A Conversation with Foghat’s Roger Earl – HuffPost 4.17.14

Mike Ragogna: Hello…Roger, can you hear me?

Roger Earl: I can hear you fine, actually, and that’s pretty good because I played drums in a rock ‘n’ roll band for fifty years, so my hearing is somewhat challenged. [laughs]

MR: Roger, I’m very happy to talk to you and let’s get right into it. Foghat had an interesting contest, can you tell me how this came together?

RE: Well this is a long story. On our last studio album, we did an instrumental called “495 Boogie” that my brother Colin played piano on and basically brought to the table. It’s the only instrumental that Foghat ever did. There was a DJ down in Mississippi somewhere, I believe, who wrote some lyrics to it called “Big American Blonde” that were a little risqué. But that planted the seed of making a competition to write lyrics for it. We had a competition for lyric writing for the song and there were two people–actually the standard was pretty amazing–but a guy called Phil Dessinger came first and we released it and then because we liked Tom Mix’s version of it, who was a warrant officer and a pilot, we liked his version as well so we couldn’t really make up our minds, so we did both of them. Tom Mix’s version is coming out, we’ve actually met him. He’s a really cool guy. He’s back here Stateside now. We met him down in Florida, he came to one of the shows down there. All the proceeds from this song will go towards Fishing For Freedom. I fish, therefore I am. It’s something that’s close to my heart. Tom Mix is also an avid fisherman. I don’t know what we’re going to raise, whether we can buy a lure or we could buy fishing tackle or someone a plane ticket, we’ll just have to wait and see, but you have to try and do something, no matter what your feelings are about he wars that are going on.

The men and women that are over there are as far as I’m concerned the best of the best, especially the wounded warriors that come back, it’s just very sad and if you can do something to brighten up their day I’ll do that. In fact, a number of years back we went to the hospital down in D.C. and met a number of the warriors down there and they had some horrendous wounds, arms and legs gone and all they could do was go back to their units in Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s veyr humbling when you meet them. On my end, I just think it’s so sad, any drop of American or English blood that’s spilled over there. It’s just sad. I feel bad that at this time and in this age we’re sending out the best of the best over there to die in some sand pit. Maybe I shouldn’t go there. Don’t get me started! But I have friends that are over there like sons, I have a nephew in England who is a captain in the English army that was over there, he’s out of it now. When you meet these people, especially the ones who have been wounded, it’s very humbling. So anything I can do.

MR: That’s beautiful. You know, we train them rough, we get them tough, but they’re still our kids.

RE: And it’s largely a volunteer force! Army, Marines, Navy, and that’s impressive as well. I think we’ve obviously come a long way to be able to do that, but I also think that when they come back… I don’t know all the details, but I get the feeling that they’re not treated as well as they should be. These people, as far as I’m concerned, are special. These men and women have been on the front line for us and for the government. We should be there when they come back with anything and everything they need. This is the richest country in the world and if we can’t take care of our men and women who come back to the Nth degree, there’s a problem.

MR: It seems veterans are always caught in the middle of politics.

RE: Right. Exactly. I was fortunate enough that I never had to go to war. They stopped conscription in England about three or four years before I came of age, so I’m grateful for that. I get the feeling that I might not have made it out of there if I’d been in the war. But I have a number of friends and I’ve met many, many men and women that have been in the military and over the years I have a great respect for them, I really do, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. These men and women are real special and they should be treated as such.

MR: Yeah. Let’s also move to Foghat. What’s some news with Foghat these days?

RE: We just released a live DVD, which you probably know about. We released that earlier this year, we’ve been down in our studio in Florida working on a new album, we’ve probably got between six and twelve songs already done, we’re probably going to have a number of guests on our next album. I think maybe we need a helping hand, we’re getting old, you know. [laughs]

MR: But it’s a party and you’re just inviting all your friends!

RE: Yeah. Even from our very first album back in 1971, we probably had at least half a dozen other musicians helping us out, whether it was recording or getting tea and biscuits or actually playing on the record. We’ve often done that over the years, not that they always got credit for it. I think it’s important, like on our last album we had a number of guests and it worked, because the nucleus of our band, the four of us is fine, but when you get an injection of somebody else’s ideas is fun. Making music has to be enjoyable. We’re working, as far as your craft goes, learning your gig and playing is kind of subjective. But I love making music, I love playing, so be careful what you wish for, right?

MR: Exactly! Hey, I remember there being a Foghat song in the classic flick, Dazed And Confused.

RE: [laughs] They hade a couple of our songs in that movie, they had “I Just Wanna Make Love To You” and I believe–this was back when the CDs went gold–my manager and my wife, I said to her, “I think it’s time I had a hot rod, I haven’t had a hot rod in a while,” and she said, “Next gold album.” I said, “We just had one!” and she said, “That doesn’t count.”

MR: [laughs] Good for her!

RE: That’s probably why we’re still in the black.

MR: But what do you think about how Foghat sits in the culture?

RE: It’s difficult for me to actually view it like that. Maybe if I was in The Rolling Stones I’d view it a little differently, but really I just look at it like I’m just real fortunate that I play with some great musicians, good friends, and just the fact that I’m still here and able to do it. It’s all I ever wanted to do when I was a little kid and I first started listening to music and riding my bike to school and singing Jerry Lee Lewis songs and Johnny Cash songs. Be careful what you wish for.

MR: Speaking of Johnny Cash, I interviewed Carlene Carter yesterday. What a history.

RE: Oh really? I’m a huge Johnny Cash fan, in fact, we just recorded a Johnny Cash song. I can’t tell you what it is, though. I was sitting there saying, “I’ve always wanted to do a Johnny Cash song” and this other guitar player I was writing with at the time actually did a version of “Folsom Prison Blues,” which is great. So I don’t know if we could do that, but there’s this one Johnny Cash song which I’ve always wanted to record. We did it and hopefully it will be on the next album.

