WAR’s Lonnie Jordan is PEACE personified.
WAR’s Lonnie Jordan is PEACE personified.
Video directed by Angie Scarpa, all photos by Richard Abagon.

WAR: KCRW Live from Apogee Studio

Intimate performances, fresh sounds, and candid conversations with a view.

Written by Marion Hodges

The origins of Long Beach band WAR is the stuff of SoCal lore. Originally formed in 1962 as The Creators, by 1968 they were known as Nightshift and served as the backing band for LA Rams football player Deacon Jones, who was moonlighting as an R&B singer. The band was playing with Jones at The Rag Doll in North Hollywood one night when producer Jerry Goldstein (“My Boyfriend’s Back,” “I Want Candy,” “Hang on Sloopy”) caught a set. Immediately taken with the group’s confidently progressive fusion of soul, funk, Latin jazz, and psychedelia, he tapped them to record. This led to yet another name change: WAR, a defiant response to the Vietnam War. 

“We waged war against war with our music,” says frontman Lonnie Jordan. “Our choice of weapons was our instruments, and we made a lot of our music for the soldiers that couldn’t speak for themselves.”

Not long after, the band joined forces with English singer-songwriter Eric Burdon (The Animals) and released their debut LP Eric Burdon Declares War in 1970, featuring their first hit “Spill the Wine.” Burdon amicably departed the band fairly early on, but the culture-shifting hits kept coming, including “The Cisco Kid,” “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” and, of course, “Low Rider.” 

You know the one — the 1975 anthem whose staccato horns and sinuous bass would thrust it into Cali cultural ubiquity (not to mention make it something of a de facto theme song for Cheech & Chong and the literal theme song for George Lopez’s ABC sitcom). And WAR has been sampled by so many hip-hop artists through the years that, by 1992, the compilation album Rap Declares War was released just to round them all up. 

More than half a century into their career, WAR wages on with Jordan at the helm. On Black Friday, they’ll release a Record Store Day exclusive 50th anniversary edition of their landmark LP The World Is a Ghetto, the Billboard chart-topping, best-selling album of 1973. To celebrate, the band joined KCRW at Bob Clearmountain’s Apogee Studio for a performance featuring Jordan (lead vocals, keys), Sal Rodriguez (drums), Marcos Reyes (percussion), Scott Martin (sax, flute), Mitch Kashmar (harmonica), James Baker (guitar), Rene Camacho (bass). It’s a career-spanning party, featuring faves like “Me and Baby Brother,” “The Cisco Kid,” “Spill The Wine,” “Summer,” “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” and “Low Rider.” 

Jordan also joins KCRW DJ Tyler Boudreaux to talk jamming with Eric Burdon, how SoCal shapes his sounds, and music’s unique power to heal. 

More: Killer Mike: KCRW Live from Apogee Studio



The following interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Tyler Boudreaux: What was it like to jam with Eric Burdon?

Lonnie Jordan: When Eric heard us play, we played basically every genre of music. Back then we just played from our gut, heart and ears because we didn't know how to read. If you didn't turn on a tape recorder. Everything was lost. So no memories if you didn't turn it on. And Eric loved the band. And next thing you know, we're at SIR rehearsing for tour. 

Our first show was that Devonshire Downs three day festival, what was it? [Editor’s note: Jordan is referring to the second annual Newport Pop Festival or “Newport ‘69”] Mothers of Invention, Janis Joplin, Marvin Gaye, Hendrix, The Doors… you name it, everybody was on that thing. And we went there and we didn't know what we were doing, but we killed it. I found that out [in] later years… When my head was clear [laughs].

The band went through a couple of name changes early on — first The Creators, then Nightshift — What motivated the ultimate switch to WAR?

The Vietnam War was happening then, and the soldiers went and fought a war, somebody else's war. Then they came home and they had to fight another war against their own country, just to get jobs and to be loved. That [still] bothers me a little bit. But at the time we raged war against wars through our music. Our choice of weapons was our instruments, no bullets. We made a lot of our music for the soldiers that couldn't speak for themselves. We had the opportunity to express what they couldn't through music. Music is a healer. We were troubadours back then… still are!

More: Tears For Fears: KCRW Live From The Village Studio

What can you tell us about the SoCal iconography that is so prevalent throughout WAR’s style?

Our fans helped us write the songs. That was our [biggest] influence, the people who listened to us and [already] liked what we were writing about. And of course, we listened to all genres of music. Back then, it was calypso, then it became reggae. Then we listened to a lot of Latin music, a lot of blues, a lot of Hawaiian music, gospel music… We listened to everything, we took it all [in], and we put it into one pot, like a gumbo.

Over the many years you've been singing these songs that have become so beloved, and in many cases so iconic have they taken on new meanings?

When we were writing [most of those songs], there was a lot of chaos going on in the world. And unfortunately, I hate to say this, it's gotten worse. But we can still make a difference. And our music [can] help to bring love, freedom, and peace toward one another. Like my mother used to say, “if there's a will there's a way.” And there's always a way.

More: Explore KCRW Live From sessions


Credits:
KCRW Music Director: Anne Litt
Interviewer: Tyler Boudreaux
Director, Editor, Color: Angie Scarpa
Directors of Photography: Dalton Blanco and Vice Cooler
Camera Operators: Dalton Blanco, Vice Cooler, Angie Scarpa, Miko Scarpa
Recording / Mix Engineer: Brandon Duncan
KCRW Engineer: John Meek
Executive Producer / Broadcast Editor: Ariana Morgenstern
Producers: Anna Chang and Liv Surnow
Digital Producer: Marion Hodges
Digital Editorial Manager: Andrea Domanick
Art Director: Evan Solano

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