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Roger Earl Of Foghat Interview;
Playing Goodyear With Nazareth
May 6
 

Two classic rock acts from the 1970s will be rockin’ Goodyear Theater on May 6.  Foghat and Nazareth will be gracing the stage and bringing all of their hits for a night of rock and roll.  We had a chat with Foghat’s original drummer, Roger Earl to discuss their upcoming appearance in Akron.

 

GD:  Foghat has been rocking stages for decades, what keeps the band energized and ready to hit the road again?

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Roger Earle:  It’s not drugs because you can’t get good ones anymore. Just kidding! I love to play.  My job as the drummer in the band is to keep the groove, sit in the pocket and rock it. I love my job and I play in a great band. I’ve always played in a great band. From the very first band I was in when I was 16 or 17. (Walks away and brings back a picture)  Nobody has seen this. This was the first band I was in. This is Ray Dorset, he was the singer in Mungo Jerry, and that’s Dave. It was The Sweet and Sour Band in 1963 or 64, somewhere around there. Nobody’s seen that picture.

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GD:  It’s an exclusive!

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RE: Yes, an exclusive.  I just spoke with Ray the other day, it was his birthday.  He was in Germany. I don’t think he’s doing too many dates, he’s the same age as me. But I play in a great band. 

 

GD: How do you approach keeping Foghat’s signature blues-rock sound fresh while still honoring the band’s legacy?

 

RE:  We never stop making music. When Lonesome Dave passed, I knew the one thing, if we wanted to be relevant we had to carry on making music and we did. We’ve made six albums since he passed. In fact, two years ago we had an album out called Sonic Mojo and it was the first number one we ever had. In the Billboard Blues Charts, the first week it went to number one and it stayed in the Top Ten for thirty-seven weeks. Success so late in life.

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GD:  When that was released, I got a copy of it and it was one of my favorite albums of the year. It was a great album. Fantastic.

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RE:  Thank you! I was pleased with it too.

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GD:  Do you have plans to perhaps make a new album?

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RE:  We’ve already finished about twelve basic tracks with myself and Scott Holt and Rodney O’Quinn on some of them. We may redo some of the guitars but the drum tracks are all done. We all play together but we have to decide what we are going to keep. We have a studio down in Florida and that’s where we did it. We also have a live album that we recorded about a year and a half ago.  We recorded every night and we took the best songs, I think we’ve got 12 or 13 songs.  What we tried to do was put some songs on the live album that we hadn’t recorded before. There’s a whole bunch of deep tracks and we picked the best. I thought it would be interesting to play some songs that we hadn’t recorded live before.  We put out four or five live albums out that I can recall. 

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GD:  When you said you were all in the studio, is that how you are making the new record? Everyone together, you aren’t doing the file sharing stuff that a lot of bands are doing?

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RE:  Oh, no, no no. That’s ugly.  We all play in the same room together. We work on stuff. We take it song by song.  They all need a different approach. That’s the whole thing when you’re writing music, new music anyway. There’s a couple traditional rock and roll songs, but I’m not going to talk about that. Not going to give it away. 

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GD: You got to keep us surprised! As a founding member of Foghat, what does it mean to you to be performing these songs live and seeing the newer generations of fans come out and go “man, this is great music.”  

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RE:  I think that’s the beauty of being in Foghat, because we’ve been around for so long.  Three or four of our songs are staples on classic rock radio. “Slow Ride,” “Fool For The City,” “Stone Blue,” “I Just Want To Make Love To You” and few others as well. We’ve even got one ballad, “Third Time Lucky.” Guitar Hero brought in a few new customers as it were or new fans I should say. A bunch of kids, six, seven and eight, this was a few years back, would come to our shows (and say) “Can you sign my guitar, please?” “No!” Of course we did, it’s beautiful. To have kids come up and say, “We love that “Slow Ride” song.” Do you know what that’s about young man? “Driving, isn’t it?” No, ask your dad and mom what it’s about.  

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GD:  Excellent. Foghat has always had a strong connection to boogie and blues, who were some of your earliest influences drumming wise?

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RE:  Drummers who played in Chess Records. Little Richard’s drummer, Earl Palmer. Francis Clay who played in the Muddy Waters band. Most of my favorite drummers all came from Chicago. They were all basically jazz drummers but they played in a blues, come rock idiom. Can’t earn any money playing in jazz. Play in rock and roll and blues you can earn a living. You can put food on the table for the kids. 

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GD:  Do you remember the first artist you saw in concert and how did that impact you?

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RE:  Oh, yeah. Jerry Lee Lewis. My father played piano, somewhat. That wasn’t his day job.  My older brother, Colin had already bought Jerry Lee Lewis’ first album.  It might have been “Great Balls of Fire” I’m not sure. The B side impressed my dad. He said, “have a listen to the way this kid plays piano.” About three months later, Jerry Lee was over in England. I’m thirteen or fourteen years old and my dad took me to see him. And that, as my mother said, "addled his brain!”  I don’t know what an addled brain is. Thank you mom.  I love my mom and my dad.  I had really cool parents. There was always music in our house.  The radio was always on. Dad played piano as well and sang as did mom. My parents came from the east end of London. Anybody who’s familiar with that part of the world knows that they love to have a party. Any excuse when I was growing up for the neighbors or family over to have a sing-song. I don’t think I appreciated anywhere near as much as how cool my parents really were. My father was really cool, just a good man. 

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GD:  Wow.  Jerry Lee Lewis, fortunately I got to see him perform at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He kicked over the piano stool, even though he was older, he was still doing that stuff.

