Versa: Issue Three

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Featured OA
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What was your time like at St Albans School?
I didn’t feel like I really flowered until the Fifth and Sixth
Form. Despite having a real flair for English Language and
Literature, as well as the Arts, I struggled immensely with the
Science subjects. For the first three years I didn’t feel terribly
at home, but the minute we were divided into the Arts and
Science streams, things got much better for me. I started off in
a B stream and then was put into 3C. At the time, they had the
same exam for the whole year and they used to mark the paper
in different colours for each Class. I seem to remember the C
Form were pencil colour, the A Form red and B Form possibly
green. I remember doing disastrously in Chemistry, Physics
and Maths, putting a clutch of my results at the bottom of the
table, but in one result, English, I came first or second in the
whole year, leaving a lone pencil colour at the top of the sheet!
As a result, I was put into the top Art stream and I enjoyed
things so much more.
“In a strange way, if something
works, it’s all water from the
same well. In a sense, all
music is the same.”
Were there any teachers who were memorable or
inspirational for you?
We had a Divinity Master named Mr Finley. He saw the remit
of Divinity classes as being anything and everything to do
with the mind and spirit. I remember vividly my homework
one evening was to read a passage given to us by Mr Finley – I
didn’t know where it was from, but it absolutely blew me away.
I remember thinking, “this is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever
read”. The next day I asked Mr Finley, “where is this passage
from?” and he said Shakespeare. It was The Tempest. That one
thing opened my eyes to the world of literature and I have had
a lifelong love of Shakespeare ever since. I was totally inspired.
He was one of those teachers that had a magical gift to give a
moment of insight and set you off on your way.
There was also Mr Heather, whom in a weird way, although I
felt he was quite forbidding, he always made time for pupils.
I was never sure of myself but he seemed to think there was
THE ZOMBIES
…far from dead
Spanning decades and continents, Rod Argent’s music has touched
music lovers across the globe – but where did it all start, and what
was his inspiration? We spoke to Rod to find out more…
something worth nurturing in me and made me feel very
enabled. There was one comment of praise – which were few
and far between for him – which he wrote at the bottom of an
essay that I will always remember. It said “the only essay I read
with pleasure” and because it was so rare, that comment gave
me a feeling of ‘I can do this’.
How did music influence you at the time? Were there any
particularly inspirations?
When I attended the School it was eleven years after World
War II so people were coming out of austerity, Masters had
come from the Services and there was a whole reorganisation
of life. It was the most wonderful explosion of every art form.
The constraints were being loosened after the wartime period
and suddenly, whether it was art, music or fashion, everything
exploded. Anything seemed possible.
Since ten years old, I had been in the Abbey choir. Peter
Hurford was the Master of Music and with his passion and
enthusiasm, it was the most wonderful way of receiving an
immersive musical education. If you’re a member of a choir
of that standard, with someone of his ability, it’s about the best
education anyone can have. It opened my ears to the world of
Bach and avant-garde classical music. I remember to this day,
wandering into the Abbey late for rehearsal on a Friday evening
and there was a magnificent sound of Edmond Rubbra, which
at the time was ground breakingly dissonant. I remember
hearing these sounds thinking, “this is absolutely wonderful!”
For a twelve-year-old who adored music, it was revolutionary.
The choir opened my ears to all music. In a strange way, if
something works, it’s all water from the same well. In a sense,
all music is the same.
During this time in the early 60s, you formed The Zombies.
What was that like?
It started with my cousin, Jim Rodford. He was four years older
than I was and in a Skiffle group at the time. I went along to see
them at eleven-years-old and it floored me. There and then, I
promised myself that I would form a band.
The band came about when I was in Fifth Form. I wandered
into the Fourth Form Common Room and in the corner, Paul
Atkinson was playing the guitar in a folk club. I thought he
sounded like he had a rhythmic grasp of what he was doing.
