Two In The Think Tank - The Imposter Zombies - Do Go On Mini

Episode Date: July 5, 2020

The Zombies are an influential psychedelic rock band from England, and in the late 1960’s they set off on a tour of North America. The only problem: they were not the real Zombies…This is the podcast version of episode six of our new web series that we made with Stupid Old Studios. You can watch the video of the episode complete with animations, props and lots and lots of regret face right now on The Stupid Old Channel YouTube page (link below).Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_LFeLQ05ttYOur website: dogoonpod.comSupport the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPod Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-Topic Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasReferences/Further Readinghttps://www.buzzfeed.com/danielralston/the-true-story-of-the-fake-zombies-the-strangest-con-in-rock?utm_term=.fuGGo51D6#.drOr9az1mhttps://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/zombies-band-interview-podcast-842990/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odessey_and_Oraclehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Zombieshttps://ultimateclassicrock.com/fake-zombies-zz-top/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey everybody, Jess and Dave, just jumping in really quickly at the top here to make sure that you are across all the details for our upcoming Christmas show. That's right, we are doing a live show in Melbourne Saturday December the 2nd, 2023, our final podcast of the year, our Christmas special. It's downstairs at Morris House, which usually be called the European beer cafe. On Saturday December the 2nd, 2023 at 4.30pm, come along, come one, come all, and get tickets at dogoonpod.com. This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now.

You're driving, cleaning, and even exercising. But what if you could be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers who save by switching save nearly $750 on average, and auto customers qualify for an average of 7 discounts. Multitask right now, quote today at progressive.com. Progressive casualty and trans company and affiliates, national average 12 month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary, discounts

not available in all safe and situations. Are you working way too hard for way too little? There's never been a better time to consider a career in IT. You could enjoy a recession-resistant career and a rewarding field with plenty of growth opportunities and often flexible work environments. Go to mycomputercareer.edu and take the free career evaluation.

You could start your new career in months, not years. Take classes online or on campus, and financial aid is available to qualified students, including the GI Bill. Now is the time, mycomputercareer.edu. Hey Scott, what brings you in at the pharmacy? I'm thinking about getting one of the updated COVID-19 vaccines. Great. Do you know which type of vaccine you'd like? There's more than one. Yep, there are different types of vaccines available.

You can learn more about it. of the updated COVID-19 vaccines. Great. Do you know which type of vaccine you'd like? There's more than one. Yep, there are different types of vaccines available. You can learn more about them at wedovaccines.com. If you have questions or want to make an appointment, give me a call. What was that website again? Wedovaccines.com.

Thanks. I'll check it out. This message was brought to you by NovaVax. Hey mates, Matt here, dropping in to let you know that this is the sixth episode of our web series. You can watch the video version of it over at the Stupid Old Channel. There's a link in the show notes. Also want to let you know that we are doing some live streams coming up.

You get tickets to those. There's a link to the tickets as well in the show notes here, but that's really all I wanted to let you know. I think these episodes are more fun to watch if you have the chance to, but they also work just fine in the audio format. So without further ado, here is the episode about the fake zombies, but I'll let me explain it more now. The zombies were an influential psychedelic pop band from England, and in the late 1960s they set off on a tour of North America. The only thing is, they were not the real zombies.

This story involves deceit, intrigue, and bad English accents. This week I'm talking about the Impostor Zombies. [♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ Welcome to the show. I'm Matt Stewart. Here are my two sidekicks, Jessica Perkins and David Hornicky. I'm even side-to-kick. Even side-to-kick. Okay, okay. Come on further away.

You know, I understood the logic, but even cider kick just sounds ridiculous. Well, I was going for silly. That is something that a cider kick would say. Yeah, your third banana now. That's why. That's why. I'll pop down.

You go shush for a while. Can we make him full banana? I'm thinking about this pop plant. Still not, but I'm gonna have you lifted. I'm thinking about this pop plant. Still a little bit of a plum for three. No, I like it. Let us begin. Please. Formed in 1962, the zombies are an English psychedelic pop five piece.

They scored a worldwide hit with She's Not There in 1964 and a few months later had another big hit with Teller No, which we could play a little bit of now. Oh. months later had another big hit with Teller No, which we could play a little bit of now. Oh! This sort of get mad vibe. It is very psychedelic poppy. Did you know much about the zombies before right now? I couldn't have told you off the top of my head, their songs, and then I hear them and

go, oh yeah, you know what I mean oh yeah I know I don't really know too much yeah about anything yeah but I'm not not really familiar with that music but I'm loving what I'm hearing yeah I've been listening to a bit as I've been researching when I'm absolutely digging their sound digging it okay let me tell you a little bit about them to set the scene. Both of those two singles came from their debut album called Begin Here in the UK and it was sort of a bit of a fashion at the time. They released in America under a different title.

