Even though he plays while seated, 78-year-old drummer Roger Earl is literally the last man standing in Foghat.
And if he has his way, his 53-year-old British act will be the last band standing. Foghat comes to the Sunshine State not to retire, you see, but to work. Which includes performing at Wells Hall at the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale on June 15 in support of the band’s 17th studio release, the 2023 #1 Billboard Blues Album Sonic Mojo.
“Two of the four Foghat members live in Florida,” Earl says by phone from his home in Long Island, N.Y., “and we’ve had a studio down there in Deland for close to 20 years. That’s where we rehearse and record now.”
Earl, vocalist/guitarist “Lonesome Dave” Peverett and bassist/vocalist Tony Stevens all initially came out of the well-established British blues-rock band Savoy Brown in 1971 to form Foghat with bottleneck slide guitar master and vocalist Rod Price. Stevens would leave Foghat before its mid-1970s heyday, succeeded by several other bassists as the quartet climbed the charts to become one of the preeminent twin-guitar blues-rock bands of the decade.
“To quote Lonesome Dave, ‘I’m gonna roll ’til I’m old; I’m gonna rock ’til I drop,” says Earl, whose disposition (not to mention his drumming) give the impression of a man decidedly younger. “He was our mentor, having all this knowledge of rock ’n’ roll and all American music, really. It all started with the blues at the turn of the previous century. Then jazz, bebop, bluegrass, country and Western, gospel, folk music, R&B, funk, Motown, and hip-hop. America gave music to the world, as far as I’m concerned. When I was a kid growing up in southwest London, American music was what I listened to.”
A slow but steady Foghat climb started with a radio-friendly cover of Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” from its self-titled 1972 debut, before the pinnacle years began with the 1975 album Fool For the City. That album featured the Peverett-penned, eight-minute funk-rock classic “Slow Ride” — a precursor to ’80s and ’90s hits by bands from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Faith No More — plus an equally explosive title track and a cover of Robert Johnson’s “Terraplane Blues.” Earl is pictured on the album cover sitting on a soapbox while fishing down into a manhole on a New York City street.
“We were recording that record at Suntreader Studios in Sharon, Vermont,” Earl says. “A beautiful spot on top of a mountain. I’d finish my drum tracks whenever we got something we really liked, and then I’d go fishing, because Vermont is great for fishing. Our bassist and producer, Nick Jameson, came up with that cover photo. So we pull into Greenwich Village on a Sunday morning, pull up the manhole cover, and a couple of New York’s finest appear in their cruiser. They roll down their window and ask, ‘Hey, do you have a fishing license?’ Once we explained what we were doing, they were great about it.”
The Foghat roll would continue with the group’s 1976 release Night Shift, which featured a roaring leadoff track in “Drivin’ Wheel” and a souped-up cover of the Al Green hit “Take Me to the River” that preceded the Talking Heads’ famed half-speed rendition by two years.
The relative honesty of live albums, which could make and extend careers in that era, propelled the subsequent Foghat Live (1977) onto the charts. Like the Allman Brothers Band’s preceding At Fillmore East, its interplay between Peverett’s picking and songwriting (à la Dickey Betts) and Price’s stratospheric slide playing (like Duane Allman) seemed to unearth Foghat as the guitaristic jam band they’d always been.
Stone Blue (1978) then featured glass-shattering slides by Price on its title track and a blistering cover of Johnson’s blues chestnut “Sweet Home Chicago.”
“Rod was an amazing player who just eventually didn’t enjoy being on the road,” says Earl. “He was OK with it the first several years, but uncomfortable with the touring afterward. But what a brilliant guitarist. I loved the way he played. Rod was a big fan of Duane Allman’s, which you can hear. But who wasn’t?”
Foghat Live (with bassist Craig MacGregor) is up for forthcoming re-release, and a new vinyl-only recording called Permission to Jam — Live in New Orleans 1973 features the original quartet playing rare blues numbers.
“I saw Foghat in concert around 35 years ago,” says Clint Casey, a 65-year-old, West Palm Beach-based independent vocalist and guitarist. “Rod Price was a slide virtuoso. And Roger Earl still playing at age 78? It makes me think of how young he was when I saw them, not to mention how much younger I was.”
