Turn on any Classic Rock radio station—terrestrial, satellite or streaming—and you’re sure to hear something by Foghat. The UK-bred boogie blues band scored in the ’70s with hits like “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” “Drivin’ Wheel,” “Fool for the City,” “Stone Blue,” “Third Time Lucky (First Time I Was a Fool)” and of course signature tune “Slow Ride.”

Cut to 2023 and the band, which currently features original founding member Roger Earl (drums), along with Bryan Bassett (lead guitar), Rodney O’Quinn (bass) and brand-new member Scott Holt (lead vocals & guitar) is still on the road and still making new music in the studio. Foghat is about to release their 18th studio record, Sonic Mojo (Foghat Records).

“It’s in your DNA as an artist and a musician to continue being creative,” Earl says from the band’s rehearsal studio in DeLand, Florida. “That doesn’t just stop. And our fans are very tolerant of us with the [new material]. You carry on and you play. That’s what you do.”
The record features 12 tracks, evenly divided by originals (“Drivin’ On,” “She’s a Little Bit of Everything,” “Time Slips Away,” “I Don’t Appreciate You”) and covers (Willie Dixon’s “Let Me Love You Baby,” Howlin’ Wolf’s “How Many More Years,” B.B. King’s “She’s Dynamite” and even “Song for the Life” from “the Houston Kid,” Rodney Crowell).

Those first three originals were co-writes between the band and Kim Simmonds, co-founder of ‘60s-born British blues rock band Savoy Brown who—like Earl—the only member to appear on every album of their respective bands. The pair first met when Earl was hired for the drummer’s seat in Savoy Brown way back in 1967. It was an encounter and process he remembers to this day.

“I auditioned and didn’t get the job, but they called me back a month or two later to try again, and I did!” Earl says.
“I turned up at the Nag’s Head pub in Southwest London and played for well over two hours. I started packing up the drums and they said, ‘Where are you going?’ I told them I had a day job. I was a commercial artist. And they said ‘We’re playing in Birmingham. Tonight. Welcome to the band, Rog!’”

Earl further says that he and Simmonds never had a cross word or argued, even when he and lead singer/guitarist “Lonesome” Dave Peverett left Savoy Brown together to form Foghat in 1971 with another Savoy Brown alumni, bassist Tony Stevens, and lead guitarist Rod “The Bottle” Price.

And though Savoy Brown only had three charting singles in the U.S. (though none cracking the Top 60) with “I’m Tired,” “Tell Mama” and “Run to Me,” they were much more well-regarded in their native UK. And Earl says that leader Simmonds wasn’t even that upset when he lost his entire group.
“He was OK with it. He fired Tony for some reason—Tony was always getting fired! And the band was doing great, earning between $7,000 and $15,000 a night, and that was a lot!” Earl recalls (those numbers roughly $53,000 to $114,000 in 2023). “But we never got paid for albums, recordings, writing, or co-writing, so it was time for a change.”

Earl says a meeting with Simmonds and his brother Harry (the group’s manager) didn’t go as they wanted. At a second meeting with just Harry, the pair informed him that they were leaving the group but would stay as long as Kim wanted.

“Harry Simmonds blackballed us in England. And he said we’d never work in the U.S. again, but he didn’t have that clout,” Earl laughs. “It didn’t stop us. It wasn’t Kim that was doing that. And we [reconnected] in 1976 and remained friends.”
Simmonds had played on a previous Foghat record, 2016’s Under the Influence, and expressed an interest in writing some new material with the group, which he did.

Unfortunately, Simmonds died in December of 2022 from colon cancer at the age of 75. He had been ill for some time, so was not able to actually play on any of the Sonic Mojo material he’d had a hand in creating. The Houston Press spoke with him in 2017.

“It was very sad. I wasn’t able to visit him, still because of the COVID nightmare,” Earl says. “And there was a time I couldn’t even call him because they wouldn’t let any calls go through. I don’t know what that was about. Even his wife, Debbie, had a problem. But that’s another story. It’s always sad when you lose someone you’ve known pretty much all your life. He was a brilliant blues guitar player.”
Earl adds that Simmonds and Savoy Brown put out an album of original music “pretty much every year” for more than the past decade, and that example of new creativity also inspired Foghat with Sonic Mojo.

Of the covers on the album, many were selected simply from jams the band had, already familiar to members. But one of the originals—the Hank Williams’ name-invoking “Wish I’d Been There”—took the band in another direction.

Yes, it’s a country song by Foghat, written by all four members and Earl’s brother Colin, who was also a member of one hit wonders Mungo Jerry (“In the Summertime”).
“I’ve always been a Johnny Cash fan and I love country music. And we can all relate to Hank Williams,” he says. “America gave music to the world. This is the land of blues, jazz, country, gospel, folk and rock and roll. It’s a wonderful melting pot of these genres. And that’s one of the reasons that I love this country.”

And it’s been well documented how in the ‘50s and ‘60s young English teens went nuts for American music, put their own twist on it, and brought it back to these shores with bands ranging from the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Who to the Kinks, Cream and even Foghat.

Earl remembers seeing Chicago bluesman like Muddy Waters in his youth, and how he was treated like musical royalty in the UK, playing large venues Across the Pond while at the same time gracing tiny club stages here in his home country.
Sonic Mojo also marks the recorded debut of Scott Holt with the band as their new lead singer/guitarist. But it’s really more of a promotion.

As a hedge against any member of Foghat falling ill or for some reason not able to perform (and thus leaving the band not able to fulfill concert commitments and open to lawsuits and lost income), they agreed in 2014 that each member, including Earl, would have a “stand-in” player to step in when needed.

It worked for Earl when he accidentally fell off a stage in Oklahoma and injured his back, keeping him offstage for a dozen-plus shows (subbing was Bobby Rondinelli, who has worked with Blue Öyster Cult, Rainbow and Quiet Riot). Holt was the “stand-in” for lead vocalist/guitarist Charlie Huhn, who retired last year after more than two decades of service. Though Earl has no idea what he’s up to today.
“Charlie decided he was going to retire and gave us three days’ notice. We were about to start rehearsals and had just released a live record 8 Days on the Road, so it was kind of strange,” Earl, who also spoke to the Houston Press at the time of the release, says. He noted that Huhn had begun to have vocal and physical issues.

“It’s hard to say, ‘I can’t do this anymore’ or ‘It’s not fun anymore.’ So that’s what I put that down to. I haven’t heard from him since. He [quit] by sending an email to our managers saying he wouldn’t be at rehearsals. Which is kind of weird when you work with somebody for 20 years. I guess we all deal with these things in different ways. I bear him no ill will, and I hope he’s OK.”

As for the now 77-year-old Roger Earl, he has no plans to put down his sticks unless he is forced to. “I have a blast with this band. Foghat has always been about the four of us onstage, whatever the lineup was,” he says.

“Scott brings energy to the band, and he’s a ton of fun to play with. The other day we did a show in El Dorado, Arkansas. And afterwards we were backstage having a glass of wine and he said ‘Isn’t this great? We finish work and people stand up and clap and cheer. How many jobs do you get that at?’ And I think that sums it up rather succinctly!”

For more on Foghat, visit Foghat.com