Angus

• Genres: Rock

Biography

The Netherlands' Angus was an obscure heavy metal band of the 1980s. Claiming the name was inspired as much by their favorite guitar player, AC/DC's Angus Young, as by their favorite breed of Scottish bull (they claimed that the animal's rugged disposition typified their sound), vocalist Edgar Lois, guitarist Ed Sprey, bassist Gerard Carol, and drummer William Lawson first began tormenting neighbors in their native Amsterdam circa 1983. Typical of most Dutch heavy metal at the time, the band's raw, energetic style was indebted as much by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal as the older regime of the 1970s...and, yes, a little AC/DC as well.

Although this confluence of elements hardly helped them stand out from the pack, by 1985 Angus had begun shopping a four-track demo to record labels, gigged across Holland, and contributed a few tracks to a regional metal compilation entitled The Heavy Touch. These songs had been recorded with two new guitar players, namely Bert Foxx and Jack Winder, but only Foxx was retained for the sessions that yielded Angus' 1986 debut album, Track of Doom. Released by independent Megaton Records, the LP fared quite well in a few European countries (particularly Poland), but was only given a modest U.S. release the following year.

In the meantime, Angus had pulled a bizarre (some would say career-destroying) stunt with the release of their Papa Don't Freak maxi-single, which paired a dubious thrashing of Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach" with an unsightly picture of the boys in drag. Well, most of the boys, since founding bassist Gerard Carol had already decided to cash in his chips by then, only to be replaced by Mike Shults -- though it was session player Andre Versluys who performed on Angus' sophomore album, 1987's Warrior of the World. Said album was something of a disappointment, failing to attract any new fans while alienating many old ones with its over-commercialized production sheen.

The domino theory continued from there, as setback after setback -- drummer Lawson quit, Megaton went bankrupt, etc. -- quickly brought Angus' short but colorful run to a screeching halt. That is, until 2001, when the inclusion of the song "Track of Doom" in a Dutch metal collection precipitated the belated re-release of Angus' two albums on one compact disc, as well as a new demos and outtakes collection entitled Metal Warriors, and even a few reunion shows now and then. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi