It's the "Time of the Season" for the Zombies at Brown County Music Center

Rod Argent of The Zombies, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group — and winners of South by Southwest’s (SXSW) 2023 Grulke Prize for “Career Act” — wrote "Time of the Season." Not only the season but Argent himself comes to the Brown County Music Center Oct. 19.

"We're blue-eyed soul, rock, folk, psychedelic rock, classical and jazz," Argent said recently, talking over the phone.

The Zombies rolled out their new album, "Different Game," with multiple performances at this March's SXSW Festival in Austin. Next came a five-week sold-out tour back in the U.K.

Argent and Colin Blunstone brought back the Zombies for good in 1999, after each had left The (original) Zombies band and enjoyed separate music careers. They'll be performing from their new album, "Different Game," a follow-up to their 2015 album, "Still Got That Hunger."

"She's Not There" but maybe you should be

The British rock band The Zombies launched in 1961, with Argent doing keyboard and vocals and Blunstone doing vocals. In 1964, their first British and American chart-kicker was the single, written by Argent, "She's Not There":

"Well, no one told me about her, the way she lied

"Well, no one told me about her, how many people cried

"But it's too late to say you're sorry

"How would I know, why should I care?"

Argent composed it in a tinglingly minor key, and it's jazzy. According to Alex Hopper of AmericanSongwriter,com, the song hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was "endlessly influential on the '60s rock scene." The jazz touch undulating in those minor triads intrigued listeners and critics.

In 1967, after several big wins, including Argent-written “Time of the Season,” (which Argent said was oddly never a hit in the U.K.) the group went separate ways.

"We were very badly managed in the early days. We were really swindled out of so much, It was really terrible."

They wanted to produce songs themselves, and Argent had already moved on to form his second band, Argent. "We produced 'Time of the Season.' It was the easiest thing we've ever done."

“Time of the Season” was No.1 on the Cashbox chart and is one of the Zombies' beloved hits, from the psychedelia genre.

"We wanted to produce song, ourselves," he said. "We were swindled out of so much" in the past; this time there was no pressure, and they ended up with a product that sounded like what they wanted.

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Argent wrote nine of the 10 songs for "Different Game."

He has been involved with music since he was a first grader. Argent grooved to Elvis singing "Hound Dog" (1956) and Little Richard singing "Lucille" (1957);  he also tuned in Bartok, Bach and Stravinsky. "I adored Bach. I had exposure to 400 years of the greatest music ever. At 12, still a treble, I remember singing Bach and melting."

Couldn't stand the pressure: turn, turn!

A chorister, as a boy, Argent had the job of turning pages for the organist. It's a stressful task, since the turner determines, in a sense, the success of the piece. "I couldn't stand the pressure." When he met organist Peter Hurford (1930-2019), Argent "felt like I was coming home."

Hurford was an English organist and composer who studied in Paris with the blind French organist André Marchal. Hurford paid specific attention to music from the Baroque period, particularly J.S. Bach and the French notables.

After The Zombies, Argent taught himself to sightread music. He told himself, "I'm going to spend a year getting out any (type of) sheet music — slowly."

The Brown County concert will include audience favorites, such as "She's Not There" and "Time" and early cuts along with several songs from "Different Game."

The Zombies enjoy creating new songs, he said. "We always add some piano and organ solo improvs, starting in a different place and then going in a different direction." Not to worry: he said the rest of the band "always goes along with it."

Argent and Blunstone reunite, and younger crowds 'go crazy'

All five Zombies got back together again in 1997 in London. They performed as a section of Blunstone's solo gig, to do "Time of the Season" and "She's Not There" and to advertise the collectors' box set "Zombie Heaven." Argent and Blunstone waited till 1999 to perform together again.

The Zombies, which exploded out of the 1960s, are this time around, in the 2000s, seizing the hearts of audiences decades younger.

"We always have young people at in the audience, and they go crazy over “Time of the Season."

And Argent says it's not as though parents are introducing their kids to it. "(Kids) do find things by themselves."

One set of parents drove 800 miles, Argent said, so their daughter could attend a Zombies concert: the group had been the child's favorite since she was 7.

"She made her parents promise to take her with them to a Zombies concert when she was old enough. By age 15, she was ready. "We could see her in the front," Argent said, "and we kept referencing her."

"She had the time of her life." Hmmm, sound like a song.

If you go

WHAT: The Zombies: Different Game Tour 23 with special guest JD Eicher

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 19

WHERE: Brown County Music Center, 200 Maple Leaf Blvd., Nashville

TICKETS: $35-$255, available online at browncountymusiccenter.com/events

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: The Zombies perform at Brown County Music Center Oct. 19