Why The Zombies Considered Their First Studio Experience “Petrifying” (And the Hit That Came From It)

When The Zombies first walked into the studio in the West Hampstead neighborhood of London, they didn’t imagine they were about to cut a hit record. In fact, the thoughts running through their mind were quite the opposite, according to vocalist Colin Blunstone.

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In a 2026 interview with Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty of BBC Breakfast, the singer revealed that the most prominent thought passing through his head was that the music industry wasn’t the business for him. Thankfully for all of us, he persevered.

Why Colin Blunstone Called the Session “Petrifying”

Going into the studio as a young band can be quite the daunting experience. Recording music is a vastly different beast from live performance. (And that’s true even if a band opts to live-track everything at the same time.) There’s no room to hide on a recording. If you don’t know your part, it’ll show. If the engineer doesn’t know what they’re doing, that’ll show. Indeed, cutting a record is a tedious process that requires everyone to be at the top of their game. And that can be quite the shock for a band accustomed to the looser nature of playing on stage.

Based on Colin Blunstone’s recollections, that wasn’t the only hurdle The Zombies had to overcome to get through their first session at Decca. While speaking on BBC Breakfast, Blunstone revealed that their studio engineer was “blind drunk” and “very, very aggressive.” The singer recalled the engineer shouting obscenities into the talkback mic, pumping into the musicians’ headphones.

“Within twenty minutes, I knew this business was not for me,” Blunstone said matter-of-factly. “It was petrifying. But luckily, we had a bit of luck. He passed out cold on the floor. We had to carry him out of the studio, and his assistant took over.”

The Assistant Helped Produce Their First Hit, “She’s Not There”

The assistant to the overindulged studio engineer was none other than Gus Dudgeon, who would go on to produce records for other British legends like Elton John and David Bowie. Back then, though, he was nearly as green as The Zombies themselves. With the drunk engineer out of the way and no more profanities being yelled into their headphones, the band continued with their recording session.

One of the tracks from that fateful day was “She’s Not There”, which The Zombies released as a single in July 1964. “You Make Me Feel Good” was the B-side. The A-side garnered the band tremendous success, peaking at No. 12 in their native United Kingdom and an astounding No. 2 in Canada and on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Considering this was the band’s very first single, the track’s commercial performance was a massive win for The Zombies.

Thank goodness they didn’t let a drunk engineer get in the way.

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