When Roger Earl joins the Zoom call, it’s not in a typical fashion. Rather than being seated in front of the camera when it turns on, Earl instead comes into the frame with his face hanging upside down like a bat sleeping in a cave. This sense of playfulness is part of Earl’s career longevity. Born in London, Earl rose to fame as the drummer for the English rock band Savoy Brown in the late 1960s before breaking off and forming Foghat in the early 1970s. But his musical journey begins far sooner.
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Earl was introduced to music at his grandmother’s house in East London. His grandmother, whom he lovingly refers to as “Nanny Celia,” always had records playing in the house, like Jimmie Rodgers’ “Mule Skinner Blues.” and began Earl’s musical connection. “Nanny Celia, unbeknownst to her, was instrumental in doing that,” Earl tells American Songwriter. Between his father’s piano playing and his older brother who was an “avid record collector,” particularly those by Sun Records artists Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis, he was constantly surrounded by music. “Anytime people came over, we would sing. When you come from the East end of London, you sing songs whether you like it or not,” he laughs. “There was always music in our house.” But his life course was solidified the first time he saw Lewis perform live at a theater in London when he was around 12 years old and affirmed music as his life calling.
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“My mother said I was never the same after that,” Earl recalls of seeing Lewis in concert for the first time. “It addled my brain. That was the start of music for me.” Earl found himself drawn to drumming and admits he was “always tapping and banging on stuff” around the house where everything from lampshades to fine China was fair game. Though he took drum lessons, Earl says he truly learned to play by listening to records that featured legendary American blues drummers, including Francis Clay, Fred Below, and Earl Palmer. Earl got his first break as a professional musician when he was hired to play drums for Savoy Brown in 1968 when he was 19. Over the course of two years, he recorded five albums with the band. “Savoy Brown Blues Band was a terrific band,” Earl says. “It was made for me, I think.”
Earl made a risky move in 1970 when he and his Savoy Brown bandmates Dave Peverett and Tony Stevens decided to leave during the band’s peak in the U.S. and start their own band, Foghat. At the time, Savoy Brown was about to sign a new record deal and asked Earl to stay on. But when he and Peverett went back to his hotel room after the meeting, an impromptu jam session ensued, the two rocking out to a song Peverett wrote, “Fools Hall of Fame.” When they got back to London, they parted ways with Savoy Brown and officially formed Foghat in 1971. But the new road they were walking wasn’t an easy one. Foghat recorded a six-song audition tape at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London to pitch to labels, but to no avail.
“Everybody in the world turned us down,” Earl recalls. “It was a bit disheartening.” On top of the label rejection, Earl alleged that Savoy Brown’s manager, Harry Simmonds, had black-balled them from performing at venues in England. However, they found their breakthrough when they auditioned for Bearsville Records founder Albert Grossman at a pub in North London. Over tea and biscuits, Grossman agreed to sign them.
“Every time I say that, and I’ve said it a number of times, I get chills, ‘All we had to do is be great,’” Earl shares with sincerity about what Grossman told them. “So that was the start and I am forever grateful to Albert Grossman.”
After signing with Bearsville, Foghat released their self-titled debut album in 1972, which included “Fools Hall of Fame” and covers of songs, “I Just Want to Make Love to You” and “Maybelline,” by two of Earls’ musical heroes, Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry, respectively.
“All of us, especially myself, Dave and Rod Price, were big blues and rock and roll fans, so that was always our inspiration,” Earl explains. “Dave would write songs, not just do copies of great American blues artists. If we do somebody else’s song, we would change it. I think we always put Foghat stamp on any songs if we did somebody else’s tune.”
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Part of what made Foghat’s sound distinct in the era of ‘70s rock was the presence of the slide guitar played by Rod Price. “I think the way he played slide guitar really changed a lot of the ways the sort of songs we played and the way we play,” Earl raves of Price. “He was absolutely brilliant.”
Though Peverett was the main songwriter of the group, Earl asserts that all the band members had input. A prime example of this is Foghat’s signature hit, “Slow Ride.” Released as the lead single off their 1975 album, Fool for the City,“Slow Ride” hit the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is their highest-charting hit to this day, solidifying itself in the classic rock canon.
Earl recalls how then-bassist and producer Nick Jameson came up with the song’s distinct guitar riff while Peverett added in some lyrics he’d been working on. They were recording at a studio in Maine when the power went out and had to reconvene to finish it a couple of weeks later. “That was our industrial love song,” Earl describes. Like many rock bands, Foghat experienced a series of lineup changes over the years. In 1975, Stevens left the band and was replaced by Jameson, while Price departed after the release of Tight Shoes in 1980. The 2023 lineup consists of Earl, the last remaining original member, lead singer Scott Holt, bassist Rodney O’Quinn, and guitarist Bryan Bassett.