MR: Sweet. Congratulations, man! Hey, what advice do you have for new artists?

RE: Get a real job. No, I think with music you do it because you want to play, because you feel like you’ve got something to say and it’s the most important thing in your life. You don’t do it because you want to becom e a rich rock ‘n’ roll star, it’s because of the music, because you have a love and a passion. There’s going to be a lot of hard work and a lot of heartbreak, but the thing is I think if you want to do it you’re going to do it one way or another. I’ve been penniless a couple of times, sort of laying in the gutter, pissing in my pants–well, not quite that bad–wondering where the next sandwich and a bottle of wine is going to come from. You do it because you have a love and a passion for music. That’s why we still make records, usually in the winter time we go down to Florida, we have a studio down there and a house and we just hang out and play and record and have fun doing it. It’s not for any other reason. I think when you’re involved with music you do it because, like I said before, you have a passion for it. My passion hasn’t diminished. I’ve played with some great musicians and we have fun, what can I tell you?

MR: Nice, thanks. You know, “Slow Ride” has never gone away.

RE: They did slow ride on a Firestone commercial, one of the fans told me about it. It’s pretty amazing.

MR: What’s the reason, you think?

RE: Well, the arrangement was a lot of fun, but it basically is a John Lee Hooker riff, instead of doing it as a shuffle you do it as a straightforward beat. It came from a jam, we were jamming and Rod [Price] the original guitar player and I had a house out here in Long Island–that was the original odd couple–anyway, Nick Jameson had just joined us and it came from a jam in the basement, the whole arrangement came from the jam and then Dave [Peverett] said, “Uh, I’ve got some words.” In fact, a lot of the ideas come from that, we’d have a riff and just ist there and jam. When we were down in Florida for the last two or three weeks we’d sit outside until two or three in the morning just playing and then forget to turn ont he recorder, oh dear. We were probably drinking wine by that time.

MR: What are a couple of your proudest moments in Foghat?

RE: Oh, probably 1977. We did Foghat’s Tribute To The Blues at the Palladium in New York City, basically, Foghat was the house band and we backed John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield, Johnny Winter, Eddie “Blues Man” Kirkland, Pinetop Perkins played piano, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith on drums. That was probably a highlight of my life. We raised money for the new Public Library. They didn’t have a decent collection of blues records; in fact, I believe Dave actually picked out three or four thousand albums that they needed and raised money for it. Back then, we had more money than sense. As my mom used to say, “If you have a penny, you have more money than sense.”

MR: I heard the Palladium show, it’s pretty legendary.

RE: Yeah, that was a highlight. I also got to meet Willie Dixon and have dinner at his house outside of Chicago, that was a bit of a highlight. It’s really cool when you meet your musical heroes and not only do they not let you down, but you realize how special they were and how brilliant they were. Willie Dixon wrote and produced countless great songs. Without him there would be a great hole in the musical repertoire.

MR: What do you think is happening in the blues world these days? What state do you think it’s in?

RE: Well, if you play in a blues band you’re doing it because you love to play and not because of the money. Blues players are notorious for not getting their fair share. But actually, the blues community at the moment is very healthy, there’s some fantastic bands and performers out there and it’s getting very well-organized. I usually try to get down to the Memphis Blues Awards, I don’t knwo if I’m going to get there this year, but I’ve been there a couple of times. It’s healthy–blues. America has given music to the world with blues, jazz, gospel, rock ‘n’ roll… What does the rest of the world have? What did England have? “Hey Nonny Nonny” and “Greensleeves.” But to be fair, Jeff Beck did do a great version of “Greensleeves.” Jeff Beck does a great version of just about anything he touches.

MR: He’s scary good. I listen to Jeff Beck and I have no idea who influenced him with that level of playing.

RE: He is a genius. An absolutely brilliant guitar player. I saw him last year at the Iridium Jazz Club in Manhattan. They did a DVD of it, Jeff Beck’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Party. He was absolutely incredible. The smile didn’t leave his place. He was playing for at least two hours with his band and all his guests. I got to say hello to him afterwards. He’s having a good time with his music.

MR: What’s the future look like for Foghat? Maybe touring to support your latest projects?

RE: Yeah, in those immortal words, “We’re going to roll ’til we roll and rock ’til we drop!” We’re booking dates as we speak, we usually do between sixty and seventy shows a year, we have one date booked in Sweden in June I believe, June 7th. We’re trying to do a few other dates over there as well because we haven’t played England since 1973. I think we did one show there. We’re booking Germany, but because we didn’t play there it’s difficult to finally get shows. But we’re playing in the Sweden rock festival, which I’m looking forward to. It’s very well-organized. Yeah, we’re going to be on the road. We’re going to be out there somewhere.

MR: Got any words of wisdom?

RE: Let’s see, words of wisdom… I think we talked about that when I said if you want to play music, do it because you love the music and you have a passion for it, not because you want to get rich or anything else. Having said that, I think it’s a good idea to have an understanding of the music industry. It really changes almost daily, but most artists aren’t interested in that, they’re only interested in making music. I think that might be a reason why artists have notoriously been either mismanaged or don’t have any money to show for it, even though they’ve been very successful. I’m a big fan of The Band and Levon Helm, of course, and it’s such a sad story that he was basically in debt the day he died, same as a few other members of The Band. It seems a little incongruous that a band that was that successful has nothing in the end, but musicians are notoriously wasteful. We can’t help ourselves, we’re having fun, right?

Transcribed By Galen Hawthorne