Q: Where did the name, The Zombies, come from?
Rod Argent: We got together in 1961, at the very beginning of the English band scene. That was even a year before the Beatles. We didn't know what to call ourselves. For the first month or so, we were called the Sundowners. But I think that may well have been a western film in the same way as the Searchers' name was from a John Wayne movie. We were also the Mustangs for a couple of weeks, but never went out on a gig with that name. One day, our bass player at the time, who was the only one initially who left the band before we were professional, said, "What about The Zombies?" This was in the days before any of the crop of zombie films, like "Return Of The Living Dead." Now I just about knew what a zombie was. It had something to do with Haiti, and some sort of voodoo, unsavory sorts of things. Colin Blunstone didn't even know that. He hated the name! But I loved it. If we were lucky enough to get any recognition later, then very soon the name itself would be unimportant. It would just become whomever the members of the band were. A year after the Beatles were named, no one that I know thought about insects or even the play on words. They just thought about John, Paul, George and Ringo. That proved to be the case with us. When we were in the studio once, I was wandering around and heard the sound of Miles Davis coming from a record player in someone's dressing room. I knocked on the door. It opened, and there was Manfred Man. I asked if that was Miles playing, and he said, "Yeah, yeah." Then he looked at me and asked, "You're Rod Argent, aren't you?" I said, "Yeah." He said, "Man, I love your record, but you have to change that band name." But we never did [laughs].
Q: How did you meet Colin Blunstone?
Argent: The day we had our first rehearsal was the first day I met Colin. He was a friend of the bass player, who was a friend of mine. Originally, I was supposed to be lead singer, and not play piano at all. We had a little jam, and thought it was all going pretty well. Then we had a coffee break. I wandered over to an old, beaten-up piano, and started playing some Stingers records I'd heard. Colin came running over and said, "That sounds fantastic. You've got a great playing ability. Why don't you sing AND play piano?" I thought that would be too much, to sing lead vocals and play piano, so I said, "No." Twenty minutes later, we had another break. Colin sat down and started strumming a guitar, because he was going to play second guitar, rhythm. He started singing a Ricky Nelson song. It sounded absolutely lovely! I said, "My God, I had no idea you could sing like that. I'll tell you what. - you be lead singer, and I'll play piano." And that's how we started. It was Easter of 1961.
From: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2020/06/08/how-did-the-1960s-band-the-zombies-come-up-with-their-strange-name/?sh=4af7dfa63d4e