Holt experienced a wide and varied career leading up to his joining Foghat in 2022. He began his career as a guitar player for legendary blues artist Buddy Guy’s band in 1989. After a decade of playing with Guy, Holt spent 15 years as a solo artist where he recorded seven albums and toured all over the U.S. He was introduced to Earl through a mutual friend at a time when Earl was looking for understudies for various members of the band. Holt started off writing songs with them, but when former lead singer Charlie Huhn left, Earl asked if he wanted to fill his place.
“We rehearsed for about a week of me just doing Foghat songs. We got on really well,” Holt explains to American Songwriter about joining the band, adding that he and Earl were “instantly friends.” “It was a fun time, just a great experience. I think by the time I got to Foghat, I had been through all of the stuff that you go through when you’re young, the preconceived notions about what success is going to be. Life is actually quite different from that, you’re more reacting to experiences than you are creating them. So by the time I got to Foghat, I realized that I’m grateful for where I’m at, I’ve got to take advantage of where I’m at, I’ve got to do the best job I can.”
Holt put this thought into action by studying the Foghat discography. Outside of hearing “Slow Ride” on the radio on repeat when he was in high school, Holt admits that joining Foghat was like a crash course in learning their history. “I had no idea until I got in the band the depth of the catalog and the material that they had covered and the songs that they had written,” he remarks. “It was amazing to be exposed to that and start really trying to get my arms around it as an entity.”
Part of his process of becoming part of the entity was studying the phrasing of original lead singer Peverett to ensure he was singing the songs in the right range. “That’s the key to a lot of the Foghatcatalog is they’re just great songs,” Holt notes. “The cool thing about music is they’re also like signposts about your life. I remember I met my wife in high school and ‘Slow Ride’ was on the radio. That’s the cool thing about music is it gives you those touchstones.”
Foghat is continuing to give their fans those musical touchstones on their new album, Sonic Mojo, which was released on November 10. The album holds a special place in Earl’s heart, as four of the dozen tracks were co-written by Kim Simmonds, the guitarist and founder of Savoy Brown who hired him to be in the band in 1967. Simmonds passed in December 2022 shortly after writing the songs that ended up on Sonic Mojo.
“I have really fond memories, we have a real connection here,” Earl says of Simmonds. “I know Scott had really strong feelings about what a great guitar player Kim was. I loved the way they turned out and I know he would have been excited about it.”
One of the songs Simmonds co-wrote is the lead single “Drivin’ On,” a song that sounds like classic Foghat with a bluesy melody and Holt’s smooth, deep voice. It’s this blend of classic and modern that Holt says helps keep the Foghat legacy alive. “The way I listen to that record is it’s a celebration of everything that Foghat embodies,” Holt observes. “It’s all American music. It’s all the stuff that comes from the South. I think this record celebrates all of that.”
“I really am pleased with the way this record turned out,” adds Earl. “All of us listen to every kind of music, but the States is where all the music comes from. This is the land of music, they’re all interconnected.”
Foghat is also continuing its tradition of covering songs by influential artists, with B.B. King’s “She’s Dynamite” and Chuck Berry’s “Promised Land” closing out Sonic Mojo. Holt cites “Black Days & Blue Nights” as the most meaningful song on the project, as it was co-written by all the current bandmates in tribute to original member and slide guitarist Price.
[RELATED: Behind the Meaning of “Slow Ride” by Foghat]
“It was hard for me to write it because it was such a personal song,” Holt describes. “Roger wrote these lines, and [band manager and Earl’s wife] Linda [Arcello-Earl] wrote some too, and they both knew Rod. I was having to be real careful and respectful of what they had written.”
Holt views Sonic Mojo as a continuation of what’s made Foghat an enduring band for more than 50 years, the band taking their time to record the album and being intentional about choosing songs that would help shape their future. “The thing that Roger says all the time, and we agree on this, is it’s all about the music,” Holt professes. “That’s what sustains you and carries you through. The rest of it’s not going to last, the music is what holds up. It’s a great record. It’s real music played by real guys, there’s nothing fake on it. It was made with love and happiness.”
Earl echoed this sentiment. The 77-year-old was so dedicated to the music that even with a dislocated bicep, he powered through the recording process, playing with such passion that he’d be in agony by the end of the sessions. But it’s a small price to pay for providing fans with a lifetime of joy. “I know how fortunate I am. I play in a great band. You make people happy playing in a rock and roll band and having fun. I still enjoy it. They’re cheering and screaming for you. Can’t get enough of that—it’s a great feeling,” Earl proclaims. “I’m one of those fortunate people in this world who gets to earn a decent living at something I love doing.”
Photos by Jake Coughlin
