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Andy Vineberg
Features Writer, Tune Up Magazine
Plenty of classic rock bands from the 1970s or even earlier continue to tour the globe, dutifully delivering the oldies, but only a smattering are still releasing vibrant new music that holds up alongside their best work.
Count Foghat among that elite group.
I know what you’re thinking. Foghat? Really? The British heavy blues-rock band that hasn’t had Billboard Top 40 single since 1979’s “Third Time Lucky?” The band that’s missing three-fourths of its classic lineup? That Foghat?
Yep, that Foghat.
Sure, drummer Roger Earl is the only remaining original member from the group that gave us such classic rock nuggets as “Slow Ride,” “Fool for the City” and perhaps the definitive version of Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You.” Those days are sadly long in the past—lead singer “Lonesome” Dave Peverett died in 2000, guitarist Rod Price retired from the band in 1999 and died in 2005, bassist Tony Stevens left, returned, and left again—ultimately starting a Foghat tribute band—and Craig MacGregor, his longtime replacement, died in 2018.
But don’t for a second dismiss the current lineup’s musical prowess. Lead guitarist Bryan Bassett, who scored a No. 1 Billboard hit in 1976 as a founding member of Wild Cherry with “Play That Funky Music” and formerly played with Molly Hatchett, has been with Foghat full-time since 1999, engineering, producing, and mastering most of the band’s 21st-century work. Bassist Rodney O’Quinn joined the group in 2015 following a nearly 10-year stint with the Pat Travers band. And recently added lead singer/rhythm guitarist Scott Holt honed his skills under no less a blues maestro than Buddy Guy, whose band Holt joined as a teenager decades ago.
Oh, and as for founding member Earl? Well, he was named the sixth-greatest blues rock drummer of all time, directly ahead of John Bonham, Ginger Baker, and Mitch Mitchell, in a 2023 Blues Rock Review poll.
“I’m not sure who compiled this list of drummers, but it’s great company—the top echelon of contemporary drummers from the last 50, 60 years,” Earl says. “I don’t know quite what to say, to be honest.”
It was maybe the only time the outgoing Earl was at a loss for words when he joined the “David Uosikkinen In the Pocket” podcast (which I co-host with the Hooters drummer), a little over a year ago to promote Foghat’s then brand-new album, “Sonic Mojo,” a blues-rock tour de force which went on to spend 27 straight weeks in the Top 10 of the Billboard Blues chart. The album, Foghat’s 17th, swings and grooves and rumbles down the highway with the best of the band’s 1970s work, and in a different era, it’s easy to imagine songs like “Drivin’ On” and “She’s a Little Bit of Everything” all over FM radio.
With Foghat’s tour in support of the album still going strong (including a recently announced show at the Keswick Theatre in suburban Philadelphia on July 11), we thought it’d be fun to revisit the highlights of Earl’s appearance on the podcast.
Earl, 78, was positively charming while waxing on his former and current bandmates, auditioning for Jimi Hendrix, an unexpected encounter with the cops after a long night working on “Slow Ride,” playing alongside one of his drummer heroes, his passion for fishing, and why, after nearly 60 years behind the kit, he has no plans to retire.
You can listen to the full conversation here (or wherever you get your podcasts), or watch it on YouTube here.
In the meantime, here are some of our favorite excerpts:
On people who dismiss the current lineup of the band as not being the “real” Foghat:
It’s Foghat because I’m still in the band.
On playing with Lonesome Dave and some of the other guys in the band:
It’s sad we lost Dave. Rob wanted to retire, he was unhappy being on the road, (but) he was a brilliant slide guitar player. Dave, that was sad because Dave loved to play. He died too young.
The beauty about playing with Dave, he was kind of a quiet guy, but he was this whole library and font of knowledge of all things blues, rock, jazz, and gospel music. Also, I believe, a closet drummer. He knew every drummer who played on every record. The best thing about Dave was he’d go onstage and give it 110 percent. From a drummer’s, a band’s, point of view, it’s just the best when you’ve got someone singing and playing guitar and giving every ounce of energy they’ve got. It was the best.
Having said that, I wouldn’t want to play with anyone who doesn’t have that real enthusiasm for making and creating music and entertaining. But I have that again in this band. I’ve played with tons of great players in Foghat and also when I was in Savoy Brown, but these guys, the band I’m in now, they are a real band. We play together, we share stuff, none of them are miserable fucks, we have a good time.
On the influence of American music on Foghat, which formed in London in 1971 after Earl, Peverett, and Stevens left the British blues band Savoy Brown:
All contemporary music as far as I’m concerned comes from the U-S-of-A, this is where it came from. We just sort of grabbed hold of it and embraced it. The blues—they dragged our brothers and sisters from Africa, then we got jazz, freebop, rock ’n’ roll, country music, church music, gospel music. This is the land of music, where it all comes from.
