PROFILE
DAVID ANGUS
By Megan Beam
A
s a child, David Angus and his
family crossed the North At-
lantic on the historic Empress
of Canada passenger ship from
Hartlepool in County Durham,
U.K., essentially trading the often
dark and dreary weather of Northeast England
for the chilling Canadian winters.
“They were looking for European-skilled
tradesmen here, so we made the big move,”
says Angus, referencing what informed his
father’s decision to relocate his family. “It was
a pretty big move when I realize how much
impact that would have had on him at his age.”
Since making that fateful trip at age 10,
Angus has been based in Cambridge, ON,
and it was shortly after landing in his new city
that Angus started strumming a six-string and
developing his taste for music.
Over the years, he graduated to playing
in several live bands in the area, but none
got that far off the ground. As he struggled
to find gigs with his band, he says it was a
very natural progression that led him to start
making money with the equipment they’d al-
ready invested in. That’s when Angus decided
to shift gears and see what it was like on the
technical side of the music world.
“I basically built my first sound system
myself, as most of the guys did at that time.
It was a very homegrown-type thing around
then – we’re talking late ‘70s now – so kind of
around the birth of high-power audio,” Angus
explains.
Once the nuts and bolts were in proper
order, Angus Audio became a reality. “I started
the business as a one-man operation – driving,
setting up, mixing, bringing it home, working
with local bar bands and things.”
The business has grown steadily since,
leading to Angus Audio becoming one of
the most reputable production providers in
Ontario’s Tri-Cities area.
Frequently collaborating with Maxwell’s
Concerts and Events in nearby Waterloo, ON,
Angus says he and his team have serviced
many A-list Canadian artists who’ve found
their way to the venue in recent years. The
company is also heavily involved with Drayton
Entertainment, one of Canada’s top theatre
companies, which has its premier theatre in
Cambridge.
Despite the company’s ongoing success,
Angus admits there was never a formal game
plan – or end plan – in place. Now coming
up on its 32 nd year of operations, Angus says
it’s been a slow ride for the company, but
considering they’re still afloat and prospering,
that’s a good thing.
“We see a lot of companies come and go,”
he says about a reality of this industry. “They
often grow really fast, and we’re wondering
how they’ve done it, but then soon they grow
unstable and disappear.”
Of course, Angus knows the challenges of
the business first-hand, having to keep pace
with – or ahead of – the competition, choos-
ing which products and services will provide
the highest return on investment, and keeping
the business in the black.
Embracing the good times and having
to endure the bad, Angus says constantly
working w