Foghat (Official Thread)

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Foghat



Official Website

1972 Foghat
1973 Rock and Roll
1974 Energized
1974 Rock and Roll Outlaws
1975 Fool for the City
1976 Night Shift
1976 Foghat Live
1978 Stone Blue
1979 Boogie Motel
1980 Tight Shoes
1981 Girls to Chat & Boys to Bounce
1982 In the Mood for Something Rude
1983 Zig-Zag Walk
1994 Return of the Boogie Men
2003 Family Joules
2006 Foghat Live II
2010 Last Train Home
2018 Slow Ride
2023 Sonic Mojo



From bluesy acoustic songs, to the same exact song built by screaming electric guitars... Foghat...​


Formed in 1970, as sort of the offspring of Savoy Brown, Foghat was created by "Lonesome" Dave Peverett, Rod Price, Tony Stevens, and Roger Earl. They released their first album in 1972, titled Foghat. It features one of their most well known songs, a cover of "I Just Want To Make Love To You" written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Muddy Waters. They released Foghat(Rock n Roll), Energized--my second favorite--, Rock n Roll Outlaws, Fool For the City--favorite studio album---, Night Shift, Live--favorite Foghat listening experience--, Stone Blue, and Boogie Motel, in the 70s..

By the early 80s, Foghat's popularity began to fade.. At the end of 1983, they took a break, until 1994 when they released Return Of the Boogie Man.. From 1998 until 2010, they released 6 live albums and one studio album.. Their legacy as one of the greatest rock n roll bands and most innovative boogie blues rock bands is still very in place today...
:grinthumb

Original lineup--
Dave Peverett - rhythm guitar, vocals
Rod Price - lead guitar, slide guitar
Tony Stevens - bass
Roger Earl - drums

Today's lineup--
Charlie Huhn - rhythm guitar, vocals
Bryan Bassett - lead guitar
Jeff Howell - bass
Roger Earl - drums

I hate to say anything bad about groups, especially a group I love, but I saw them live in the summer of 2009, and it was awful.. I left early:(

But, to end this OP on a high note.. how about some screaming high notes from one of their most recognizable songs, and one of my favorite all time songs..

Slow Ride:grinthumb


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Groovy Man

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Re: Official Foghat Thread

Love Foghat....

''Stone Blue'' and ''Fool for the City'' are my favorite studio albums...

But ''Foghat Live'' is my all time favorite Foghat album. Only six songs, but six of the hardest fastest rockin' tunes you'll ever hear. . I used give my speakers a nice work out to this album - and still do today! One of the best single live albums ever.

Rod Price was one of my favorite slide guitar players, Dave Peverett was a great front man, rhythm/lead guitar player....who are sadly no longer with us today.

I can't believe they took down 99% of Foghat's 70's songs and videos from youtube. But I managed to find this video of ''Slow Ride'' from back in the 70's....

 

Groovy Man

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Re: Official Foghat Thread

I found this interview, Foghat fans might enjoy reading...

Interview with Foghat's Roger Earl

(classicrockmusicblog.com)

Let’s go back in time: Where did the stylized Foghat logo come from?

Roger Earl: That was originally done on our Energized album, by the Warner Brothers’ art department. At the time we recognized it as being something special – which it is, I think. It’s a very cool logo and very recognizable.

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On the cover of Rock And Roll Outlaws, the four of you are standing next to a plane with the Foghat logo on the nose. Did the band have its own plane then?

Not back then, we didn’t. That was just something that was stuck on the nose. We didn’t have a Lear jet until the Stone Blue tour, and to be honest with you – it was fun – but you never got a chance to hang out after… the fun of being on the road back then was if we had a day off we could go out and jam at some of the local bars, meet some other musos and have some fun. When we had the jet, we were based out of – we’d have a hub city like Chicago. That’s not a bad city to hang out in, good one in fact. We’d be down in Key West or… it was OK, but I preferred hanging out after. A number of times we would go out and jam after shows or on days off. I don’t miss the Lear jet, and, actually, I don’t miss the tour bus either. I think the way we all travel now is a lot easier. We take commercial flights; we just bring our guitars. I bring my snare, pedal, sticks and my cymbals; the promoter supplies the back-line to our specifications, and 99 percent of the time it works. We play two or three times a week – weekends mostly – then we get to go home, go golfing, go fishing, hang out with the grandchildren, become friendly with the wife. [laughs] Life is good. Life is really good.