It's called Begin Here in the UK or that. It's called Begin Here. In the UK it was called Begin Here. So is there like a few dots there with that big pause here? So how are they scripting? They also have the hand movement. In America, it was self-titled. Nice, that's great. It was called Self-titled.

I mean, was it called in America Self-titled? But this is very confusing. This is very confusing. It was actually not the dumbest thing that's been said. And it shan't be the dumbest. The album sold well without setting the world on fire. Not literally. I mean, as a figure of speech, it didn't.

But it sold well. But literally it also didn't set the world on fire. That's true. It didn't. They didn't start the fire. Good point. That was them. The follow-up album Odyssey and Oracle was recorded in 1967 at Olympic Studios and Abbey Road Studios in London.

You might be familiar with the Abbey Road Studios. Yes. According to the band, it was a great time to record as the Beatles had just finished a session there and some of their instruments were lying around. For instance, a melaton, which is a kind of polyphonic tape replay keyboard. Mmm.

Very 60s. Well, so you just help yourself to other people's instruments? Yeah, you can't just pick up Paul McCartney's bass and have a go. Oh, I'm right-handed, so I'm gonna restrain that was left-handed instruments. Paul comes in its upside down. Hey, it's like you guys were not even around in the 60s

because that's what it was. It was the summer love. Free love for instruments. Yeah, et cetera. So there's Melatron, which I don't know if I'd even heard of as an instrument, it was basically like a funky keyboard. Radiohead or a fan of sneezing that. Right.

Well, keyboardists and vocalists Rod Argent later spoke about this to Rolling Stone saying, it's so funny because melaton is all over Odyssey and Oracle, and if John Lennon's melaton hadn't been there, it probably would have been a very different album. And we were just picking up these percussion instruments for the session just after they finished. It was a great time to be at Abbey Road.

Oh, I've one of them. Quite literally, it was a great time. It doesn't mean like in the general, like, oh, it was a good time for music, people were, it was like, it was a good timing to get there just after the Beatles. Because they could still their shit. I like start booking their sessions timing to get there just after the Beatles. Because they still there shit. I like start booking their sessions,

looking at the schedule and the Beatles are gonna be there. Oh, they're finishing at 7, we'll have it at 7.15, please. Yeah, they go into the Google calendar and they're seeing like, one of the Beatles there or I will pop in after. It's, I love that idea, the Beatles is just like, yeah, we'll just leave that shit around as well. Yeah, it's all right.

We're the Beatles. We're the Beatles. Who's gonna touch our stuff? Who's gonna use our stuff and disrespect us like that? It's the Abbey Road things. We find this is our, you know? All of our stuff is safe here. Don't over tell you about the time I was in Liverpool.

Went to this Beatles shop and this guy was dressed up as one of the Sergeant Pepper's sort of things, a shiny, colorful Beatles outfit. And he goes, hi. And like, tourists were streaming through. I was a hey, in Liverpool. How do I get to Abbey Road? I love to see it.

And he goes, oh, you want to get to Abbey Road? I said, yeah. And he goes, oh, what you got to do is, just head down this street, turn left. And then the first right, you'll see a bus depot. Get a bus to London. I'm not even stopped. How many times a day does he get us that question? Probably a lot, but I was like, oh, so it's not... Not me, my, okay.

Thank you. He was furious and was good reason. This little kid. I was just a boy. I was a butter boy. He was asking a question. He broke my heart. Anyway, the album a butter boy. You were just asking a question. You broke my heart. Yeah. Anyway, the album failed to chart. They follow up album, Odyssey and Oracle. This is about stealing the Beals instruments. Yes.

I mean, it chose to go to chart. Wasn't just the instruments that, you know, was it? That's proof. That was so much more. For those deniers, those beedle deniers. Yeah, that's right. Who say, it was just your fancy instruments. It was your, they were mythical.

Yeah. They'd been cursed to play nothing but classics. They had the only drum kit in England. We had to listen. It's all there was. No Rico, it's not that good. But he was the only drummer we had. For when the album failed to chart in the UK,

and the US label decided to not even properly release it. Oh, brutal. The band just kind of quietly broke up. Oh. For when the album failed to chart in the UK and the US label decided to not even properly release it. The band just kind of quietly broke up. Ah! The members all remember how it happened slightly differently, but it seems like a few key members were disillusioned by how the album sold. And their hearts weren't really in it anymore so they just called it a day. I prefer a loud, very public breakup. Yeah.

I like people streaming themselves, bitching about other people. You know, don't break up quietly. Make it big. May get so quiet that even the members are like, yeah, forget which one called it a day. For we all sort of just walked in different directions and have it brought it up again.

Never turned back. I think they just all stopped turning up to rehearsals. They just got jobs. Yeah, yeah, well, some of them did. So they went off in different directions, literally, turned their backs and walked off. The keyboardist Rod Argent, who was also one of the key songwriters, and the bass player Chris White started a new project called Argent. I'm sure Chris White would have said so, but we are going to call it White. That's a terrible name. Boring, Argent, that's cool.