Growing up in London, Jerry Lee Lewis was my first influencer, (and) Chuck Berry, Little Richard. Then I discovered Muddy Waters and started digging John Lee Hooker. What did we have in England—‘Hey Nonny Nonny?’
The best thing that ever happened to me was when I first came here in 1969 with Savoy Brown. It felt like coming home. It took us a little while to get used to the fact that we’re a British blues band—what the hell does that mean? In England, we have a saying, ‘taking coal to Newcastle.’ Newcastle is where they dig it up, so why would you bring it there? That’s how I felt with us coming to the States.
This is my adopted home, I love this country. I think the music this country has given to the world far outpaces any of the downside. Because without music, life would be a mistake.
On auditioning for the Jimi Hendrix Experience in London in the mid-1960s:
I was in a band that Chas Chandler (original bassist in the Animals) was putting together. I was about 19 years old, working as a commercial artist up in London and Chas called me up and said, ‘Have you heard of Jimi Hendrix?’ He’d been all over the newspapers—Eric (Clapton) and all the other guitar players, Pete (Townshend), they were also talking about this brilliant guitar player. I said, ‘I’ve heard of him.’ He said, ‘Do you want to audition?’ I said, ‘Yes, please.’
Just off of Piccadilly Circus, there was a blues club called, Birdland, a jazz club, I went there about midday, about 12, 1 o’clock. I borrowed my dad’s car to bring my drums up—back then you could do that, you can’t do that anymore. I’m standing in line, and Jimi comes up to me and starts talking to me about some songs he’s written. And then we go in, there were about five drummers before me, something like that. Then it’s my chance.
I’ve never heard someone play guitar quite like that. It took me a little while to actually find something that I could latch onto. Slow blues, ‘Ah, I know that one.’ I think he played a Chuck Berry song, might have been “Johnny B. Goode” actually. I think he did a Bob Dylan song. He was very generous with his time. I know I played at least a half hour, maybe more.
On the importance of playing in a band:
I think basically the way I approach music, I always wanted to play in a band. From the early days, I knew I wasn’t Buddy Rich or even close. I did take lessons for three years, and my teacher was a jazz drummer. He was really good, very patient as well. But it was like I always wanted to play in a band. You could sit in a room and make noise, but playing in a band, you can help build something.
Playing with great bass players—I always had great bass players I played with. In the beginning my best friend Dave Hutchins, a great bass player, got me in the first band I was in. Tony Stevens is a great bass player. Craig MacGregor, he owned that part of the stage. Nick Jameson … Jameson’s a fucking genius. Nick Jameson, he plays every and any instrument great.
More on the brilliance of Nick Jameson, who produced, engineered, and played bass, keyboards, and other instruments on 1975’s “Fool for the City,” Foghat’s best-selling album:
Playing with Nick Jameson as a musician and as a friend was one of the highlights of my life. Probably the singular person I learned a great deal from. I learned what not to do. Nick would come up with ideas—he was a great percussionist, too—and say, ‘What about doing this?’ And then we’d try stuff … ‘Yeah.’
On Jameson’s influence on guitarist Rod Price:
Rod Price, he could burn as a guitar player. He was very intense. There was a producer we used before, Tom Dawes, who let Rod put his solos together almost note for note. Rod would play a brief phrase, and they’d punch it in. I think that was one of the reasons Rod had a hard time playing live. But Nick knew and understood the beauty of Rod Price’s playing. Every time Rod would say, ‘Do it again,’ Nick would say, ‘Let’s keep the first part instead of doing it note by note.’ He would encourage him to do the whole solo, not just bit by bit. Nick understood Rob had a brilliant way of playing with his flow and intensity. Nick understood that as a musician—‘Play it with fire.’ I think Rod’s playing on the “Fool for City” album is some of the best he ever did.
On Jameson accommodating Peverett’s saxophone obsession during the “Fool for the City” sessions:
We’re doing the “Fool for the City” album up in Sharon, Vermont on top of a mountain. It’s the first time since the first album we’ve actually taken three months off the road. We’re up there rehearsing, working on stuff, it was a really great time for the band.
Lonesome Dave had been carrying a saxophone with him for the last couple of years in the hotels. You always knew where Dave’s room was. So because we were sharing a house, Dave would play his sax. One morning Nick’s not in the studio—he had gone into town and found a soprano or sopranino sax. He comes back and decides he’s going to write charts for him and Dave to play. Nick’s never played a saxophone before. Dave’s been struggling for the last three years or so. Nick works out these charts, the song was called “Going to the Mardi Gras,” it didn’t make the record. But Nick within minutes was playing this instrument. Don’t you hate people like that? Mere mortals struggle day after day to get through the count of four, and Nick goes … (impersonates saxophone sound).