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The Fool For The City album cover is a classic. Whose idea was it to have you “fishing” in a manhole?

I think that was Nick Jameson’s idea. To the best of my recollection, Nick Jameson – who was our bass player on the Fool For The City album and our longtime producer and longtime friend – I think it was his idea. We went into New York City one Sunday morning – early – the photographer and our manager pulled up the manhole cover, sat me down and I got my [fishing] rod out and sat on a soap box and started fishing. Then along come a couple of New York’s finest in their car, and they said, “Hey. What are you doing? Do you have a license?” [laughs] “You got a fishing license?” Then they started laughing. They were great. They came out and took some pictures of them like handcuffing me and carting me off – just pictures. We didn’t use them. I don’t know what happened to them. New York’s finest: They’re the best. They worry about all the bad guys. They don’t bother you if you’re having fun.

I love the photo with the older couple. The guy has a look of disgust on his face that’s about 10 miles wide.

[laughs] Yeah. Right. They came out of their building and wanted to know what was going on and why people were lifting up manhole covers in the middle of the street. That was a fun shoot.

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On the Night Shift cover, you, Rod and Craig are all sporting some serious mustaches, and Dave’s face is smooth as a baby’s bottom. Was there any pressure on him to grow a ‘stache for that cover?

[laughs] No, no, no. Actually, Foghat was always very much a band – though Dave was the lead singer and most prolific writer in the band – just about every song we did, everyone had input in it. The band itself – the nucleus of the band – always maintained control on what we were doing and what we weren’t doing, as far as what songs we were writing. The mustache thing was just one of those things. I don’t, it’s sort of like when you had hair or didn’t have hair. [laugh] No, there was no pressure on Dave, and if there was Dave probably wouldn’t have noticed it. It would have been like water off a duck’s back to him. The only thing that Dave cared about, particularly with the band, was music. Everything else, Dave wasn’t really bothered. Music was his life’s blood. I miss him. He had a huge print on this band. He was like our musical guide, if you will. Anytime we were on the road – on the bus or even in the hotels – Dave would always have sounds. He would always have new stuff or old stuff he’d compile. Back then I guess it was cassettes; later on it became CDs. He was like the band DJ: We’d get on the bus and we’d sit in the front, which was like the main musical lounge; the back lounge was for other nefarious stuff. [laughs] So we’d sit up there and Dave would say, “What do you want to do tonight? Do you want to listen to some blues? Some rock? Some rockabilly?” Or he’d pull out some really cool country stuff that we hadn’t heard before. Especially the last tour that we did together, back in 1999, Dave and I, in particular got… we were never tight, but we were always cool with each other. Dave and I always got on real well – there was never any problems between us other than a brief period when Dave left the country. It was a lot of fun. We’d stay up till the early morning hours and listen to music.
 
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Groovy Man

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Re: Official Foghat Thread

You guys toured with a bunch of bands. Did you ever share a bill with Rory Gallagher? I would think he and Dave would be kindred spirits.

I don’t think so. Dave really liked him, but Rory Gallagher was one of Rod’s favorite artists. We may have done [a show with him] back in England – it’s quite possible. I saw Rory on a number of occasions. Rod Price loved Rory; in fact, he named his third son Rory. Rory Gallagher was something special. We did a show in New York not too long ago – I think Arnie Goodman had a lot to do with it – and it was a Rory Gallagher tribute. I got up and jammed with a bunch of musicians and played some of the songs he made famous. That was sad, Rory not being there. He had such great heart and feel and was an incredible guitar player. Live, he was just like dynamite. He’d just blow you away.

You’ve said that Foghat didn’t make records that the band members didn’t like, but there must be some records you like better than others. Which ones stand out for you?

I loved working on the first album, for a number of reasons. Working with Dave Edmunds was an absolute gas, as a producer and as a musician he’s brilliant. I loved doing that; in fact, without Dave’s help I don’t think we’d have got anywhere close to where we are now. But having said that, on the first album there were a number of people who helped us out: Todd Rundgren helped us out on a number of tracks. We had people coming in, helping us out playing and just hanging out and encouraging us. So, I like the first album. Fool For The City was probably one of my favorite records. That was the first album that we actually took time off the road – a long time off the road – it was deliberate. It was like the record company needed another album. The band was getting hot. We said the only way we’re going to do this is if we take time – we’d been touring for about four years, literally like 13 months a year and if we had a couple days off we’d go into the studio. But the Fool For The City record was recorded up in Sharon, Vermont, at a studio called Suntreader. Tony Stevens had been asked to leave the band again, and Nick Jameson, our longtime producer and friend, was now our bass player. Nick and I used to live up in Bearsville so were friends anyway. So Nick and I put some drums and a couple of amps and guitars in a station wagon and would drive to different studios. When Nick found this studio up in Sharon, Vermont – it was a huge room, a great big room – and I went down there and banged away on some drums, and he came down and played bass and guitar and stuff. We recorded some things, and we both agreed it was a great-sounding studio. Then when we were finished with some writing down here in Long Island, we went back up to Sharon, Vermont, locked ourselves up for two or three months and came up with a record.