They went on to have a worldwide hit with the song, hold your head up. Leedsinger Colin Blunstone got an office job after the breakup. He remembers taking the breakup pretty hard, but he said, I didn't have time to dwell on it, because it was a very busy office, Although I didn't understand what was going on. What are you doing there? People are just walking around in the office. People are busy. Photo-coughing, all right?

That's all you say. He said, I realized the phones kept ringing and they needed to be answered. I'm quite a good bluffer. It was insurance. I know nothing about insurance. Uh, yeah. Yeah, we'll insure you the cat. I don't know how I came up with cat. Yeah, well, that's improv.

Damn it. Let's go one click too many. He later released some singles under the name Neil MacArthur with moderate success. One of those being a cover of a zombie song. It's sort of covering himself, but he had some charted. In the meantime, the zombies' US label CBS decided to release some singles from Odyssey and Oracle, including Time of the Season.

They released a few. The last one they had a crack with was Time of the Season, sort of as a last ditch attempt to see how it could go. But this only happened after Al Cooper, one of the CBS producers had a trip to London, he bought the album, he got a hold of it and he played and he's like, oh this is great, why didn't we release it, we got the rights that this took it back and convinced the label to put it out. They said, we're not putting it out on the main label though, we'll put it on one of our little side labels. Right. They just didn't really'll put it on one of our little side labels.

Right. They didn't, they just didn't really believe in it. Less of a gamble, mate. Yeah. And this is now well after the band had broken up. The singles slowly climbed up the charts, eventually peaking at number one in Canada and number three in the US.

Through all of this, apparently the band in the UK were totally unaware. So he's bluffing his way through insurance on the phone. He's number three in the US. Yeah. He's like it's a big hit. It's not hard to believe, I guess, pre-inting it well. Yeah.

Or maybe they just heard and they're like, oh, yeah, big in the US. We did nothing in the UK and in other countries. Yes. Number one in Canada. Who cares? Oh, when the colonies, it's fine. I guess, of course, they'd like it. They like rubbish. It only goes to prove how bad we were.

They have moose there. An inferior animal to the English squirrel, our biggest and bravest mammal. Hey, mammals? Could we fact check that, Evan? At the bottom, say, not a mammal or yes a mammal. Yes a mammal. That's a little game within the show we like to play.

Is it a mammal? A mammal. You're a mammal. You're a mammal. You're all mammals. Confirmed. Evan, can you double check that and say whether or not Jesse's in fact a mammal? Yes a mammal.

So they were broken up unaware in the UK while they're having a big hit in North America. And this led to the strange scenario of them being highly in demand in North America, but not an existing band anymore. So there was no one to fill the demand. This situation was ready to be exploited. Yes. And the men for the job were Bill Kehoe and Jim Atherton of Delta Promotions, a small-time music promoter in Michigan. They just had a little shop on the edge of town. Delta saw the

opportunity and started telling their employees that they had acquired the rights to the music of the zombies. They had not acquired the rights to the music of the zombies. From there, this was their plan. We're going to recruit four musicians and send them around as the zombies. Even though there's five in the zombies. Yes. Goss Carding, I guess. No one noticed.

Who's the fifth guy? Phil? Who cares? Who cares? What's he playing? What's he the singer? What do they do? What do they really do? That's not even an instrument. Yeah.

Yeah. I was just staring at their use of my voice. Anyone can do that. Yeah, come on. Don't know right now. The lineup was Mark Ramsey, Sebastian or Seben Mido, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard. Dusty Hill. Frank Beard.

Hang on. Sorry. Okay, let's also, there was someone called Seabirdle or something. I'll let that go. Let's see those again. Who were they? Mark Ramsey, Sebastian, Seabird.

Hang on, slow down. Okay. Mark Ramsey. Yeah, another of us care about and move on. Get over it, Mark Ramsey. Sebastian, Seabirdle. Seabirdle. Oh, he said Sebastian or Seabirdle. Is that all one word and you're just... Seabirdle, Seabedol? Oh, he said Sebastian or Seabedol?

Is that all one word in your chest? Seab is, I think, or maybe it's Seb with an A in it. Seb? Seb. Seb. No, it's S-E-A. Oh, sorry, sorry. Seb.

Seb. Seb. He started up a Swedish motor company as well. Seabedol. Dusty Hill. Dusty Hill. Yeah. You didn't even flinch, saying the name Dusty Hill. I've known his name for a long time. Maybe that's why I haven't

really, because that is funny. That's an incredible name. That's what I think about it. Dusty Hill. It's a worst kind of hill, too. Yeah. You want it? You want it? You want it to grip, you sliding down? Yeah. You want a nice... You got a vacuum up here or what? A nice grassy one, so you can roll down it. Better than a gravel hill, though, isn't it? Well, you don't want to roll down a gravel hill. Was he born on a dusty hill, is that? He was born on a dusty hill.