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RE:  He was absolutely brilliant!  I saw him around his 80th birthday at BB King’s in Manhattan which is no longer there. He was fantastic.  He would just play. He had a huge catalog, country music, gospel music as well as rock and roll and blues. After about three songs, he got off the piano and said, “OK, I’m leaving now.” He was famous for doing that from time to time. Then he would say, “just kidding.” Jerry Lee, he was my inspiration. Then I discovered Little Richard. Well, I already knew Little Richard but what a fantastic band he had. Incredible drummer, Earl Palmer. And Chuck Berry. I got into Chuck in the late ‘50s early ‘60s. I probably have to thank the Rolling Stones for that. That’s another good English band.  They’re still around. 

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GD:  The Stones are still playing, I just saw them two years ago. Phenomenal! 

 

RE:  In fact, I wanted to do one of their songs but it’s probably not cool to do, right? I know it’s only rock and roll, but I like it. I like it. Yes I do. I like it.  Wish I’d written that! Actually, I think Ronnie Wood had a hand in writing that.

 

GD:  Wow.  Now, like you’ve said, you’ve been on the road for a long time. How is it different touring from the ‘70s then it is today?

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RE: It’s not anywhere near as hectic. Actually, May is pretty hectic because we’ve got twelve dates in the month of May. So there’s a lot of driving and flying. Most of the time we just play once or twice a week. Festivals, casinos we do between 45 and 65 shows a year. We’re still playing but the way we travel is different. The first tour back in ‘72 we were flying everywhere and our road manager would drive down to the tarmac and load our amplifiers and drum kit on the plane. Can’t do that anymore. That part has changed.  I have to tell you, I still get a chill just before I go on stage.  Lights dimmed, I still get a chill going out there. I’m fine as soon as I count the first song off. I’m one of the fortunate few in this world who gets to earn a living at something I love doing. I play in a great band, always have done. 

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GD: For sure. Now, you mentioned that you are going to be playing in Akron here in a couple of weeks.  Do you have any memories of playing in Akron or Northeastern Ohio, Cleveland area throughout your career?

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RE:  Yeah! We played there a lot over the years. Used to have a couple of girlfriends there. 

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GD:  Cleveland’s notorious for that!

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RE:  There’s only one now for the last thirty years. I have a girlfriend, a wife and a manager. Three in one. They call it the holy trinity! (laughs) 

 

GD:  You are going to be hitting the road with Nazareth and we are excited to have you here in Akron.  What a great double bill. Are there going to be any surprised or are you going to do any collaborations or is it going to be they do a set and you do your set?

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RE:  I don’t know.  We haven’t really talked other than to the promoters. We’ve done some advertising. But yeah, we’ll hang out. They’re a great band, always were. I was good friends with their original drummer, Darryl Sweet. Like us, they have a new singer who’s really terrific. Heard some of their live shows, great singer. You know, life goes on. I know. It’s only rock and roll, but I like it. Like it. Yes, I do.

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GD:  I’ve heard that somewhere before! What’s next for Foghat after this tour? Going back into the studio and finishing up that record?

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RE:  Yes, we’ll be finishing mixing the live album. That will come out, August, September probably. Then the new studio album will take a little while.  Probably won’t come out until early next year. (talks to his wife) No. When’s it coming out, Linda? Oh, we’re hoping for the end of the year. That was my girlfriend talking. 

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GD:  Well, that’s exciting news. So a live album and a studio album perhaps at the end of the year. 

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RE:  We’re keeping busy. 

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GD:  The Goodyear Theater is a fantastic place, the acoustics are great.  What can fans expect from the show?

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RE:  We’ll be boogieing your boots and sneakers away. I know it’s going to be fun with Nazareth. We’ll be playing all our hits like “Slow Ride” and “Fool For The City” “I Just Want To Make Love To You.” We’ll play a couple of songs from our last studio album, Sonic Mojo. Those lyrics are coming to mind again. I know, it’s only rock and roll but I like it. Like it. Yes, I do! What great lyrics. Sometimes the Stones wrote some interesting stuff and I couldn’t figure out what Mick was singing. What a great band. I’m sorry, I’m a Stones fan. I used to go see them at Eel Pie Island and The Richmond Club when I was growing up in Southeast London. They were a great band, still are. And Charlie (Watts) was a great drummer. Actually their new drummer is really good. He was in Keith’s band I think.

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GD: Yeah, The Expensive Winos. So you were more Stones than The Beatles, huh?

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RE:  Oh, definitely. The Beatles are a great band. The Beatles changed the world. Let’s be fair. They did. Whereas the Stones just played Chuck Berry songs really well initially. Then they started to be creative. I’ve always been a Stones fan. The grubby creatures that they were. 

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GD:  A little more edgier than The Beatles when they came out. 

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RE: Actually, some of The Beatles stuff were like one of the earliest heavy metal bands. Some of the stuff they recorded and the way they made their records. 

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GD: “Helter Skelter” for sure is a heavy metal song. 

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RE: Exactly. You have to give due to wherever it is. Paul and Ringo are still with us. The rhythm section. 

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GD:  And they are still playing live shows. 

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RE: Yeah, unbelievable. Ringo is great. He played in a great band, didn’t he?

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GD: He sure did. 

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RE:  He must have loved that.  Good for him.

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GD:  And good for you for going out and doing your thing. 

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RE:  I’m gonna roll 'til I’m old and rock 'til I drop. 

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GD: Roger, I really appreciate you spending some time with me today and we will see you at the Goodyear Theater and we will pack the place for you!

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RE:  Thank you! Thank you for having us and thank you for helping promote the show. 

 

Make sure you check out a great double bill of classic rock on May 6 at the Goodyear Theater when Foghat and Nazareth take the stage. Tickets start at $54 and can be purchased here. 

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You can watch the entire Zoom call here. 

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