Just for 'This Will Be Our Year' we got a brass quartet to play the original parts, and I purchased an 1896 pedal organ. There's all these extra people to take, and all the problems that come with the extra people. Everyone's on board for it."

One "Odessey and Oracle" track you won't hear live this time around is the Summer of Love trip-out "Hung Up on a Dream." "We've tried to do it live with the touring band, but you need all the parts to make that song work," Argent says. He figures "we'll do five or six songs from 'O & O,' the ones I believe work without massive vocal parts. 'Care of Cell 44' sounds great. We'll do that, we'll do 'This Will Be Our Year'; probably do 'I Want Her She Wants Me.' And 'Time of the Season,' of course." (Also count on the British Invasion faves "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No," plus an odd choice of covers.)

"Colin had a huge hit in Europe with [Eurythmics'] Dave Stewart with "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted," the Jimmy Ruffin song, and we'll do that. Jimmy Ruffin actually said it was the only cover of that song that he enjoys."

But back to "Time" for a moment, since we do have Argent and that song to blame for giving us that taunting phrase "Who's your daddy?"

"It actually was an affectionate nod to Gershwin's 'Summertime,' which was the first song The Zombies ever recorded," Argent says in his defense. "There's a couplet which says 'Your daddy's rich and your mama's good looking.'"

Given that Argent and Blunstone are still younger than those Jagger and Richards blokes, how long can The Zombies shuffle on?

"As long as we feel healthy," Argent says. "My dad was in a semipro band all his life, and he played his last gig when he was 83. I hope I've got some more time in me yet; I'm really enjoying writing new material for the next album. "

» Birchmere, 3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria, Tue., 7:30 p.m., $39.50; 800-551-7328.

Written by Express contributor Paul Stelter

Photos courtesy Press Here Publicity