Band wages war with instruments, not guns

By Jerry Fink

Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Leroy “Lonnie” Jordan remembers one night in particular from the many memorable moments of a career that has spanned almost half a century.

Jordan and his new group, War -- with Eric Burdon as lead vocalist at the time -- jammed with Jimi Hendrix at the famed London nightclub Ronnie Scott in September 1970.

“He brought his guitar in and we jammed to the song ‘Mother Earth,’ ” says Jordan, whose group is performing this week with comedian George Wallace at the Flamingo. “Right after that he left us and went back to his room and died. It was ironic. He went back to Mother Earth.”

Jordan hopes another memorable moment is on the horizon: Burdon, who was the lead singer for the group’s first hit, “Spill the Wine,” will rejoin the group in April for a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Jordan says a lengthy tour will follow, although the details are being worked out.

Burdon was lead singer with the Animals before helping create War in 1969. Jordan is the last original member who performs with the group. In the mid ’90s, he and manager Jerry Goldstein fought four former members for the right to use the name and won. The other four original members -- Howard E. Scott, B.B. Dickerson, Lee Oskar and Harold Brown -- now tour as part of a group called Lowrider.

“Of course there’s going to be some sour grapes, but not so much anymore,” Jordan says. “We’re too old for sour grapes.”

War started as a multiethnic band that blended funk, rock, Latin and jazz. Jordan says the name was chosen as a protest against war.

“We chose the name because of the Vietnam War,” he says. “But there were a lot of things going on back then -- the Black Panthers, a lot of revolutionary things. So we decided to call ourselves War so we could wage war against wars. We pretty much let people know this was not a bloody War, this War was based on instruments, not guns. We were not going to shoot out bullets, but melodies and rhythms and harmonies.”

For the next few days you can catch War opening for comedian George Wallace. The band plays a 45-minute set of the songs that made the group famous in its infancy, such as “Slippin’ Into Darkness,” “The World Is a Ghetto,” “The Cisco Kid,” “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” and “Low Rider.”

“The first time we played here, I believe, was in 1966, not as War -- we were The Creators then,” Jordan says. “We were evolving into War. There were only a couple of hotels on the Strip back then. I don’t remember where we played.”

Jordan says he’s been touring constantly for almost 40 years. When he isn’t on the road with War he goes solo, playing jazz with a backup band.

War’s latest project is a live CD it will finish up while in Vegas.

“We’ll go into the studio here and create two new songs as bonus tracks to the album,” he says.

When their two-week gig with Wallace ends, they hit the road again.

“Back to the one-nighters, flying city to city,” he says.