On Friday, November 10th, 2023, they will release their 17th studio album, their first in seven years, on their own label, which will be distributed by Select-O-Hits (part of the Sun Records family). It will be available as a single CD with twelve tracks and a six page gatefold cover, as well as an eleven track, limited edition, 180 gram, purple neon vinyl. "Sonic Mojo" is the title of their new CD. The group we are talking about is Foghat, and the gentleman who stepped forward to speak with us is drummer Roger Earl.
Q - Roger, we actually met 42, 43 years ago. I think it was either 1980 or 1981.
A - Oh, I remember that. (laughs)
Q - No, you don't.
A - No, I don't.
Q - You and Foghat were playing a small club in Fremont, New York. Your tour bus was outside the club. I was on the tour bus, but I don't believe I got to interview you. But, I remember there was a girl talking to you about the club in Florida. That stuck out in my mind.
A - And some young lady wanted me to go to Florida to play some club?
Q - As I recall, she was rattling off clubs in Florida. I'm not sure if she saw you perform in Florida or suggesting some places you should play. I seem to think she saw you in Florida.
A - I saw a lot of girls in Florida. (laughs)
Q - I'm not saying she was a groupie.
A - They're not all groupies, Gary, that say "Will you come home with me?" They were just nice young ladies back then. I don't sort of indulge in that sort of thing anymore.
Q - I don't even know if there are groupies out there anymore.
A - Ladies that want to take you home? That still happens. But I'm a happily married man. I can't do that. (laughs)
Q - The young bands will step right up and say, "We'll oblige."
A - Yeah. That's a young man's job. I'm a happily married man . I'm still friends with my ex-wives and a couple of girl friends as well. So, everything is fine.
Q - I believe Foghat just closed out the New York State Fair, didn't you?
A - That is correct.
Q - Does Foghat play many State Fairs?
A - Yeah. I got an offer last night to play just outside of Charleston, South Carolina. The following day we're in Laughlin, Nevada, which is seventy miles from Las Vegas. I talked to our travel agent and looked at the map. We can't do that because we can't get to Laughlin in time. There was a 6:20 AM flight out of Charleston, but I only had 40 minutes to change to get to the next flight to Las Vegas. And that 40 minutes is not enough time. These days there's always something going wrong, either weather or the plane needs to be fixed. 40 minutes is not enough. You need at least an hour to change planes in an airport and make sure that your bags and all your equipment get there. So, I had to turn it down and I hate turning down gigs. I love to play and Charleston, South Carolina, that was a Fair or two.
Q - Foghat used to play eight months a year. Why did you guys perform so much? Is that what you had to do to break a record at the time?
A - Well, initially. It all goes back to the beginning. When we left Savoy Brown, the manager of Savoy Brown was in England where we lived at the time. He told us we'd never work again. He wasn't kidding. We struggled to get work in England. We did some dates. A person working for Warner Bros., which is the parent company of Dezo Records, really liked us, Derek Taylor. He was the publicist for The Beatles. He really loved the first record. So, he got us some dates. We did a three week tour with Captain Beefheart and we did some other shows he got. He knew people. When we released our record over here (the U.S.) it did really well. It got to number 40 or something. The single, "I just Want To Make Love To You" was played on various (radio) stations and it took awhile to get out there. We came here (the U.S.) and our manager was American and he called us up and said, "We're getting played on the radio." We got tickets and we played barmitzvahs, people's backyards, union halls. We played anywhere and everywhere. Obviously we had some real gigs as well. But, that's what we did. Apart from that, I love to play anyway. Are you kidding? Your job is something you love doing. Our job is playing and people cheer, (laughs) and clap their hands. If you're gonna have a job, I think it's a pretty good one, isn't it?
Q - I'll say. And lovely ladies are waiting to take you home.
A - Well, back then, yes. Not anymore.
Q - And don't forget, you're in magazines, in newspapers and on TV.
A - (laughs) But the TV came a little later. TV didn't really happen until '74. It was interesting about the TV shows because back then we were taking maybe a week's break, ten days break from touring. I think the first TV show was Midnight Special. I'm not sure. It might have been Don Kirshner, but not both of them. Anyway, we were taking a break and our manager said, "We have a TV show." We were starting to do quite well by then. We played in front of twenty million people instead of two thousand. (laughs) Everybody was really excited, but our bass player at the time decided he really didn't want to do it, but he would if we did this, did that. Everybody else was like, "Yeah!" It was really like exciting times.
Q - You have your own record label, Foghat Records.
A - Yes.
Q - Is that only for Foghat?
A - No. We would have other artists on it. Randy VanWarmer, who was friends with our manager and myself. He was also on Dezo Records. He passed away. We released his stuff on Foghat Records. I'm not really involved with that. I'm really involved with Foghat. Our manager, Linda, runs the record company. It's a lot of work for one person, but she has a team of people all over the country working on it.