And he'll dive on onto. Got a family friend who's got a kid called Dusty Hill, which I didn't even connect. Seriously? Yeah. That is a common bet. Is a toddler. Toddler. LAUGHTER Is a common man. Is a toddler.

Toddler. Is a toddler. He's a toddler. He's a toddler. I know this toddler. And finally there was one more name. Frank Beard. Is that the same Frank Beard from ZZ Top?

Yes. And is that the same Dusty Hill from ZZ Top? Yes. I did not know that Dusty Hill was in ZZ Top. That's why you've known that name for a long time. So two-thirds? I assume you've been writing this for a while. Even longer than the week I've been researching.

So two-thirds of ZZ-Top were in this... Yeah, in this bank. Zombies ban. So all four of them are Texans. Okay. They build the band as the original zombies. The zombies part in inverted commas on posters. So I think that was sort of their way.

That's like, you know what that is. That's the poster equivalent of allegedly. Yeah. It's like, can't get in trouble. Can't get up on an invitation marks. I thought that was obvious. Everyone else what I mean? I hope when they were announced to the stage onto the MC,

I was like, welcome to the stage, the original zombies. Show the original part should also be. I guess they were the original zombies. Yeah, true. They're not the original zombies. They're the original zombies, though. The zombie's a thaw. And the MC in the contract has to wink at the crowd.

And do a little nudge. All right, I think that should get us through in the court, law. If you just whisper as people are cheering so they can't hear it. They're fake. They're fake. The original zombies government.

A few original zombies government. The original zombies impersonators. In brackets, no refunds. How do you say something in brackets? Open brackets, no refunds, How do you say something in brackets? Open brackets, no refunds, close, bracket. You got it. No refunds. No refunds.

Oh, magic if I had gum. Yeah, that would have been a perfect moment of show-em-off. Ah, well, missed opportunity. To warm up for the tour, Delta organised the band to do a mini tour as another defunct band, the Rose Garden. Stop! We're being off-ic! But the Rose Garden? What's the title? I think they just call you, I just think they call them the Rose Garden. The Rose Garden had a top 20 single with Next Plane to London, which fake band. The next Plane out of London's almost gone. I love that band. It's a beautiful song. It's that they can warm up to see if they can pull off pretending to be people they are?

I think we'll, because I hadn't played as a band together before. So, like, don't do it to us, just rehearse. Yeah. Yeah, just go to the studio and rehearse. I guess they were also, because they weren't ripping off as big of a band. They'd had one minor single. So, I thought, let's sort of test the waters a bit. And they're also they were doing Delta was starting to do this with a bunch of bands as well A lot of what a fake band money to be made at the time. It's so strange

So Mark Ramsey the one of the fake band members Remembered to Buzzfeed about next Plano London. He said that's the only song they bothered learning before the tour The rest they just did Blues covers. Look, where the Rose Garden? Here's one of their songs you might know, and the others are just whatever. Do you reckon they open and close with that song? Yeah.

So somehow the tour went off without trouble, despite the Rose Garden being a folk rock five piece. They played Blues. There were four piece playing Blues. And on top of that, the Rose Gardens lead singer was Diana DeRose. Diana's stick tonight. So just be us. Tonight, Diana will be played by the guy from Zizi

Topp with Anabee. Everyone's been... No one really noticed. They did a whole tour. No one noticed. Why do they go with people that are buying ticks? Hey, we'd love to go see. Well, the Rose Garden. Rose Garden, great. I love that one song they have. Oh, yeah. On the radio, it sounded more like a woman singing.

Oh. And they were playing folk. I guess things just sound different live. Yeah. You know, in a room open up. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, on the radio it sounded more like a woman singing. Oh! And they were playing folk.

I guess things just sound different live. Yeah. You know, in a room, open room. Sounded better. Yeah, it's the open room. It's a acoustic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A folk, what you don't realize is that in a big open space,

folk sounds like blues and blues sounds like folk. Yeah. It's very confusing. It is confusing. Yeah, it is confusing. Before the zombies tour, the band had promo shots taken, which I guess is sort of smart, because it means when people rock up to the show,

they go, oh yeah, we saw the poster. They look the same as the poster. Yeah. So yeah, must be a little legit band. And are they trying to look anything like the original band? Oh, it's just their gem going. This is my clothes.

In the photo they took, so remembering the original band who we saw before, very psychedelic 60s, in the photo, the two ZZ Top Guys walk cowboy hats. No one's like, where and I'm at the top? Maybe just take the hat soft boys. They didn't even bother with any kind of costume. They just turned, it was just a photo taken that would just sit around having a coffee. Yeah, look at that. They're like, oh, oh. So yeah, so people saw the

post and the band, they might have been like, oh, cool, this is legit, this is the original album. Yeah, they weren't cap, we had some of the poster. Now they're on stage with cap with them. Unless, of course, any of the audience members had seen one of the zombies debut album covers which had a photo of the band. Or if they noticed they were all of a sudden a four piece without a keyboardist, which is as we said before a very key element of their sound. Absolutely. There's like a solo.