On his and Jameson’s encounter with the cops after a night working on “Slow Ride”:
We finished mixing “Slow Ride” and the B side, which was “Save Your Loving (For Me).” Basically, Nick did all the work—I would bring in tea and biscuits. We’re coming back from the mountain, we had a station wagon, and we were imbibing in a little bit of marijuana, you know, just to take the edge off. I come over this hill doing about 90, but it was early in the morning, nobody on the road.
All of the sudden there are all these policemen across the road pulling people over. I’m going, ‘Oh, shit.’ We wind the windows down, I think Nick threw the substance out the window. We’re stopped by the police, they say, ‘Are you from Canada?’ They’re stopping people from Canada coming across the border for some reason, I don’t know. They say, ‘OK, take it easy.’ They were very kind, they could see they didn’t want to have trouble with us two. They took one look at us two and said, ‘Take it easy, alright, get out of here.’
I can say this: “Slow Ride” has been very, very good to me. It’s classic Foghat sound.
On the chance to do a session with one of his drummer heroes, Bernard Purdie (Aretha Franklin, James Brown), during recording of Foghat’s 1974 “Energized” album:
That was one of the highlights of my life. Dave and I had a day off in the city, we were up at our producer’s apartment. First time I drank frozen Russian vodka, but I digress. We’re sitting there talking about music and stuff, talking about drums. Tom Dawes says I used Bernard Purdie on all my sessions. He was talking about Aretha Franklin. Dave and I look at each other, ‘You know Bernard Purdie? Can we get him to play on our record?’ He said, ‘Yeah, as long as you pay him.’
There were three songs we were gonna do. We had the arrangements; we just hadn’t recorded them yet. Bernard came into the studio, this big studio in Manhattan. The guitars are in a semicircle facing me, Dave singing live into a mic, Bernard off to my left. As far as I’m concerned, I’m sitting next to greatness. Also one of the most beautiful, coolest humans you could imagine. Always smiling, as well. He’s up there getting some sounds, then Tom comes and puts a wallet on his snare drum. Bernard looks at him, says ‘What are doing?’ Tom says, ‘Well, it’s ringing.’ Bernard says, ‘It’s a drum, it’s supposed to ring.’
Anyway, he’s sitting there, Tom gives him charts for the three songs. He looks over to me, ‘OK, we’ll play the song three times—first time to get the arrangement right, second time to get the song right, third time for fun.’ I’m sitting there going, I like this guy. It was beautiful … we did that with the three songs. I don’t even remember which ones we kept. That was a highlight of my life.”
On the excitement he felt over recording, releasing, and touring to support “Sonic Mojo”:
There’s not a record I don’t enjoy one way or another, but this one is particularly good, I think, because every song, it was easy to pick ’em. We knew which ones we wanted. Each song should have a little bit of magic—a bit or a melody or something that just grabs you. I think we got it right on this record. We had a ton of fun doing it.
And we’re playing three of the songs in our set, which is pretty brave.
On his passion for fishing and how his attitude toward the activity has changed over the years:
I fish, therefore I am. I’m not that good at it. My family would go hungry. The worst part about it in my current age, I put the fish back now. I catch a nice big striped bass, especially in the spring, April or May, the big ones with these big brown eyes, especially if she’s 30 pounds, it’s probably somebody’s grandmother.
On the prospect of retirement:
Are you kidding? I love my job. I get paid for banging, kicking, and crashing stuff. And I play in a great band.
It must be hard when you have to say, ‘I’m retiring.’ I’ve had tons of work done on my hands, my knees, my shoulders, everything. But everything is working good. I’ve got a great hand doctor as well. My wife, who loves me dearly, is not afraid to spend money to get me fixed. No, not that kind of fixed!
I’m gonna roll till I’m old and rock till I drop. You know, it’s head, hands, and feet. You have to remember the arrangement, at least I do, and the rest of it comes out your hands and feet. That’s where the physical side comes from. When that stops, it might be time for the band to say, ‘Um, Rog, you want to start the song off?’
But it still works. The other thing, it’s bringing joy. We’re making music. It’s not like going to work.
🎧 Don’t Miss the Full Conversation!
Catch Roger Earl’s full interview on the David Uosikkinen In the Pocket podcast, co-hosted by Andy Vineberg. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube!
Written by: Tune Up Webmaster
Andy Vineberg Blues Rock classic rock David Uosikkinen podcast Foghat music interview music legends rock and roll Roger Earl Sonic Mojo
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