Q - You're going to release a new CD, "Sonic Mojo".
A - Yeah. November 10th. (2023)
Q - Are you planning to tour behind it?
A - Yeah. We're going to tour until I can't play anymore. The current tour is called "Road Fever." We're doing two record release parties, one in New York City and one on the West Coast.
Q - You took drum lessons for two years, didn't you?
A - Yeah, something like that.
Q - Did the teacher have you hold the sticks the way Jazz drummers do? The left hand is horizontal and the right hand is vertical.
A - Yes. It's called traditional. Then there's the other grip where you grip them both hands with the thumb and forefinger. Back then it was called timpani. He showed me both grips. They can both be used. The timpani method is used when you literally play timpani and you got a huge timpani drum, or if you're doing anything special, especially with mallets or if you're playing xylophone or anything like that. I learned both ways. He (my teacher) was a Jazz drummer. He played for a number of American musicians that came over to England. He also taught the drummer in The Kinks. If I'm doing a couple of Blues songs, I do a press roll, which is easier for me to do using a traditional grip, but generally I play what they call match grip, which is the way most Rock 'n' Roll drummers do. The way drums are set up, no drummer ever sets up his drums the say way. If you're a lefty, traditional right hand drummers can't play lefty kits. It's all backwards. In fact, I was trying to figure out what Ian Paice of Deep Purple was doing. He's a lefty. His drums are set up back to front. He's a fantastic drummer. I've met him a number of times and seen him play with Deep Purple. Really super nice guy. A fantastic drummer. Trying to figure out what he's doing if you're a righty is a bit confusing. I benefited from having a drum teacher who taught me both ways. You don't get into any bad habits. So, you can play with control and whatever you want to do, whatever comes into your head, comes out of your hands and feet. I also know a number of drummers that are completely self-taught and they don't seem to have a problem. Bobby Rondinelli is a good friend of mine. He's a teacher as well. He was taught sort of all the rudiments and everything and he's a fantastic drummer. There's other drummers I've met that play because they listened to records. They never had a lesson in their lives, other than listening to music or watching other drummers. I think I benefited from having a really, really good teacher. He taught me some of the basics. It would've been useful had I studied more and learned to read properly, side read. It would've benefited me. But on the other hand, all I wanted to do was play in a Blues / Rock 'n' Roll band and I was happy with that and the way I play. There was a number of drummers on record that I listened to. I learned to play by listening to Chuck Berry. I learned to play by listening to Muddy Waters and the fantastic drummers that he had. I learned by listening to Little Richard records. I learned by listening to music. That's how I learned. But, it was interesting initially. I remember one time I told my drum teacher there was a Marvin Gaye song I wanted to play. It's called "Baby Don't Do It". I played him the record. Then he sat down at his kit and played it. I said, "That doesn't really sound right." He said, "That's because there's three drummers on there." (laughs) There would be congas. There would be other percussion. It took me awhile to figure all that out. Also, playing percussion is a lot of fun. But that was one of the real cool things when I joined Savoy Brown. I was only, what, 19 or 20. When I joined the band, one of the first recording sessions, it was basically I could do whatever I want. I could play the way I want. If I had any ideas about percussion or how to do something, Chris Jordan or
Kim Simmonds would play the music the way they thought it would go. Then I just played what I thought would work. I held onto that job for a few years and I did five albums with them. That was a lot of fun, playing in the band and recording with that band and 'live' shows. I learned a lot.
Q - And you got your first drum kit when you were 15 years old?
A - Yeah. I'd been taking lessons for two or three years and I worked three nights after school and I worked Saturday mornings in a bakery. So, I had my own money. We weren't rich, but we didn't go hungry. I said to my Dad I was saving up for a drum kit I had my eye on. I said to my drum teacher, Chris, "Can you help me get a drum kit?" He was surprised that I even asked the question. So, I bought a drum kit and Dad signed on the dotted line 'cause I was only 15, and he said, "Look son, you've got to keep up the payments." I put down half the money on the drum kit and I was off. It was a Premier, Black Pearl, and I had a pair of 14 inch Zildjian hi-hats and an 18 inch crash cymbal and a 22 inch ride cymbal. And I was off.
Q - How much money would that drum kit have cost you?
A - Premier drums are made in England of course. I wanted a Ludwig kit badly, but they were about three times the cost of a Premier kit, so that was alright. I don't even remember how much it cost, but I remember I had to put down half the cost of the drums and the cymbals and I paid the rest of it off. I can't remember if it was 50 or 100 Pounds. It must have been real money, but I was off. I set it up in my parents dining room, which was also the living room, and I started playing. It was a semi-detached house. We had neighbors on one side attached to the house and then we had a garage and that was attached to the other neighbors house. Mum walked in when I started playing and said, "This will never do." (laughs) So, Dad let me have his woodworking shed. Mom and Dad and myself soundproofed it. My Mom and Dad did most of the hard work. I was still in school at the time.
