New York City has always been a place of hustle, bustle, and grind. However, it has always been a place of unity and love. Hailing from the beautiful New York City, Light Warriors are here with the purposeful mission to bring us together with “No More Division”. When the song hits, you are instantly dancing and hearing influence from artists such as The Specials, Bob Marley & The Wailers, plus world music vibes.
The song opens with what can be described as a sonic happy face, making the listeners feel like everything in the world is quite alright, in a time where we need it most. Vocally, the performances on this track range from soft and smooth to in your face. Upon the chorus of the song hitting, you’re already dancing and smiling, as well as thinking about how you can play your part to come together with people, and singing along with “No More Division”. By the end of this 3:36 minute long masterpiece of love, you feel like a changed person, you feel lighter and you feel that we can all do our part in making this world a better place.
Consisting of 7 members, you can really hear how Light Warriors have united for a love of music to bring something totally fresh and unique. With a band name like that, you can also instantly grasp their tangible intentions of simply trying to make the world a better place and doing so in a sonic way that unites listeners of all kinds. Be sure to keep up to date with Light Warriors and listen to their music often, it will make the world a better place for all of us.
Listen to "No More Division" here.
Welcome to BuzzMusic Light Warriors. When did Light Warriors form?
(Erik Rabasca, gtr/vox) Thank you. I’m grateful to be here. I started it as a solo project back in 2015, playing all roles on the first album Survival of Joy, releasing that in 2016. After nearly 130 shows, we have a great group of players with a singular vision.
Being a band of 7 amazing members, how did you all find each other and come together?
It’s simply beautiful how energies align when the time is right. After that first album, there were a lot of players I collaborated with for shows. So many talented people but who also all had other projects. It was challenging to gain a commitment which is vital for any kind of momentum. So I rolled two to three deep in every band position for awhile. In 2017 after releasing Raise The Frequency, I was able to sustain a lineup for a period before everyone’s life circumstances moved them to other pursuits and opportunities. Liz Page (vocals and hand percussion) was a part of this group. She went to school in New Orleans for the better part of the next year while I hit reset mode.mIn addition to doing group and solo shows, I was also going to a lot of open jams to meet other players during this transition time. One of those players, Angel Sanchez on bass, said he liked what I did and wanted to be a part of it. So we did a bunch of shows together with Nick DiFrisco on drums (who I had done prior gigs with) from Dec 18 through the spring of this year. Liz came back in the fold around this time and we rocked as a quartet.
Then, Nick tore like three major ligaments in his shoulder and has been out for at least six months now. We got a call to do a show in New Haven with some friends from the open jam scene in August. Angel was in a band previously with Steven Jean Baptiste on drums, Jamarr Jabari on percussion and Kris Brewer on sax called Southwind Social Club. We had all jammed a bunch together already over a couple of years thanks to Arch Street Collective and Two Bald Crew in southern CT. So the gig went incredibly well and we decided to do it again. As Nick was out of commission, we moved forward with this unit, adding Matt Hichar on keys to make us seven who we met through a friend of Nick’s. We’ve now done about 20 shows since the summer. We‘re having a great time, working hard and really starting to hit that higher level of soul connection. It’s like family. And we’re all on the same unity vibe of the song No More Division. We all believe music is a transformative force for good. After five years, it feels like we’re finally at the starting point. The best is yet to come.
The music is very cohesive for 7 different people coming to lay down a sonic masterpiece. What is your biggest struggle when writing within a group of that size?
Wow, thank you for your kind words. Our biggest challenge is scheduling!! (laughs) So I’ve pretty much set the tone to date on record. But the tunes have transformed life as everyone’s individual contributions have evolved of our collective sound and vibe. We’re listening to each other on a deep level which creates that natural intuitive space everyone to shine.
What are some other battles that Light Warriors try to fight with your music?
Like everyone, we’re all working hard to create space that allows the music to thrive. And we’re succeeding at that despite the daily life challenges. The main battle we tackle is the relentless pursuit of truth. We have to remain true to ourselves as creative and kind individuals and then true to the group pursuit of bringing love into action through our music. Love is the highest frequency of the universal language. So when we connect to that universal source, there’s no denying truth of the moment. In these current times with media skews toward advertising demographics, with social media feed bombardment, with lack of political integrity, with everyone screaming at each other, with the lack of trust, it’s so easy to be jaded and spiral in that vortex of negativity. But energy both feeds and co-creates new energy. So we’re tapping the positive energy that needs nourishing and healing by staying true to ourselves with every note, every lyric and every show. It’s a discipline especially with so much thrown at all of us every day. If anyone of us is in it for anything other than channeling that light, if it becomes about fashion or status or ego or any of those life distractions, then we’re not fulfilling our mission. We’re all in it together and we can only get to the next level together. So we continue to battle together and inspire each other to reach new heights.
What is next for you all? Can we expect touring and new music soon?
We are hard at work on new music. Ideally, we’ll have an album for mid-year but we don’t want to rush the natural flow of creation. So we’ll balance that desire with soul satisfaction. But we’ll definitely have something by spring...even if it’s a single. We’ve been playing a bunch of shows from New Haven, CT to Brooklyn and Manhattan and out to Long Island. We’ll keep working that circuit and with the next release, we’ll likely hit Boston to DC on the east coast and then the route out to Chicago and back. We’re going to do a live stream from the studio the first week in January as part of an international event with 7 Days of Rest “to begin the new year by co-creating a global unified field of intention and experience dedicated to the healing and replenishment of the planet and all its inhabitants.” Please follow our socials for more on this. For anyone in and around New York City, we’re doing Sofar Sounds on Friday, 1/17 and then at Bowery Electric on Thursday, 1/23 at 8pm for Bridging The Music’s Winter MiniFEST. Connecticut folks can catch us Peaches in Norwalk on Saturday, 1/25 before we take a hiatus to finish recording. Thanks so much for the opportunity to speak together.
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