5 Questions with Eric Burdon

J&R’s Q&A with Eric Burdon

J&R: It has been reported that after your encore performances of “House of the Rising Sun”, you ask your audience to help with the re-building of New Orleans. To what extent are you involved in New Orleans recovery and how is the effort going?

Eric Burdon: No, unfortunately I am not currently involved. If someone would have asked me, yes I would have been involved. I did do a benefit to raise money for the University Hospital when the disaster first happened, but I never heard what happened to all the money I raised? It was only a small portion, but I try to do my bit. I am wondering what really happened to all the money that was raised, dedicated and sent from all over the world to the city of New Orleans? When the Mayor of New Orleans was asked where it was on a recent TV interview he said, it was in cyberspace! Just recently, I returned back to New Orleans for a sold-out gig in Hammond, LA. I got sick instantly, I don’t think I’ll ever go back again because it affected me so emotionally as well as physically. During my visit, I hung out with some old friends and they had some great survival stories to tell. So, at least the spirit is high.

J&R: Your career seems to have four distinct divisions: the rough and tumble blues period, the long-hair-hippy-dreamy period, the WAR period, with it’s tremendous influence on Chicano culture with “Spill the Wine” and others, and then the fourth and current period where you seem to be free to explore. How do you feel now about those eras of your life and music and where does your ambition lead now?

EB: Yeah, I suppose you could break-down my past history into 4 different sections. Initially with my first band The Animals, we were just elated to discover blues music and we were happy enough to try to influence people, young kids in England to join us in our discovery of this great music and what it meant and what it means to people. The spirituality in it goes along with just feeling good, learning how to dance, how to chase girls, win their hearts over, and all those good things that came with the original rock & roll! The period with WAR was a little more of an experiment. It seemed to me to be a natural next step to take — to join up with a Black funk band, since I grew up on Black music! It was an extra added benefit to find out that the guys I had joined up with were born and raised by the Mexican border and they were out of the ghetto lands of Long Beach, CA! I have always had an interest in Latin music and it was great, and the fact that they had many influences in that direction too was great. How do I feel about these eras? Well, it’s a pity that I wasn’t invited to stay on with WAR as the lead singer. We could’ve done much more together than we did. However, they went on to do great things by themselves, and for the short time that I was with the band we did some great gigs together and it is always nice to know that we influenced other bands to begin crossing-over the racial lines in rock & roll music and rhythm & blues, maybe it’s enough.

J&R: You’ve performed in New York many times over the years. What do you like to do here in your off-time?

EB: (Laughs) I have great memories in New York, and I’d like to keep it that way! These days, I try to stay off the streets, stay out of the heat, read the New York Times, visit bookshops and CD/DVD stores. Maybe catch a movie that I can’t see at home in my village on the west coast, but it’s always a thrill to play the “Big Apple”.

J&R: Which part of the world has had the most surprising response to your music?

EB: I seem to have a great connection with Latin music and Latin people in general, in addition to Greeks, Spanish and Italians. I have had good reception from south of the border — Mexico, which is always a thrill! Over in Europe, Germany is always a great market for us. I am very much looking forward to visiting Hong Kong and Thailand this year. Russia is in the horizon too.

J&R: Which current development in music excites you the most?

EB: “Crossing Borders,” the cultural mish-mash of music that is going on all over the world, performed by people whose names I can’t even pronounce! (Laughs) These days I draw most of my music from an independent TV station called, Link-TV, and every night they have music videos from all over the world, Africa, South America, Alaska, Europe, everywhere and anywhere! I love it! At the moment, I would like to experiment with my band. I want to go back in time to what I did in 1967 with violins in the band, 2 guitar players, exotic percussionists and drums, and make the band more expansive and exciting!

J&R: Whew! How could it be anything but exciting? Thank you for joining us here at J&R Music World, Eric Burdon!

Tweet This Post