Thirty years ago, Foghat unleashed Live, the album that cemented their title as The Boogie Monsters. The four British lads who started the band - guitarist/vocalist “Lonesome” Dave Peverett, rhythm guitarist Rod Price, bassist Tony Stevens, and drummer Roger Earl - were relentless road warriors and their legendary live set captured them at the peak of their game. This summer will see the release of Live II. Not a sequel, just another new chapter in the life of a band that refuses to die or grow up. Roger Earl, the only musician who's been with the Foghat throughout all their permutations and personnel shifts, looks fondly back, and forward, on the band that's been his life's work.
“I grew up in London, but all my influences came from American music,” Earl begins. You don't really have to interview the man; just toss out an occasional question and sit back and let the stories flow. “I remember when I was 11 or 12, I wanted to stow away on an airplane and come over. I finally arrived in late '67, on tour with Savoy Brown - five skinny English kids coming to America to play the blues. Did we have big balls, or what? Our first gig was in Boston. We opened, J. Geils followed, and Buddy Guy headlined and tore the house done. We realized we had a lot to learn.
“(Savoy Brown) paid me, Dave, and Tony 60 dollars a week and we never got a cent for any of the records, except Looking In, the one we did just before we quit. I got a thousand pounds; you could almost buy a house with that back then. We got paid when we weren't working too, but we were always working. Savoy was a highlight of my life. I grew up in that band, if anyone ever grew up in the '60s. I still speak to (Savoy bandleader) Kim (Simmonds) a couple of times a year. He has a new album out and he's playing better than he ever did.
“One night Harry Simmonds (the band's manager and Kim's brother) fired Tony. He said Dave and I could stay if we would do whatever. We went back to Dave's room and he wrote 'Fools Hall of Fame' (one of the first Foghat songs.) We told Harry we'd see the tour out, but after that we were quitting and starting a new band. He said he'd stop us from ever working in Europe and he did.
“We found Rod (Price, the band's first rhythm guitarist) and went into Abbey Road with Dave Edmunds producing. Another successful band had recorded there; we hoped some of the magic might rub off. Our manger took the demos to every major and minor company in the world and everyone turned us down. We heard Albert Grossman was in Europe with The Band so we rented a club in Islington and set up our stuff to play some songs for him. At the end he said 'Anywhere we can get tea and biscuits?' We went across the road and after he had his tea he said, 'Well, OK let's do this thing.' I still get a chill when I think of it. We couldn't get arrested in England. Our kids were hungry and we were thinking we might have to get real jobs.” With Grossman as their manager, the newly christened Foghat moved to the United States. “Foghat was a word Dave made up with his brother while they were playing a word game as kids. You put on your foghat when you want to rock out, right?”
The band became an FM radio staple and began the endless tour they're still on. Their fifth album, 1975's Fool For The City, was a blockbuster, and one of the best hard rock albums of the '70s. “We'd just fired Tony and auditioned Craig (MacGregor, still the bass man in Foghat). We did Fool For The City with our producer Nick Jameson on bass, but hired Craig for the tour that produced Live. We recorded 15 dates, but the record was taken from two shows in Syracuse and Rochester. The album's success was a total surprise. Afterwards, I bought a house and two or three cars. There were only six songs on it, cause we liked to jam, and we still do. You really get your money's worth on the new double album. Thirteen tracks and some new studio stuff as well.”
Foghat went through many permutations between Live and Live II. The band shifted personnel, broke up and reformed. Dave Peverett quit. Roger Earl, Erik Cartwright and Craig MacGregor became The Kneetremblers, then Foghat again. Peverett came back and put together Dave Peverett's Foghat and competed with Earl's Foghat for gigs. The original members finally regrouped in '93 and played until Peverett died of cancer in 2000.
“Dave had his fingerprints all over Foghat,” Earl says explaining his decision to soldier on. “I miss him, but Foghat isn't about one individual. It's always been about the music and it's always been a band. I don't think I could earn a living doing anything else. I talked to Dave six days before he died and he told us to carry on and told (new lead guitarist) Bryan the same thing, so we have Dave's blessing. Initially it was difficult but (new singer) Charlie (Huhn) puts his own stamp on the songs. It's our job to carry on and the transition was pretty natural.
“We reformed the original band in '93 and stayed on the road until Dave got cancer in '97. He had a kidney removed, did radiation and chemo, then called me up in '99 and said he wanted to go back on the road. He said he was strong enough to walk to the gym - he didn't go in, but he could walk there - and he could keep an apple down, so we booked some dates. Six weeks before the first gig, Rod quit. Dave said Bryan would fill in and passed the torch to him. He's super talented and produced and engineered Live II. We're building a studio down in Florida so we can record and start writing. There's still a lot of talent in this band and I haven't even talked about Charlie. He was with Ted Nugent for a few years. He was the singer in Humble Pie twelve years after Steve Marriot. Dave said: 'Let's go see what Charlie has under his fingernails.' When he started singing we said 'Woah!' Anyone who can sing Steve Marriot's tunes has to have a great set of tonsils. After Dave died, I called my manager and told him to find the guy who used to sing with Humble Pie. I sent Charlie about 20 or 30 songs to learn. He called me back a month later and said: 'Got it.'”
Live II was recorded in 2005, but starting a new label, lining up distribution, and mixing the tracks ate up the better part of two years. “It was all recorded live, one date. We filmed it, as well, for a DVD. We had complete control, which is pretty scary - it was recorded by us, mixed by us, set list by us, our own label, so we had to get it right. We were pleased with it right after the show, maybe because we were all drinking tequila, but when you have four musicians trying to mix the songs long distance it takes time. Bryan would send a CD of mixes to me or Charlie and Craig, and we'd say: 'Sounds OK, but let's tweak this.' But it was all there; there are no overdubs. Eventually our manager said: 'You've been working on this for nine months -- what are you trying to do? It's time to let it go and put it out.' I've been playing these songs a long time and I must say, we're sounding better than ever. They say every dog has its day and that we even had a day was amazing, since we were real dogs. But we love to play and we've been on the road 13 months a year since 1971. We just went on and on and if we weren't on the road, we were in the studio. I'm 61 this year and not as spry as I used to be, but two divorces later, I'm still at it. The exes have forgiven me and I have wonderful grandchildren now, so life is good.”
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