Q - You were working as a commercial artist at one point. Does that mean you were working for a newspaper or magazine?
A - No, an art firm. I did graphic art work. Most of the time I would do their packaging. You have a packet of cool plates. I wasn't a designer at the time, but I eventually became a designer. I did the art work that went to the printer. Made up the boxes, the packaging. My father was also a commercial artist. So, that was one of the reasons I did it. I could paint. I could draw. I left school when I was 15 and I went back to night school 'cause I needed to brush up on my math 'cause there was a lot of math involved. I earned really good money by the time I was like 17 or 18. I was earning really good money. Playing music was not how I supported myself. But it (commercial artist) was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to play drums in a Rock 'n' Roll / Blues band. That was all I wanted to do. That was the only thing I was interested in. Everything else just supported that dream.
Q - You auditioned for Jimi hendrix. I take it that was prior to 1967 when he released that album "Are You Experienced". In
Irwin Stamber's book, he said you froze because you never heard a guy play guitar like that. Is that true?
A - I didn't have a fucking idea what to do. I never heard anything like it. I didn't know how to play. He was just playing riffs. It wasn't like a groove. He didn't play rhythm guitar of a riff. After about a minute or so I think he played a slow Blues. He did a Bob Dylan song. He did a Chuck Berry song. I got a hold of that. It was a pretty exciting time, but I think he picked the right drummer.
Q - Were there other guys waiting to audition as well?
A - Yeah. There was a whole bunch of drummers down there. Most of 'em were not in known bands. What happened was, I played in a band with Jimi's manager. We didn't actually go out and play. We just sort of rehearsed together for about two or three months, but nothing really came of it. So, he had my number when I was working in the studio. He called me up and said, "Everybody's heard of this person, Jimi Hendrix." All the known guitar players of the time are raving about him. Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck. They're all saying he's an incredible guitar player. I was in a band at the time, a three piece. There was myself, my best friend from high school, Dave Hutchins, and also another friend from high school, Ray Dorset. We all grew up together. They started playing when they were nine or ten. I joined the band when I was sixteen. So, we were in a band but we didn't have a lot of work. So, I was always looking to get more work or play with another band. I auditioned for
The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown. I auditioned for a number of other bands. In fact, I auditioned twice for Savoy Brown. I didn't get it the first time. Somebody else did. They called me back about a month later because the drummer couldn't play a shuffle. (laughs) You join a Blues band and you can't play a shuffle?
Q - You had as your agent, Frank Barsalona of Premier Talent.
A - Yeah. Frank was our agent at the time.
Q - According to a Rolling Stone article, he took Foghat from being a $500 a night band to a $5,000 a night band. Is that true?
A - Frank Barsalona and Premier Talent was a really great agency. In fact, I remember one time I had dinner with him and his wife. He wasn't really involved in that side of it back then. It was our manager. Frank Barsalona was probably the number one agency in the country. (U.S.) When we went with Frank Barsalona, yes, everything moved up considerable notches. We'd done our homework by playing anywhere and everywhere. We had a really good fan base. Frank took us to another level. I would say that was true.
Q - I'd guess not many people ask you about Frank Barsalona.
A - No. I have fond memories of that period. They took us up a couple of notches.
Q - The irony of Frank Barsalona's story is he started Premier Talent because he didn't like the way Rock 'n' Roll musicians were being treated by the major agencies of the day. And then when he got out of the business, Premier Talent was acquired by William Morris.
A - (laughs) Well, you know agents have to be pretty thick skinned to be an agent. I'm friends with a number of agents and agencies that I've met over the years and it's a tough business. You're negotiating for bands like ourselves. I wouldn't want to do it. I think it takes a special approach. They work very hard and they give you all they've got. Most of them treat their bands well and do the best they can and I can say that from personal knowledge. They work hard.
Q - Speaking of working hard, you and Foghat continue to perform and record after all these years.
A - You know what the truth is, Gary? I play with a band; there are three other people in the band that I would do anything for and vice-versa. We have an absolute blast playing.
Q - And you're working on your autobiography. When will that be published?
A - We're working on it. I don't know. One of the things I said at the beginning, ten years ago, to our manager, Linda, I said, "We should really do a Foghat story." So, we're putting film together, stories together. Not just me, from articles that Dave and Rod were in, and Craig MacGregor of course, and also people that worked with us, road managers, drum techs, other people that worked with us. Promoters. We're collecting everything. It's not just one sided. When Dave Peverett played onstage it was always good because Dave gave it everything he had, and so did I. You get that hour and a half each day and the rest of the time is hurry up and wait. You're sitting in trains, planes, cars. It's hurry up and sit down. When you get that hour and a half, that's what makes it all worthwhile.
Official Website: Foghat.com
