{"id":505067,"date":"2026-10-23T05:24:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T05:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/505067\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T05:24:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T05:24:22","slug":"san-diego-native-lonnie-jordan-reflects-on-wars-decades-of-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/505067\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego native Lonnie Jordan reflects on WAR’s decades of music"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>WAR\u2019s Lonnie Jordan at KAABOO in 2018. (Photo courtesy of the band)<\/p>\n

Few bands have soundtracked life quite like\u00a0WAR<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fusing funk, soul, jazz, Latin rhythms, rock and streetwise storytelling, the Southern California group\u00a0formed in\u00a01969\u00a0has spent more than five decades\u00a0confronting\u00a0racism, gangs and crime\u00a0while\u00a0spreading a message of harmony and brotherhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Songs such as\u00a0\u201cSpill the Wine,\u201d\u00a0\u201cLow Rider,\u201d\u00a0\u201cThe Cisco Kid\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cWhy Can\u2019t We Be Friends?\u201d\u00a0remain staples of the American songbook,\u00a0while the band\u2019s diverse catalog has\u00a0yielded 20\u00a0gold, platinum\u00a0and\u00a0multi-platinum\u00a0records.<\/p>\n

This year, WAR celebrates\u00a0the 50th anniversary of its 1976\u00a0album\u00a0\u201cGreatest Hits<\/a>\u201d\u00a0with a tour that brings its signature blend of infectious grooves and socially conscious songwriting to\u00a0the Belly Up<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Saturday, promising a set\u00a0of\u00a0familiar favorites\u00a0and\u00a0a few surprises.<\/p>\n

Leading up to the show,\u00a0WAR\u00a0founding member,\u00a0lead\u00a0vocalist and multi-instrumentalist\u00a0Leroy\u00a0\u201cLonnie\u201d\u00a0Jordan,\u00a077,\u00a0spoke with\u00a0Times of San Diego\u00a0about his\u00a0local\u00a0roots, the unlikely inspiration behind some of\u00a0the band\u2019s\u00a0most enduring songs\u00a0and\u00a0what lies ahead.<\/p>\n

WAR has deep roots in Southern California, and you were born in San Diego. What do you remember about your earliest days here, and what does it mean to perform for audiences in the place where your story began?<\/p>\n

I was born in San Diego, but I grew up in Compton. Straight into Compton, not outta. Then I went straight outta Compton to Hollywood. I do try to make a point to come back to San Diego to perform, though. It\u2019s always great to get to perform in the place that was part of where I was born and grew up.<\/p>\n

\"Seven<\/a>WAR, which will perform at the Belly Up on Saturday. (Photo by Piero F. Giunti)<\/p>\n

This tour celebrates the 50th anniversary of your\u00a0\u201cGreatest Hits\u201d\u00a0album. Looking back on 1976, what do you remember most vividly, and how do you feel knowing those songs still resonate with audiences half a century later?<\/p>\n

The \u201970s were kind of cloudy. I\u00a0did\u00a0a lot of touring and recording up to that point. We did do something a little different with this album, though. Even though it was a compilation of our greatest hits, we included one brand-new song,\u00a0\u201cSummer,\u201d\u00a0on the album.<\/p>\n

And I am honored by the fact that the songs still resonate all these years later. I didn\u2019t know they would resonate with anyone in the \u201970s. I am grateful to my rock \u2019n\u2019 roll hall of fans. They are the reason I am still here.<\/p>\n

WAR\u2019s sound blends funk, soul, jazz, Latin rhythms, rock and other influences. How did that distinctive musical\u00a0DNA\u00a0develop in the early days, and what do you think makes a WAR groove instantly recognizable?<\/p>\n

Well, each member of the band brought their own influences. We were like a big mixed salad bowl or like gumbo. And when you mix those influences up, you get WAR.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy Can\u2019t We Be Friends?\u201d\u00a0was written during a deeply divided period in American history. With so much division today, what goes through your mind when you perform it now? Has the song taken on a different meaning for you over the years?<\/p>\n

Well, the inspiration for that song came from a time\u00a0when\u00a0we were in Japan. We were going to play a concert, but we had to hold because there was a fight going on in the audience. We all just started chanting\u00a0\u2018Why Can\u2019t We Be Friends?\u2019\u00a0and then, all of a sudden, we had another song.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the thing about our music. We were just singing about what was going on around us, but those themes happen everywhere. Our music is street music, but with the way it has traveled the world, it is kind of universal street music.<\/p>\n

\u201cLow Rider\u201d\u00a0has become a cultural anthem, particularly in Southern California, where lowrider culture and the song are practically inseparable. What inspired the track, and what does it mean to see a song you helped create become so deeply woven into our cultural fabric?<\/p>\n

Charles Miller, our saxophone player, was the one who came up with the theme for that song. We had a groove that we had been working on in the studio. Charles came in after driving up in his brand new low-rider car, and the way the song developed was like magic.<\/p>\n

Your music has always had a strong improvisational element, with grooves that can take on a life of their own onstage. At your Belly Up gig, will you be playing the\u00a0\u201cGreatest Hits\u201dalbum in its entirety, or will\u00a0you be mixing things up?\u00a0<\/p>\n

You still will never see the same show twice, even today. I tell my band all the time not to think and just play. And as far as what you will see, it\u2019s what I like to call the WAR Hit List. It is definitely the\u00a0\u201cGreatest Hits\u201d\u00a0album, although maybe not in the same order as on the record. And we will definitely include other songs, but all ones that the fans know and want to hear.<\/p>\n

WAR has several upcoming projects this fall, including a special London listening event for\u00a0\u201cThe World Is a Ghetto\u201d\u00a0on Nov. 7 and a Record Store Day\u00a0vinyl\u00a0release of\u00a0\u201c(Yes, It\u2019s) Christmas\u201d\u00a0on Nov. 27. What do you hope projects like these accomplish, particularly when it comes to introducing WAR\u2019s music to a new generation?<\/p>\n

I never know what to expect. I am grateful to still be doing this all these years later and that our fans are still listening to the songs and coming to my shows. They put us here, and they can take us out. Our Christmas song,\u00a0\u201c(Yes, It\u2019s) Christmas,\u201d\u00a0which was a take on the song\u00a0\u201cSummer,\u201d\u00a0was a way for us to write our own Christmas song our way.<\/p>\n

Is WAR working on new original music or any other recording projects with the current lineup? What can fans look forward to in 2027?<\/p>\n

We are working on new music, but that is about all I can say about that. I also will be continuing to tour, not only in the U.S. but worldwide. I have been to the U.K. the past couple of years and was recently in Portugal, which was really a great experience.\u00a0But in the more immediate future, I can\u2019t wait to perform\u00a0at the Belly Up\u00a0again. And for anyone coming to that show, the stage is gonna be smokin\u2019.<\/p>\n

Donovan Roche is a longtime music writer\u00a0and regular contributor to Times of San Diego.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WAR\u2019s Lonnie Jordan at KAABOO in 2018. (Photo courtesy of the band) Few bands have soundtracked life quite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[46511,2644,330,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-505067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-belly-up","tag-concerts","tag-music","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}