"We played Pittsburg on the last tour and broke Led Zeppelin's record," boasted Lonesome Dave Peverett of Foghat., currently one of the hottest concert attractions in the country. "It was a real rush. They did 14,500 and we did about 17,800."

Peverett, Foghat's lead vocalist and lead guitarist, talked to Circus during the band's first vacation from road work since last September. It is that kind of constant, steady touring, spurred by Foghat's third gold album, 'Fool For The City,' and their first bona fide hit single, "Slow Ride," which has vaulted Foghat into the heavyweight ranks among house-packers.

"We are a road band," emphasizes slide guitarist Rod Price. "We love playing live. That's where it's at for us. The bad things, like a bad hotel, you put up with because you're doing what you want to do."

"That's the way we got our following," adds Peverett, "through playing a lot of different places. It gets better every time we go back to those places."

The mushrooming Foghat audience began growing in 1972, when Peverett, drummer Roger Earl, and since-departed bassist Tony Stevens quit the original Savoy Brown band, drafted slide guitarist Rod Price, and became Foghat. Building on an audience of Savoy loyalists, the band toured America incessantly their first two years together. Their hard work was rewarded with a gold album for their third LP, 'Energized.'

This year, Foghat's debut disc, 'Foghat,' and their latest, 'Fool For The City,' struck gold also. Peverett credits their single, "Slow Ride," with adding chart life to their LP and a new crop of rockers to their audience. "And since the single," says Price, "the people are getting younger."

Peverett is also convinced that television exposure has helped expand Foghat's following, putting their raunchy rock before a segment of the rock population that otherwise might not have heard the band until "Slow Ride" invaded the AM airwaves.

TV is changing the rock audience, Peverett thinks. "People seem to be getting into rock music younger now. Before, at 13, people were into the Osmonds or something. Now they're getting into rock, which is a good thing. Get 'em while they're young."

--- Circus Magazine