Yeah. He's a guy in Christ. Now it's played on a trumpet. Or... Or... They're British accents, we're unconvincingcing or that they're a blues band and not a socket elec top band. There's a few, probably a few little hints that they weren't there.

For a savvy audience member, you could probably put a few things together. Totally. Some people are worried that they look uncool if they don't just go, oh yeah, this is them. They've paid the money for the gift. And the emperor's clothes sort of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, love this band, yeah, yeah, yeah, I is them. Yeah. They've paid the money for the game. And the Emperor's clothes, sort of. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, love this band.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, remember, I remember this blue song they played. I've got the record. Oh, yeah, LeGrange, love it. Yeah. Wait, yeah, she's got LeGrange. You know, that he used them. Yeah, yeah, I love this psychedelic stuff.

Love this, yeah, I love this cowboy hat. We can hear them on the record. We'll look even better in person. Most weight loss programs are short-term fixes, but managing your weight needs a long-term solution. And that's what makes NUME different. NUME uses science and personalization to help you manage your weight for the long term. Their psychology-based approach

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You're driving, cleaning, and even exercising. But what if you could be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers who saved by switching saved nearly $750 on average, and auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Multitask right now, quote today at progressive.com. Progressive casualty and trans company

and affiliates, National Average 12 Month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed, who saved with progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. This count's not available in all safe and situations. Are you working way too hard for way too little? There's never been a better time to consider a career in IT. You could enjoy a recession-resistant career in a rewarding field, with plenty of growth opportunities and often flexible work environments.

Go to mycomputercareer.edu and take the free career evaluation. You could start your new career in months, not years. Take classes online or on campus, and financial aid is available to qualified students, including the GI Bill. Now is the time. Mycomputercareer.edu. According to Tom Hoekot, who worked for Delta Promotions at the time, the concert promoters in most of the cities knew they were getting a fake zombies band. But the punters for the most part believed them to be the real deal saying, when they were told, here's the zombies, they bought it. Even the strange parts, like the fact that they were touring without a keyboardist.

Buzzfeed quotes a review from the original zombie show on the 22nd of June 1969 by the Saganore News saying they were especially disappointing and that the crowd began leaving during their fourth tune. The article suggests there had been a change in sound from when they were on the top of the charts, which at that stage was not long before. In the last year and a half, it really changed their sound. The article puts the change in sound down to the fact that there had been a complete transition of the band members, except the bass player. But that wasn't true. That wasn't true, no.

That was a complete transition of band members, including the bass player. Well, he looks vaguely, he was the one that only looks similar to the others. I think that was just, that was the line they told him. They were always like, this is the thing that keeps him legit as one. They're basically, it's Billy Corgan still. You know, it's still a smashing pumpkin.

It's Billy Corgan's there. Yeah, but it's like, I mean, not Billy Corgan. It's the bass player. Yeah. Responding to the article, Mark Ramsey remembered it differently saying, I think the reviewer must have been drunk. I don't remember anyone walking out.

Well, we perfect. No. And we weren't the zombies. We were a blues rock band from Texas. A band with plenty of good looks. Better than the original zombies. That's not what people are going to see a band for. Such a weird brag. I go to, I actually go to gigs with noise canceling headphones and I just look at it. what people are going to see a band for. Such a weird brag.

I go to, I actually go to gigs with noise canceling headphones and I just look at them. Yeah, I just look. Just go, oh yeah. But when I start singing, I go, la, la, la, la, la, oh yeah, you're good. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. Love the idea that thinks the reviewer is drunk.

One of the side effects of being drunk is accidentally thinking people are leaving him. I think from within the audience you can tell better that people are leaving rather than when you're on stage. Actually. You know, I think Mark Ramsey's full of shit, that's what I'm saying. I don't want it. There's something so funny to me about the fact that he somehow called the Reels Zombies Ugly basically. Totally. And can I just ask, so the reason I know the band had broken up,

but like if they were doing really well in the US, you could convince them to get back together to perform. No, one of them is enjoying pretending to be an intrusion salesman. Would it just have been more expensive to get them over? So it's easier to... Well, I think, yeah, definitely way cheaper, because they were paying band members

a couple hundred bucks a week Right, and you know, they were just able to send them out on the road. Yeah If they convinced the real zombies to come over probably a more legit bigger Promotions company than Delta would have got the deal maybe like the their record label That's something to do with it. So they just wouldn't have been able to do it. Oh, there's tiny little operation So feel like they could have paid for a keyboard it. Oh, there's tiny little operation. So it feels like they could have paid for a keyboard player. Yeah, it's got a fifth member.