So I asked him, “do you want to be in a band?,” and he said
yes! Then, I needed a drummer. That very week I went to a
marching display of the Corp and while they were playing,
I picked out the guy who I thought had the best sense of
rhythm on the drum, and I asked him afterwards, “do you
want to be in a band?,” and he said…yes! I then spoke to a
good friend of mine, Paul, who was building a bass. He had
never played before but I said, “You’re in the band!.” A day
later, he invited his friend who played rhythm guitar to the
first rehearsal, and that was it. We learned as we went along
and we were incredibly enthusiastic. Paul, who built the bass,
less so, so he left to pursue becoming a doctor, which he did
with great success. Chris White, then joined us.
Jim Rodford was wonderfully helpful driving me to rehearsals.
At the time, we met at the Blacksmith’s Arms but I was too
young to go inside so we practiced at the Pioneer Club on
Hatfield Road. He loaned us all the Bluetones’ gear. We thought
we were pretty hot but Jim told me afterwards, he thought we
had no chance!
“You only have one life.
Embrace what is opening your
eyes – nothing is guaranteed.”
We won the Beat-Group competition run by the London
Evening Standard and the prize was a recording contract for a
single. I’d written, It’s Alright With Me which appeared on our
first EP and our first hit, She’s Not There.
Fast-forward to 1969 and The Zombies have disbanded and
you formed Argent. How did you find this transition?
I believe the first two Argent albums were an absolute
progression from The Zombies Odessey and Oracle. The
first real success we had internationally was the album All
Together Now which had Hold Your Head Up on it, a top-5 hit
everywhere. By this time in 1972, musically, we had moved
in a different direction. Like everyone, we were constantly
trying new things. We were hungry to explore all music from
Pierre Boulez to musique concrète and everything in-between.
We didn’t want to stand still, look back and simply rake over
the embers. We thrived on creative energy which sometimes
worked and sometimes didn’t. Each album after All Together
Now became a tapestry of different successes.
What are you doing now?
I’m very proud of the last album we did in 2015. We had a
call from Billboard magazine who wanted us to know that for
the first time in fifty years, we had entered the top 100 album
sales chart. We were knocked out. It is so gratifying that at
the age of seventy-three, we still seem to relate to audiences
who have both followed us all the way through, and a sizable
portion of younger audiences too.
Do you have any advice for current pupils?
I would say always look for the centre of yourself, try to
embrace the knowledge you are gaining and learn with
passion, rather than as a means to an end. I believe
that’s true with everything. You only have one life. Embrace
what is opening your eyes – nothing is guaranteed. I made a
very good group of friends at St Albans School who I lost touch
with for a while but we reconnected recently. I don’t think any
of us distinguished ourselves academically, but everybody in
that group has had success in one way or another, whether
commercial or not. I believe this is one of the great qualities the
School imbued us with; really learning how to apply ourselves.
Many people have talent, but it is the quality of seeing
something through and applying yourself, trying hard enough,
and for long enough, that is a real quality.
Has anyone caught your eye in the music industry today?
We had a track on the last Eminem album where he sampled
Time of the Season. He did something very clever with it, taking
the phrase, “it’s the time of the season for loving” and inverted
the sense of it completely, changing it to “there’s no rhyme or
reason for nothing”. I really enjoyed it in the sense he wasn’t
just using the song for something gratuitous. He changed the
meaning totally.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
I had initial success with the Zombies, then came off the road
in 1975 which I thought was for good. I became involved with
Andrew Lloyd Webber for many years, and he even asked a
few of us to do the first five weeks of Cats! I have written for
television, produced albums and in spite of all this, when Colin
and I got back together in 2000, it surpassed all expectations.
We were supposed to do six gigs for fun but this gained
momentum and became eighteen years of travelling around the
world! I adored the buzz of playing again.
The music scene has changed so much and we are so proud of
having built something so substantial at this late stage in our
careers. After a recent gig, Graham Nash (The Hollies) came up
to us and said, “who would have thought, fifty years ago when
we played together, not only would we still be so enthused by
making music, but we would also be making new music and
playing to these audiences!” Yet here we are. In a funny way,
that’s what Colin and I are most proud of, that we have built up
this second incarnation from nothing, into something that in a
way, has been more successful.