The Skinny On... Savage Mansion's Craig Angus

What’s your favourite place to visit?
One of the last things we did before lockdown was play Monkey Week festival in Seville with Sweaty Palms and Lylo. It was late November but we were cutting about in T-shirts, on the beers in wine glasses and the bits of tapas. Jamie [Dubber, bass] and I went to a Real Betis game before the show. One of the best times of my life, that weekend. I love Glasgow but the older I get, the more I find the cold and darkness depressing. Anywhere warm will do. Get that Vitamin D.

What’s your favourite colour?
Horses for courses, whatever the situation requires, no favourites. I wear a lot of black but that’s not a colour is it? And I wouldn’t paint the gaff black.

Who was your hero growing up?
I never really had one. My interests were constantly changing. I had family members I looked up to – that’s probably the closest thing.

Whose work inspires you now?
Over the last few years I’ve been impressed by how much great stuff Tim Heidecker is involved in, whether comedy, podcasting, music, traditional TV stuff – I think, in particular, the On Cinema universe is genius. He just seems to really will things into existence, which I appreciate. I’d like to be more like that. 

What’s your favourite meal to cook at home?
If you’re coming round for a special occasion we’re having tacos, washed down with a few ice cold beers and tequila cocktails. Day to day I make a lot of chilli, because it’s easy, delicious, nutritious and leaves little in the way of dishes. Or curry. I love my grub.

What three people would you invite to a dinner party?
Isaac Newton, William Shakespeare, Kenny Dalglish.

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen?
A few years ago we were trying to get into The Double; as usual I’d been fannying about and was late and inevitably it sold out. We got tickets for Noah instead, with Russell Crowe kitted out like he’d just been through River Island. We lasted 20 minutes, maybe less. Harsh, but the only film I’ve ever walked out of.

What’s your favourite album?
I don’t have one. It’s hard to even narrow it down to ten. Maybe the album that’s had the most profound effect on me is Wowee Zowee by Pavement. I bought that on a day trip to Glasgow when I was 15 and listened to it the whole bus journey home, wide-eyed, amazed.

What are you listening to right now?
Andrew [Macpherson, guiitar] has put me onto Sly and The Family Stone's Fresh. It’s amazing, so tight and so loose. I had slept on their albums a bit, but I loved Summer of Soul and I’ve been on a big Sly and Nina Simone kick since watching it.

How have you stayed inspired since the beginning of the pandemic?
Quite easily, and I feel lucky to say that because I know people with way more talent who struggled to create. With the new Savage Mansion record, lyrically anyway, it was less about personal experience and more about something imagined, so it was quite easy to view the act of making as an escape, easy to want to work on stuff.

Since we slowed down and stopped I’ve been enjoying balancing a few creative projects without really being that arsed about whether anyone hears it or likes it, whether it ‘does well’. I worked on some solo music (the Angus Johnson stuff I did with Jamie Scott), started a new band with Martha Ffion and former members of Secret Motorbikes and Catholic Action.

Beyond that I tried to read a lot, the extended band family started a weekly film club, I got really obsessed with Red Dead Redemption 2 for a while. I'd sometimes load it up just to have a virtual bath, a few beers down the saloon, maybe start a bit of trouble. Don’t get me wrong, it was a bad time. I had a few meltdowns, I was depressed for a long stretch, had to get help.

What book would you read if you had to self-isolate?
Monument Maker. I love David Keenan’s work and his last three books were excellent but I’m just not finding the time, or concentration, to read that I used to. I’ll probably try and read it on tour when I’m not driving, but it's an absolute tome – so no promises.

Who’s the worst?
Flag shagging grifters of any kind, let's not waste words or energy on them.

When did you last cry?
When Beldina [Heir of the Cursed] died. She’s such a big loss.

What are you most scared of?
I’m constantly afraid of bad things happening to people I love. 

When did you last vomit?
Johnny Lynch [Pictish Trail] invited us over to the Isle of Eigg for his 40th and I kicked the arse out of it for a few days, before entering into a pit of despair. Along the way I was sick in about a dozen different locations, each more picturesque than the last.

Tell us a secret?
Last week we had to bin some soup because I started heating it up a couple of hours after shaving, didn’t change my jumper, got loads of wee bits of hair in it. Just had to throw it out.

Which celebrity could you take in a fight?
Surely we’re above violence, The Skinny? Piers Morgan would be a funny guy to batter though, and I would.

If you could be reincarnated as an animal which animal would it be?
The spectacled bear – real wise looking but not about to be fucked with.

Who would your fantasy festival lineup include?
A wild question that invites an endless stream of hypotheticals. We don’t have all day so in the interest of brevity let’s just say it would be cool to have peak Talking Heads topping the bill at the festival of Savage Mansion. The best bits of Live in Rome and Stop Making Sense.

If you could collaborate with anybody, who would it be?
I loved Licorice Pizza, so as long as we’re still living in dreamland, fresh from that joyous experience, I’d like Paul Thomas Anderson to do a music video for the lead single from our next record.

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Golden Mountain, Here I Come is released on 25 Feb via Lost Map Records
Savage Mansion tour the UK in support of Pictish Trail this spring with dates including Summerhall, Edinburgh, 7 Apr; Beat Generator Live!, Dundee, 8 Apr; The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, 9 Apr; The Tolbooth, Stirling, 10 Apr; they also headline Stereo, Glasgow, 15 Apr

savagemansion.bandcamp.com