It does feel like if you're gonna do it. And you're selling tickets, you're gonna make some money. Yeah. Just pay a keyboard. That would have been better off. The biggest keyboarder. Keyboarder. Farting.

Keyboarder. Get a drummers. Get a guitarer. Ah, yeah. They should have gone at those as well. Get a singer. I don't even say what the four members yeah. They should have gone one of those as well. Get a singer. I don't even say what the four members played. They all played banjo. They were banjos. It was weird that people didn't notice. It was juling banjos for two hours.

And it was beautiful. That was so beautiful. So beautiful. The tour went on and they played shows in small clubs all the way up through America and Canada. And in Canada they even appeared on TV. What? Please welcome the zombies. No, you did the commas at the wrong part.

Now we're getting carried. Yeah, the zombies is a completely separate. Completely separate. The zombies are completely separate. The zombies. On December 13, 1969, an article appeared in Rolling Stone magazine titled, The Zombies Are A Stiff, which read, The Zombies Are No More. There is a group calling itself The Zombies,

but these zombies are not the zombies who made hits of she's not there, tell her no, and time of the season. Those zombies are British and split up two years ago. The group now calling themselves the zombies have British accents sort of, sometimes. And sometimes they forget, then they draw and refer to Y'all. Ha ha ha ha.

Hello Y'all. Ha ha ha. Good evening Y'all. Ha ha ha. Forget mid-centred. Ha ha ha. The article. Jolly good, y'all. Ha ha. Good evening, yo! Forget mid-centred. The article... Tolly Good, yo!

The article says, actual Zombies' bass player Chris White is good and pissed off when he found out about it, quoting him as saying, the fake band were taking money from our fans and dragging down our reputation. At a fake zombie show, at the Whiskey Ego Go and L. in LA on October 21st, friends of the band were able to catch the imposters on tape. White remembers that the fake band had a guitar player calling himself Hugh Grundy, which was the actual zombies drummer's name or drummer's name. But the guitarist is calling himself the drummer's name.

Yeah. So they didn't even do basic research. Yeah. Are you Grundie or something? You're all... I'm... I don't know. Hug... Rundie, I don't know. We're all Hugh Grundie. Whatever the real one is.

Tim, that's us. The real one. The white continues. So they called him on tape. So this is what they asked him on tape as White explains. They asked him why he was now out front as the singer and said in a Northern England accent, well, the boys want me out front and I'm the only original member. Then the interviewer said,

No, no, no, no, no, no, you're not getting away with that. I'll just admit, no, what you don't need to know is Matt is a fantastic mimic, but he's pretending to be someone who's from Texas doing a bad, or the exact same thing. So that's why it might sound absolutely shit-ass. I forgot how many layers they were doing. Matt, I can hear them all.

Yeah, the more. So I started, I actually took me quite a while to perfect that. I started learning a pinpoint perfect text and accent. Yes. Then on top of that I went and studied English, the language, in England. And then I went on tour as the fake zombies in America. Did you? Yes. In personating. Anything to do with this story. Oh no coincidence, but actually it yeah now that you mentioned it has come in handy for learning this accent right which I just nailed yep Sorry for stopping you there. Yeah, please continue

Then the interviewer said didn't you used to be 510? You're about five six. Oh, I'm not sure Whatever that one Yeah, I had my legs short. I'm really sensitive about it. Thanks for bringing it up. Y'all. Did he used to be five, ten? Yes. And? Never had a question.

Yeah, I did. I used to be. That was when I drummed. Didn't need that extra heart for the guitar. How could you tell when I was always sitting down? Yeah. Yeah. Why did you get that information? You actually sound like an idiot. What do you mean did I used to be? What a silly question from you. I shan't be answering. That doesn't make any sense. They also, so it's also kind of random. They pick Northern English as the accent, even though the real Grande is from southwest of London. So they just picked a random English accent.

Okay. Well, I guess they had him as the guitarist. What does the Northern accent sound like again? Oh, as done by a Texan? No, just an actual Northern accent. Well, I've actually been... it's been so tainted by my Texan influence. Sure, yes, yes, but it is something like... Say a sentence like, how long I'm from Northern England. So it's a south accent-wise south of Scotland. something like Dave, say a sentence like, how long I'm from northern England.

So it's a south accent-wise south of Scotland. This might be infuriating at all for any English- It's sort of like a stuff. So do Ross Noble basically. Ha ha ha. Do Ross Noble Dave. All right, how long I'm Ross Noble? Give me some suggestions, though, I can't. Oh, right. Hello, I'm Ross Noble, giving some suggestions to a cat.

Oh, wow. Had Ross been living in London long before his accent changed. That was great, Dave. That was great. I was in my impression of my friend Ross Noble who lives in London. Sorry. So are you talking about a different Ross Noble?

