Foghat

All Music Guide:

Foghat specialized in a simple, hard-rocking blues-rock, releasing a series of best-selling albums in the mid-'70s. While the group never deviated from their basic boogie, they retained a large audience until 1978, selling out concerts across America and earning several gold or platinum albums. Once punk and disco came along, the band's audience dipped dramatically.

With its straight-ahead, three-chord romps, the band's sound was American in origin, yet the members were all natives of England. Guitarist/vocalist "Lonesome" Dave Peverett, bassist Tony Stevens, and drummer Roger Earl were members of the British blues band Savoy Brown, who all left the group in the early '70s. Upon their departure, they formed Foghat with guitarist Rod Price. Foghat moved to the United States, signing a record contract with Bearsville Records, a new label run by Albert Grossman. Their first album, Foghat, was released in the summer of 1972 and it became an album rock hit; a cover of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You" even made it to the lower regions of the singles charts. For their next album, the group didn't change their formula at all -- in fact, they didn't even change the title of the album. Like the first record, the second was called Foghat; it was distinguished by a picture of a rock and a roll on the front cover. Foghat's second album was their first gold record, and it established them as a popular arena rock act. Their next six albums -- Energized (1974), Rock and Roll Outlaws (1974), Fool for the City (1975), Night Shift (1976), Foghat Live (1977), Stone Blue (1978) -- all were best-sellers and all went at least gold. "Slow Ride," taken from Fool for the City, was their biggest single, peaking at number 20. Foghat Live was their biggest album, selling over two million copies. After 1975, the band went through a series of bass players; Price left the band in 1981 and was replaced by Erik Cartwright.

In the early '80s, Foghat's commercial fortunes declined rapidly, with their last album, 1983's Zig-Zag Walk, barely making the album charts. The group broke up shortly afterward with Peverett retiring from the road. The remaining members of the band (Roger Earl, Erik Cartwright and Craig MacGregor) continued playing together as the Kneetremblers and after some line-up changes decided to revert to the Foghat name. The band toured throughout the decade and into the early 1990's. Perhaps growing tired of early retirement, Lonesome Dave formed his own version of Foghat in 1990 and hit the road. After healing their rift, the original Foghat (Peverett,Price, Stevens and Earl) reformed in 1993 and toured for years, releasing Return of the Boogie Men in 1994 and Road Cases in 1998. The original band broke apart for good with Peverett's passing due to cancer on February 7, 2000. After some time spent mourning, the band soldiered on with a new line-up (adding Charlie Huhn on vocals) and after two years of touring released Family Joules in 2002. Foghat toured for the next few years and regularly issued documents of their live act: The Official Bootleg DVD, Volume 1 in 2004 and Foghat Live II in 2007.

Wikipedia:

Foghat are a British rock band that had their peak success in the mid- to late-1970s. Their style can be described as "blues-rock", or boogie-rock, dominated by electric and electric slide guitar. The band has achieved 8 gold records, one platinum and one double platinum records. The group remained popular during the disco era, but their popularity waned in the early 1980s.

History

The band initially featured Dave Peverett ("Lonesome Dave") on guitar and vocals, Tony Stevens on bass, and Roger Earl on drums. The trio did not use the name "Foghat".

1970s

Rod Price on guitar/slide guitar joined after he left Savoy Brown in December 1970. The new lineup was named "Foghat" in January 1971. Their 1972 album, Foghat was produced by Dave Edmunds and had a cover of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You", which received much airplay, especially on FM stations. The band's second self-titled album was also known as Rock and Roll for its cover photo of a rock and a bread roll, and it went gold. Energized came out in 1974, followed by Rock and Roll Outlaws and Fool for the City in 1975, the year that Stevens left the band after objecting to their endless touring schedule. Stevens was replaced temporarily by producer Nick Jameson in 1975 when the band recorded Fool for the City. In the next year, he was replaced by Craig MacGregor and the group produced Night Shift in 1976, a live album in 1977, and Stone Blue in 1978, each reaching "gold" record sales. Fool for the City spawned the hit single "Slow Ride" (which reached number 20 on the US charts), but the greatest sales figures were for Foghat Live, which sold over 2,000,000 copies. More hits followed: "Drivin' Wheel"; "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (from the live album); "Stone Blue"; and "Third Time Lucky (The First Time I Was a Fool)". But Rod Price, unhappy with the group's still constant touring and the shift away from their hard boogie sound towards a more New Wave influenced Pop direction, left the band in November 1980. After months of auditions he was replaced by Erik Cartwright by February 1981.

1980s

After 1978, Foghat record sales began to slip, and their last album for the Bearsville label, Zig-Zag Walk in 1983, only briefly touched the charts at #192. MacGregor quit in 1982 and Nick Jameson returned to play on In the Mood For Something Rude and Zig Zag Walk before turning things over to Kenny Aaronson (1983) and then Rob Alter (1983–1984). MacGregor returned in 1984.

After Dave Peverett left in 1984 and went back to England, the group disbanded briefly. But Earl, along with MacGregor and Cartwright, reformed with a new singer/guitarist Eric (E. J.) Burgeson and continued touring as Foghat into the early 1990s. MacGregor (1986–1987, 1991), Eric's brother Brett Cartwright (1987, 1988–1989, 1992), and Jeff Howell (1987–1988, 1989–1991, 1992) alternated on bass during that time. In addition, Phil Nudelman (1989–1990) and then Billy Davis (1990–1993) took over from Burgeson. Dave Crigger joined on bass in 1992-1993.

1990s

Lonesome Dave himself had returned to the U.S. by 1990 and formed his own Lonesome Dave's Foghat that featured Bryan Bassett (ex Wild Cherry), Stephen Dees (bass), and Eddie Zyne (drums). Dees and Zyne had played with Hall & Oates, among others. Former Molly Hatchet bassist Riff West succeeded Dees in 1991 and Rod Price even did the odd guest appearance.

In 1993, at the urging of producer Rick Rubin, the original line-up reunited. Although Rubin ultimately proved to be unavailable to produce their comeback project, the group went ahead anyway and released a studio album entitled Return of the Boogie Men in 1994 and a live album entitled Road Cases in 1998. The final album of the decade, King Biscuit Flower Hour from the syndicated radio show of the same name, was released in May 1999, and consisted of live recordings from 1974 and 1976.

After being back together six years, the original line-up once again ended after Price decided to retire from touring for good. Bryan Bassett (who had been playing with Molly Hatchet in the interim) was brought back on guitar.

2000s

The 2000s saw the deaths of founding members Dave Peverett and Rod Price. Peverett died on 7 February 2000 from complications from kidney cancer at the age of 56, and Rod Price died on 22 March 2005 at the age of 57 of a fall resulting from a heart attack.

The 2010 version of Foghat consisted of Roger Earl, Craig MacGregor, Charlie Huhn, and Bryan Bassett. At a concert during the Summer of 2010, former Rainbow drummer Bobby Rondinelli had temporarily replaced Roger Earl while Roger was recovering from surgery. At another Foghat concert during the Summer of 2010, after Roger Earl returned to the band, bassist Jeff Howell had temporarily replaced Craig MacGregor because of an illness. As of 2011, bassist Craig MacGregor has returned.

Personnel