One interesting thing about “Slow Ride,” which I had forgotten about but Nick reminded me recently, is that when we were recording the actual version of “Slow Ride,” about half-way through it the power went out. [laughs] We only had half a song. We came back to it a week or month later or something and had to pick it up where we were. So we’re listening to it, trying to get the drum sounds similar, doing the last three minutes of the song. That happened a few times: The power would go out – somebody would hit a [power] pole. We were out in the middle of nowhere – it was like a small mountain or a large hill, but it was in the middle of nowhere. Deer would run into the car; bears would be in the garbage can. It was a lot of fun. We got a lot done. That was really enjoyable doing that record. I learned a lot from that.

You mentioned “Slow Ride,” which was a huge success. Beyond the radio hits, what are your favorite deep tracks that you wish more people knew.

What we do each year – or what I do each year, anyway – at the end of each tour I’ll go through the records and CDs and try and get three or four new songs or old songs that we haven’t played in years, so we can put them in the set. In January, February, March, April – we have a band house down in Florida on 10 acres in the middle of nowhere. We rehearse and record down there. We sort of figure out which songs we like – there’s probably half-a-dozen songs we’ll always play, and then sometimes you run out of time. We’ve made like 18 albums, so there’s a lot of material to pick from. Favorite songs? “Night Shift” was one of my favorite tunes. I like the way we played on that. That was a really cool tune. “Don’t Run Me Down” – I thought that was a really good tune off of the Night Shift album.

I’d put “Terraplane Blues” on the list.

Yeah. In fact we played that last year. We rehearsed it again this year, but we put three different songs in this year: “Ride, Ride, “Ride,” which I don’t think we’ve played since we recorded it; “Third Time Lucky,” which the band never played. Dave used to play it on piano because Rod couldn’t play it; and another song, so something had to go. But, hmmm, we’re going to be recording this Sunday – “Ride, Ride, “Ride” and “Third Time Lucky,” that’s the only ballad we do. I had a little bit of a time trying to convince the band that we should do a ballad, because I was the one who used to say, “We don’t play no stinking ballads.” [laughs] But we got a request to do “Third Time Lucky,” and it worked out really well. Charlie Huhn, our singer, has a great voice – great guitar player, as well. In my opinion, he does justice to all the songs.

His voice is like a cross between Dave’s and Steve Marriott’s.

Actually, when he joined the band it sounded like Foghat and Humble Pie had joined forces. In fact, we used to tour a lot with Humble Pie, and Dave and I, especially, became real good friends with Stevie. We’d hang out as often as we could with him. He was special, he really was. Stevie Marriott was absolutely brilliant. I’ll tell you a quick story about him. In the early days when Foghat first came over, it was early ’72 I think, and we were doing a lot of dates supporting Humble Pie and/or the J. Geils Band, but I remember this particular one. For some reason – I think it was either Humble Pie’s crew or somebody – they were giving us a hard time about the use of lights and PA, “You can’t have this. You can’t have that.” It was just getting to be a problem, you know, we don’t ever do that to people, no matter who the opening act is. We have our stuff, and it’s like, “Go ahead and have this board and do whatever you’re gonna do.” Anyway we’re having a hard time, I think it was somebody on the crew. Stevie Marriott comes out and says, “Give ****ing Foghat anything they ****ing want and stop ****ing with ****ing Foghat. All right?” [laughs] He’s only about 5-feet tall, but he’s a very powerful personality. I love Stevie. Stevie was special.
 

Groovy Man

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Re: Official Foghat Thread

How would you describe the early ’80′s version of Foghat? You started making records that sounded more like Nick Lowe. The production was very dry.