That was, he was also a bit... He was also a, no, I was talking to my friend who's obsessed with cats. Yeah, and improvising. And taking suggestions. Thanks, I take suggestions, yep. I just wanted some suggestions for his life. Hey, let's feedback.

I want to thank you feedback. He's not a performer. He's an insurance salesman. Pretending to be anyways. I just remember Jess, you're very good at accents, right? Yeah. No. Where were we? Apparently saying that only one original member remains sense, aren't you? No. We're really.

Apparently saying that only one original member remains was a common line that Delta used when people questioned the band. That explains the base player line and the Saginaw and News review. Did he always say that no matter what? What time are you guys loading in tonight? Only one of the original members remain. Great, can I get you some beers? No, anything for the green room? Only one original members remain. Great, can I get you some beers? No, anything for the green room?

Only one original member remains. Yeah, we'll take some beers for the one original member and the other three of us who are not original members, but now part of the new, which is a very much still like beer. Thank you. So it seems like they weren't consistent about who supposedly was the original member though.

Or what they play. Oh, come on. Thought out some details. Yes. Yeah, feel the same thing. Be a minute quick meeting. Have a fucking conversation about it. Write it down.

Yeah. If you're not sure you'll remember, write it down. I think that's good. Why don't people just communicate? Yes. You know? I've been a dialogue. I'm in a fucking dialogue already.

When Rolling Stone magazine contacted Delta for their article Bill Kehoe said that the Americans zombies formed after the lead singer of the zombies was killed and two other guys left, which is all fully made up. What do you mean it was killed? Nobody's gonna ask any questions about that. I'll just keep it really dull so that nobody thinks to ask questions. Yeah, he was brutally murdered. It made a lot of news. Just look it up. Yeah. Just find that out. By his wife's secret evil twin. So, and yeah, it was offer really tall building. Yeah. Yeah, you just saw me and yeah it was off a really tall building. Yeah, you just saw me and yeah,

if you would read his book, any library would have it. But I wouldn't bother because I've told you that it's a good thing. That's so true, everything. And the other two members both left to become president. Both of them. At the same time.

They were conjoined twins. First conjoined twin presidents of England. So. Look it up, look it up. I wouldn't, but you can. You want it? It's real, so I don't know why you England. So look it up. I wouldn't but you can. You want it. It's real. So I don't know why you'd need to look it up because I told you the truth. Delta got so cocky about it all that they ended up touring a second fake zombies band concurrently with the Texan full piece. Oh my god! One night during the same town when they come through the next

night. Two shows in LA. We won't get the same band if played both. No, one opens for the other. Thank you, we've been the zombies, please give it up for the zombies! Apparently the other band was more convincing, even down to the fact that they had five members. And remembered their own names. Yeah. Hoca from Delta Toll Buzzfeed, that was so damn good. That was the perfect zombies.

If you heard them play Tom of the season, you couldn't tell the difference. I mean, the perfect zombies probably are. The real zombies are? No. No. Unconvincing. But as Tom went on, the backlash from the real band's group, and now that the music media had caught wind of it, it was only a matter of time till the jig was up. Delta

also had a fake version of the animals going around. I'm a big English rock band, but the band of imposter's got a rude shock when they're playing a show in Eric Bird and the front man of the real animals rocked up with a baseball bat and some biker mates. He used to do that with a baseball bat. That's good. Who's like, oh, oh no. Oh dear. But possibly the last straw was when Delta put out a fake Archie's band.

You familiar with the Archie? Yeah. They're already a fake band. They're a cartoon band. So like, how easy is it going to be to fake these guys? You know, they're, they can't know one knows what the real members are like. Is that only once about in cartoon? Archie can't know one knows what the real members of the book is only once about in cutting.

Archie can't turn up with the baseball bat. Um, and for the missing comes alive from the page. Do they say sugar sugar? Yeah. But unfortunately for Delta, the Archies were owned by a very real and litigious producer and businessman named Dan Kirschner. And did Dan rock out with a baseball bat? Some fucking fun.

Now he rocked out with some lawyers though. With baseball bats. That's just because they were on the way to their baseball bat. Yeah, yeah. It was confusing, it was a beast up. Because everyone was like, ah, and they were like, what's up? Oh my god, I'm so sorry for that. Oh, so I'm going to have a pen.

So sorry, with my pen. My son must have my pen and the kids opening his baseball bag and training his pen. He's like, Dad! He gets to go into the cage with a pen. Yeah, it's very, it was a real, a real whoops of daisies. He got, he got into the face, that's it. Yeah, big time.

Kirshen was quoted by Rowling Stone saying about the fake arches. We've heard about this group and our lawyers are taking action. With baseball bats. Within two weeks, Bill Keo. How did he head bashed him with a baseball bat? We've heard about this group and our lawyers are taking action. With both of us. Within two weeks Bill Keo... Had his head bashed him with a both of us. Had sh- and then shut down delta promotions as a touring company saying, we never represented to anyone that these were the same groups who made the records. Yes you did, you piece of shit, you absolutely did.

