Michele StuevenIf there was ever an LA Sound of the 1970s, it was the sound of WAR. The band that immortalized hits like Lowrider, Cisco Kid, The World Is A Ghetto and Spill The Wine will be united with Tower of Power and Poncho Sanchez for an epic concert at the YouTube Theater on Saturday, Dec. 20.
The show coincides with the 50th Anniversary of WAR’s landmark album Why Can’t We Be Friends?. From its immediate global impact — including NASA transmitting the title track into space during the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975 — to its enduring messages of social consciousness, WAR has used its music to speak out against racism, hunger, crime, and conflict, blending funk, soul, jazz, Latin, rock, and universal street music into a timeless, socially conscious catalog.
With more than 50 million albums sold, 20 gold, platinum, and multi-platinum records, three Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominations, a GRAMMY Hall of Fame entry, and a string of Top 10 and Top 40 hits, WAR defined the sound of Los Angeles in the 70s. Often using humor, the songs transcended culture and race.
“I never imagined Inglewood would make such a transformation, I just figured it would all stay the same, and look, here we are,” founding member Lonnie Jordan tells LA Weekly ahead of the show. “Things change. Back then, we played at the forum, which was one of the biggest places aside from the Olympic auditorium. Now every time I fly home from another city, I look at this beautiful building that has lights on top of it showing YouTube movies. There will always be change. I’ve changed. I see it every day when I look in the mirror and just go with the flow.
The band, which was formed in Long Beach in 1969 and also included Eric Burdon, has seen a rotation of members, which hasn’t hurt its longevity. Their show at Ronnie Scott’s Club in London on September 16, 1970, made history as the last public performance for Jimi Hendrix. Longtime producer Jerry Goldstein, who has been with WAR from the beginning, is back in the studio with Jordan, producing new music.
Lonnie Jordan (©Far Out Productions, Inc.)
“We’re all troubadours, we bring people together,” Jordan says of the upcoming triumvirate at the YouTube Theater. “We’re going to create a new War. The war that doesn’t shoot bullets. Our choice of weapons is our instruments that shoot melodies, rhythms, humor, and mostly harmony that brings people together. That’s our raging War against wars.”
Jordan, who credits his longevity and quality of life with being vegan, biodynamic wine, and avoiding stress and anger, shared the story behind one of the band’s classic international hits, Spill The Wine.
“We don’t really write music, we write from experience,” says Jordan. “In my little, crazy, young, dumb, full of fun mind, I had already created the track with Eric Burdon around the piano. We went into the studio, laid down the track with the rest of the band. I left the studio, came back in with a bottle of wine because I wanted to hear Eric create some lyrics. So I walked in with this big fifth of Gallo red wine and a couple of styrofoam cups and sat down at the studio console on the left side of the board, thinking it was safe to put it there. I was too young and dumb and fun to know that styrofoam cups tip over even if you just blow on them. I poured the wine into the glass while Eric was in the booth, trying to come up with lyrics to this jammin track. I looked up, and there was someone else in the room with him. I only saw the back of her head. I thought she was short, but I couldn’t figure her out. I kept looking and was diggin this girl as I was pouring the wine, and it accidentally poured over onto the board. Then the lady stood up. She was the lady who actually spoke Spanish in the song. She stood up and wondered what Eric was laughing at. Wine spilled onto the board, which started smoking. It fried out the board right in front of us. They had to turn the board off because it was smoking. Keep in mind, we hadn’t had any recordings out yet; that was our first recording, and in the end, our first hit. Big boards like that back then ran about $25,000; today they cost $300,000. The same board. I ended up having to pay for it, but thankfully, the song became a hit, and I could afford it. That’s how we came up with the lyrics.”
Courtesy ©Far Out Productions, Inc.