I’m gonna blame Dave for that. [laughs] Dave was a big Nick Lowe fan, actually, as was I. You know sometimes music is all about… we had free reign and our own studio for a number of years, as well, right here on Long Island. So we had a chance to… Dave would say, “Let’s play this. Let’s try that.” Some of it was successful, but music’s all about taking chances anyway instead of staying in something you think is safe. I don’t know whether that was such a brilliant career move, but it was what we did. In fact, I thought the Tight Shoes album was a particularly good record. There were some good songs on there.

I want to comment on the first live album. That has an iconic cover, with the cut-out letters and pictures of each band member in the letters. It was also one of the records that made me want to be a drummer. I remember buying that when I was 10 and opening that up and seeing you in your sunglasses and long hair. And there’s one picture – I didn’t understand what was going on the time – but you’re in a hotel, getting dressed beside some woman, and I’m thinking, “Life must be pretty good for that guy.”

[laughs] Yeah, life was good. Life was very good. [laughs] We were having a lot of fun then, and we still do. I still really enjoy playing; I love what I do. I’m one of the fortunate few that get to earn a living doing something I really, really enjoy. And the guys in the band are terrific people. They’re all great players, as you could probably hear on Live II – they can all really play.

You know it’s difficult after you lose somebody of Dave’s caliber and Rod’s ability, especially his ability to play slide guitar. Actually, he and Bryan played together for a number of years with Dave’s band, so it wasn’t like Bryan didn’t know Rod and vice versa. Rod just didn’t like going on the road – that was the reason he left the band in the first place and the second time. I think myself and Dave loved being out on the road; it was a struggle for Rod to sort of enjoy himself out there. I think he was happier just playing blues or teaching, which is what he eventually ended up doing. And I think during the last few years of his life he was happy with that.

He was one of the few guys in rock that consistently played slide guitar throughout his career. There weren’t a lot of bands out there that had such a slide presence.

The Allman Brothers and maybe a few others, but yeah, Rod took it to another level. It was his instrument of choice, playing slide, which he picked up, of course, from all the early blues records. He was a big blues fan, and then he put his own stamp on it.

I’ve always thought his solo on “Stone Blue” is one of the great guitar solos of all time. Did you guys feel like he nailed that one, when he recorded it?

Yeah. He was spectacular. In fact, that was a difficult record to do, but not for any other reason than that the producer was pretty weird. Playing with the band was good fun. We had this huge mansion out on Long Island – the Woolworth mansion – and there was a big music room in there, with a big pipe organ. We set the drums up in there, and again we had a big room so there’s some pretty cool drum sounds on there. I think I used my old Slingerland Radio King kit from the ’40s on that, which was interesting. I like recording.

Like I said, we have a house down in Florida now, and we’re gonna start recording next winter – next January, February, March – start recording our next studio album, after we finish the blues record. We’ve got nine songs already, and we just want to do two more.

The reason I got into this in the beginning was to be creative, to make music. I’m just fortunate that I earn a decent living at it.

It’s a pretty good life.

Yeah. I know that. And I get to fish, as well. [laughs]
 

METALPRIEST

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Re: Official Foghat Thread

Great thread!! I always liked this album!!

Has one of my favorite heavier tunes by them!! :oy:

Sweet Home Chicago

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Rocker440

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Re: Official Foghat Thread

Awesome thread, eberg! :grinthumb

I'm also along time Foghat fan! Although I began listening to Lonesome Dave when he was in Savoy Brown, I quickly became a dedicated fan with the first Foghat album that I heard when it was first released.
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Lonesome Dave was a terrific singer/songwriter, imo! I believe he really developed into a fantastic singer, performer with his presence in Foghat!



Imo, Rod Price was an extremely talented, skilled and exceptional guitarist. Although some people may be more aware of his slide playing, he was also a great lead guitarist, too.



They both are sorely missed!
 

Rocker440

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Re: Official Foghat Thread

Rock & Roll, Stone Blue, and Live are all fantastic, imo! I greatly admire the blues styles, influences and exceptional efforts of the entire band, and even more so with their live performances!






 

Slip'nn2Darkness

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Re: Official Foghat Thread

I'm not a crazy about the stuff they did like Fool for the city as Groovy man is.. I only own one album by them and pretty much most of the songs whup butt on all that later stuff they did..:heheh:
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LG

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Re: Official Foghat Thread

I used to have "Stone Blue" on Blue vinyl when it was released but something just never clicked for me with Foghat...:hm:

I do have a copy of their Live album which Groovy rates so highly and Fool for the City as well, but I haven't played either of them yet.
 

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