Oh, I never said it was the real band. I only put original on the poster. And then in interviews, said that... Someone had died. And... That was the typo. We meant to say not the original, but then the printer cut off not.

That's the printer's fault, if anything. Yeah, sue him. sue him, not me. His name's Greg. And saying... Did he play a character that can't turn a page. That's a fun character. I'm panicking my way, yeah.

How are we going? Lick your thumb mate, lick your thumb. I can't teach you about it. Turn a page. So they were all done. So Delta closed down their promotions arm. He kept, he said that a rock club that he kept going, but all the... Rock climbing club.

Rock climbing club. This is a real rock climbing club. A swear to God. It's a real rock. It was all polystyrene. A lot of people fell to their dead end. Yeah, if you should have climbed a polystyrene. So all the bands in his stable went back

to their... He was keeping them in a stable. He was stable. in a stable... He was stable. He did that's unbelievable. Yeah, he was feeding them high. Hotels and Maetels are expensive back then. Stables are forever. Yeah.

So our mates in the original zombies went back off in different directions, like the original zombies before them. Frank Beard and Dusty Hill joined Billy Gibbons in ZZ Top and had recorded their debut album within a year. Wow. What do you think that if the gig hadn't been up they ever would have formed ZZ Top? Oh yeah, why not? I would have continued on in this, what is a glorified cover band that lies to audiences?

It's strange. Yeah, it feels like there was always a matter of time before the fake zombies came a cropper, but amazing that so quickly they were in ZZ Top. The trio of ZZ Top still together have sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. It was a fair step up. They tried to get in contact with Dusty Hill for this. So this is all basically come out of a BuzzFeed article, which is great, which will be linked in the description. And they try to get a comment from Dusty Hill and all he did was respond,

sort of do it a bit of fact-checking for them. And a lot of his answers were, I don't remember, it was the 60s man. It was the 60s man, I don't remember. C.B. Meadow joined a Texan band, The Werewolves, who made two albums with limited success and Mark Ramsey went on to study teaching at college. How many albums did he solve? As a teacher. Yeah, if you spoke in word albums. That is, math rap. You've checked a lot of lines.

Maths rap. One plus two. We're three and four. Plus five is six and seven and more didn't do well because a lot of the maths was It's more of an English teacher. It was a fake math Yeah, I'm a math teacher got my diploma from Delta College From Mars University. Whoa. Yeah, that's prestigious. Yeah Inspired by the whole or ordeal the real zombies attempted to reform at the time. They're like, we should get back together and make it happen. There's a people like our music. Yeah, but they were all sort of in different directions,

making music for different things. And it took until the 90s till they made it happen. Oh. And they remained together today, but only singer Bill Bluntz. What have I made up his name? Only Colin Bluntz don't. Only Bill Bluntz don't. AKA, well no, we've been swindled again.

Okay. Only Colin Bluntz don't the front man and Rod Argent remain from the original 60s lineup. So it kind of ended up happening for only two real original men. It was a Rod Argent from Argent. From Argent. Wow. Yeah, 1968 album at the time failed to chart, but it has since been retrospectively hailed as a great album ranking in the Rolling Stones top 100 albums of all time. Wow, please.

It's seen as a genuine classic album now. The band themselves are also recognized in 2019 when they were inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame. Also inducted that year with a Cueer Stevie Nicks, deaf leopard Janet Jackson and Radiohead. So it's a pretty amazing class of acts. It's a good company. And that is my story of the imposter zombies.

That is amazing. Why? I hope one day there's an Imposter Dooga won't do. Yeah, but like, it's like two girls and a guy, but one of the girls is like, oh, Matt, you know, I'm gonna give a shit. I didn't use to play drums. Oh, didn't you used to be taller?

No, no. No, I was always a German Shepherd dog. That's it for the imposter zombies. This is a spin-off of our podcast Doge on, with over 200 episodes to listen to. If you like this topic, check out some of our music-related episodes like, Biographies of Dolly Parton, Pantera, Queen, and the Making of Fleetwood Max Roomers album. Subscribe for free on your favourite podcast app. And be sure to subscribe to this channel

to check out our other videos. I can't believe you nailed that on the first ever attempt. I had to cut it down, but we've actually done so many more music ones like Mike Patton, who is in Mr. Bungle. Rihanna, or Quizm. Queen of Obados. One of my favorite ever bands.

Elton John. The Beatles. Yeah, it's a lot. Johnny Cash about that. One of my favorite ever bands. Elton John. The Beatles. Yeah. It's a lot. Johnny Cash. So many. So many. So if you are a music fan, maybe this is the podcast for you. Thank you.

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