"In the spring of 1983, four friends started to rehearse on the attic of an old Amsterdam canal house. They played as fast and loud as they possibly could. This was not unnoticed by the neighborhood. Especially by their direct neighbors. Soon this foursome came up with a name for their band. The guitarist thought that they made music rugged like a Scottish Bull. This particular type of bull was called ANGUS. A part from that, ANGUS was the first name of one of his favorite guitar players, Angus Young of AC/DC. Although the ANGUS songs were quite different from the famous AC/DC sound. Anyway, ANGUS was born into this world. The names of the four band members were:

Typical of Dutch Heavy Metal in those days was the combination of speed and melody. Because bass player Gerard was formally trained as a classical violinist (!) and drummer William studied music at the Amsterdam conservatory, the initial ANGUS sound was based on classical music structures. From that moment the specific ANGUS sound developed, unlike the mean stream sound of most other Dutch Metal bands. The combination of up tempo metal guitar riffs, classic etudes and fast double bass action proved to be very interesting listening material for Metal fans. Because of that, ANGUS was one of a kind in the Dutch Metal scene.
After a few months, ANGUS released their first 4-track demo tape and got some gigs in the Amsterdam region. Drummer William started the ANGUS Agency and acted besides drummer as manager. This proved to be a good combination as well. ANGUS went on their first tour throughout Holland in 1984. This was not unnoticed by the press. ANGUS got several interviews and articles in the Dutch news media. The audience was warmed up for the first ANGUS release on vinyl.

ANGUS recorded two songs for the compilation album ‘The Heavy Touch’ in the summer of 1985. Together with five other promising Dutch Metal bands ‘The Heavy Touch’ went on tour throughout Holland. ‘Lonesome Fighter’ (a composition of bass player Gerard) was one of the best songs of ‘The Heavy Touch’. The release of the compilation album was considered a success, due to record sales and a lot of media attention. In the mean time, Ed Sprey had left the band for personal reasons and was replaced by Bert Foxx. For the two ‘Heavy Touch’ songs, ANGUS made use of an additional guitar player called Jack Winder for a heavier guitar sound. The live performances on the promo tour were massive, loud and hit the audience like a huge wall of bricks. After the tour, Jack went his own way.
ANGUS after release of "Track Of Doom" LP
At this time ANGUS was ready to release their first album. Megaton Records, the HM label of Boudisque Records, signed ANGUS soon after the ‘Heavy Touch’ project ended. In the summer of 1986 ‘Track of doom’ was released. This debut album was produced by the four band members their selves and was full with excellent speed metal, which despite a low budget, did sound very good. Holland was shaking on his boots when ‘Track of doom’ hit the national radio stations and TV channels. With songs from this album, ANGUS made it into the Polish metal top 20. Bear in mind that Poland at that time was still a socialist country behind the iron curtain! A new Dutch tour was set and due to promising record sales and positive feedback from fans and media, the album was released at the beginning of 1987 in the USA through Restless/ Enigma Records. The label responsible for the success of bands like Poison and Stryper.

To cover the period between ‘Track of doom’ and the new album, ANGUS came up with an extraordinary idea. Drummer William and guitar player Bert rebuilt Madonna’s ‘Papa don’t preach’ to a hard rock cut and renamed it ‘Papa don’t freak (when mama sleeps with another man)’. Producer Michiel Kleiss went into the studio with ANGUS and the whole idea was converted to a twelve-inch production, complete with a seven-inch version, a long version and an extended freaky guitar dub. To give the whole project an even further ‘Madonna touch’ a cover was chosen of the band members in women’s baby dolls, high heals and body stockings in front of a peep show in the Amsterdam red light district! Again, ANGUS did things that were quite unusual for their music genre. However, the press and the media loved it. At last, a metal band with taste, was their comment. ANGUS invented a completely new genre of metal called ‘Sexmetal’ with the release of ‘Papa don’t freak’. The cover of ‘Papa don’t freak’ was chosen as ‘the most resentful cover of the decade’ by a famous Dutch magazine called the Hitweek. ANGUS and Megaton Records considered this honor a huge compliment.

In the summer of 1987 ANGUS went into the studio with the British producer John Tilly and came upwith the second ANGUS album called ‘Warrior of the world’. This album was made with the latest studio and computer techniques. Bass player Gerard sadly had to leave the band because of medical problems. Studio bass player Andre Versluys did the bass lines on the recordings of ‘Warrior of the World’ and Mike Shults played the bass at live performances. With this album ANGUS got right into the premier league of Dutch Heavy metal. Although ‘Track of doom’ was considered speed metal, ‘Warrior of the world’ was pure melodic heavy metal. ‘Warrior of the world’ was chosen the best heavy release of the year by Music Maker magazine. In addition, many other magazines regarded this album a remarkable leap ahead for ANGUS and Dutch metal in general. Again a Dutch tour was set, but ANGUS disintegrated in 1988 after William Lawson left the band because of personal differences with the management of Megaton Records. Strangely, the next year Megaton/Boudisque Records went bankrupt!
William LAWSON
In the year 1999 Denis Gulbey of Sentinel Steel Records got in contact with William Lawson via Stefan van Zijl of the Dutch Heavy Metal Maniacs. (The HM Maniacs compile songs from Dutch Metal bands on limited edition CD’s.) Denis’s interest in ANGUS got drummer William’s old Metal heart pumping again. Denis and William tried to find old ANGUS material. After a while, the master tape of ‘Track of doom’ was found in the vault of CBS records in Los Angeles. The unmixed reels of ‘Warrior of the world’ were found in the archives of the Dutch Siesta sound studios. These analog reels were converted to digital tapes and were remixed and mastered in the Trax East studios in New Jersey. By that time, Denis Gulbey had signed ANGUS for the releases of both ‘Track of doom’ and ‘Warrior of the world’ on one Sentinel Steel production. Plans are made for the future to create new ANGUS songs for a brand-new CD. The old gang is back together again, rehearsing on the attic of the seem old canal house as 17 years ago. Thanks to Denis and to all the fans around the world"

William Lawson, July 2000.
In the April of 2001, Jay CEE (from DEVILS ROPE band) became the new ANGUS' vocalist. Please read William's announcement:

"Jay CEE became aware of Metal music at the age of 15. His favorite metal heroes were the likes of Kiss, Y&T, Metallica and many others. Jay Cee wanted to be the best guitarist around and soon bought his first guitar. After playing the skin of his fingers, he was recruited as a guitarist by a local band called HURRICANE. Ambitious as Jay CEE was, he soon found out that he wanted more out of his musical career than his fellow band members. Jay CEE started to write his own material and discovered that he had a natural talent for singing and songwriting besides playing the guitar. He quit HURRICANE and became the vocalist in a bluesrockband called KINKY BOOTS for more than 5 years. At this stage, Jay CEE became an experienced songwriter/ singer/ guitarist. Due to the fact that he lost his heart to Heavy Metal, Jay CEE decided to became a roadie (!!) for a local Dutch Metal band. Pretty soon this 'roadie' and the guitarist of this Metal band decided to start a band of their own, called DEVILS ROPE. After a period of 7 years Jay CEE was asked to become the new front man and singer of the 'ANGUS line up 2001'. Drummer William LAWSON and guitarist Bert FOXX noticed the talent of Jay CEEE when DEVILS ROPE contributed a song to the 'Heavy Metal Maniacs' compilation CD part 1 in 1999. Let me tell you one thing: Jay CEE is the right man for the job..."

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20010502110831/http://truemetal.org/angus/