As with much of rock music in general, Foghat had trouble transitioning through the late-’70s disco infiltration era and into the video-dominant 1980s. A comparatively no-nonsense rock, blues and jam band, the lineup of Peverett, Price, Earl and rotating bassists Stevens, Jameson, MacGregor, Kenny Aaronson or Rob Alter intermittently carried on through a series of lesser-received recordings before taking much of the next 10 years off to focus on other projects and non-musical pursuits.
After an eventual nine-year hiatus from 1984-1993, Foghat’s guitar heroes met with untimely endings. Peverett, whose songwriting, soaring vocals and incendiary playing had helped to define Foghat, died from complications of kidney cancer in 2000 at age 56. And after retiring from touring, Price — whose wondrous high-note slides often seemed barely audible to the human ear — died after a fall resulting from a heart attack in 2005 at age 57.
An aptly titled 1994 comeback album, Return of the Boogie Men, had previously reunited the original quartet and provided Foghat with momentum. But the departure of Price, and especially the death of Peverett, caused Earl to question whether the band should continue into the 21st century. The drummer still being in the driver’s seat at the rear of the stage nearly 25 years later provides the obvious answer.
“Our studio in Deland became a necessity after Lonesome Dave died,” Earl says. “We decided that, if we were going to carry on, we needed a place where we could rehearse, jam, and record new music. And we’ve released five studio albums and a few live albums since then.”
The current Foghat lineup consists of members with wildly varying pedigrees. Slide guitarist and vocalist Bryan Bassett, on board since replacing Price in 1999, was previously with funk act Wild Cherry (of “Play That Funky Music” hit fame). Bassist/vocalist Rodney O’Quinn, formerly with the rocking Pat Travers Band, replaced longtime member MacGregor (1949-2018) in 2015. And lead singer/guitarist Scott Holt, who’d worked with blues legend Buddy Guy, joined in 2022. That triad of blues, rock and funk experience suited Earl and Foghat to a T.
It’s a relatively young lineup within the group’s lengthy history, yet the current quartet went way back to Foghat’s roots and even earlier when recording Sonic Mojo. Released last November, it features three tracks (“She’s a Little Bit of Everything,” “Drivin’ On” and “Time Slips Away”) co-written with Kim Simmonds (1947-2022), the founding guitarist, vocalist and harmonica player that Earl, Peverett and Stevens had played with in Savoy Brown. And like Foghat’s self-titled debut, there’s one cover each by blues icon Dixon (“Let Me Love You Baby”) and rock pioneer Chuck Berry (“Promised Land”).
“I love playing with this lineup,” Earl says. “I’ve known Scott since 2014, and he’s brought a whole new range of singing, guitar playing and life to the band. Craig MacGregor, my brother from another mother, had lung cancer when we saw Rodney play years ago with Pat Travers, and basically helped me steal him. He said, ‘Roger, he’s a mini-me. You need this guy.’ And Bryan has been on board since replacing Rod. He’s a great engineer and producer and one of the best people I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with and know. Lonesome Dave recommended him, another reason for which I’m forever indebted.”
Peverett was even the one who came up with the band’s nonsensical name through playing a board game, resulting in interesting band merchandise like baseball caps with the capital letters “FOG” emblazoned across them.
As the last man sitting on Foghat’s drum throne, its gentlemanly British leader keeps calm and carries on while extending his veteran band’s legacy.
“I practice and try to stay fit,” says Earl. “I walk, ride my bike, and exercise by trying to keep up with Scott, Rodney and Bryan! We’ll be playing ‘Sonic Mojo’ tracks, plus all the radio tracks like ‘Slow Ride,’ ‘I Just Want to Make Love to You,’ ‘Fool For the City,’ and ‘Stone Blue.’”
NOTE: Recent heavy rains and flooding have postponed Foghat’s Saturday appearance at Wells Hall at the Parker, likely until 2025.
If You Go
Foghat performs at Lillian S. Wells Hall at The Parker, 707 N.E. 8th St., Fort Lauderdale.
When: 8 p.m. June 15
Tickets: $49-$200
Info: 954-468-3285, www.parkerplayhouse.com