Rock & Roll Hall of Famers The Zombies have released a brand new track and animated lyric video, “Dropped Reeling & Stupid”, on streaming services ahead of a full album CD, vinyl and digital release March 17. worldwide on UK indie label Cooking Vinyl Records. In support of the release, and a forthcoming feature documentary, the band will resume their “Life Is A Merry-Go-Round” Tour in 2023 with appearances at Austin’s famed music & film festival, South by SouthWest (SXSW), , followed by a full UK run in the Spring, and more extensive touring planned throughout the year.
The Zombies began work on the album, titled Different Game, after their 2019 induction into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and a USA tour with Beach Boys auteur Brian Wilson. The band, which features founding keyboardist Rod Argent and lead singer Colin Blunstone, along with drummer Steve Rodford, guitarist Tom Toomey and bassist Søren Koch, hoped to finish writing and recording the follow-up to their Billboard-charting 2015 album Still Got That Hunger during a busy 2020 touring schedule, but COVID-19 had other plans for them. As primary songwriter and producer Rod Argent relates, “the band was not content to record remotely”
“Making this album has been a joy from start to finish. Post-lockdown, we were absolutely determined to come together and record in as “live” a way as we could – to capture that magical, fleeting quality of energy and immediacy of performance.….“Dropped Reeling & Stupid” is our first streamed release …… Can’t wait for you to hear it!”
Despite the Pandemic, The Zombies made the past 3 years productive, finishing the album, and giving fans previews of their new songs with a live-streamed concert from Abbey Road Studios London in 2021, and 65 concerts across North America and Europe in 2022 for the launch of their “Life Is A Merry-Go-Round” Tour. Along with Rockers like “Dropped Reeling & Stupid”, Different Game will also feature tender acoustic ballads with classical string arrangements, and is produced by Rod Argent together with the band’s long-time live audio engineer Dale Hanson.
The album cover for Different Game exemplifies the independent and hard-working spirit of a band that refuses to rest on the laurels of a 6-decade career, and comes from a photo taken by Rod Argent during a touring misadventure in the Arizona desert this past Summer. Singer Colin Blunstone explains:
“We were traveling from Southern California to Tucson, when our tour van’s engine suddenly caught fire! We spent about 5 hours stranded in the remote Arizona desert, but thanks to our intrepid team and crew, we were rescued and made it to our next show! It was a harrowing experience, but also beautiful and surreal.”
The animated lyric video for “Dropped Reeling & Stupid”, produced by Animind Studio, is inspired by the band’s desert mishap. The album is being released in advance of a new feature documentary entitled Hung Up On A Dream, directed by musician and filmmaker Robert Schwartzman, and co-produced by Schwartzman’s Utopia Films, The Ranch Productions, and Tom Hanks’ Playtone, slated for release later in 2023.
