Features

ANGUS GOUGH: Talisman

Calm, focused and confident in Southern California.

Words, photos and video by Robin Pearson
Music by Hollow Hand

At the beginning of this year I had the pleasure of joining Angus Gough on a trip to Southern California.

I had hung out with Angus a number of times here and there over the last few years but had only shot with him once, which was for a photo project a couple of years ago. So when he mentioned at the Reader Awards that he would be shortly heading to the USA, asking if I’d like to go with him to film an edit, I was pleasantly surprised. Fast forward a few weeks and I was driving around in the California sunshine, riding awesome spots every day and getting to know Angus much better – it was a damn good way to spend eight days in January.

Shooting with Angus is a treat. He’s one of those guys who figures out what he wants to do, tells you, then does it. Don’t get me wrong, some of the clips took some time but often it seemed like most of the hard work was done in Angus’ head before he told me what he wanted to film. Less trying things out, more thinking and deciding. Then, when I picked the camera up, he was totally ready to get the clip – calm, focused and confident. He’s like the opposite of loose. Sometimes quite introversive, usually very calculated, always consistent. On only a handful of occasions did he have to walk away from what he wanted (more on that below).

Filming the clips, shooting the photos, driving the Yaris, chatting the shit, riding the spots… It was all a pleasure. Many thanks to Haro, Profile, Connor Lodes and the Daves (Dan Coller and Jake Petruchik), Mike Jonas, Ryan Hoey, Dennis Enarson, The Green Rose, Pat Casey and Matt Cordova.

Thanks to Hollow Hand for the song, taken from Ancestral Lands.

See below for some of Angus’ reflections from the trip.

How did this trip come about? What was the plan?

“I had been planning to get away for a couple of months in the winter and decided it would be sick to go and visit Profile in Florida and then spend some time in San Diego, visit Haro and enjoy the weather!”

Tell us about the vibe of the trip while I was there. Did you like our tiny Yaris?

“The vibes were awesome! Staying at the Markit house was rad, everyone is so motivated to head out and ride spots/get clips. Haha, dude the Yaris was sick! We definitely had the smallest car in America.”

What was your favourite spot?

“Ocean Beach park was always a fun one! The loading dock spot was sick too, everything in San Diego is awesome, haha…”

Do you have a favourite clip?

“Probably the 360 can to table at Clairemont, I had wanted to film one of them properly for a while! It was the perfect box for it too.”

Were there any tricks you knew you wanted to film? Or were they just things you thought of when we got to each spot?

“I pretty much only had the 3 can to table planned, mostly I would just get the spot and think of what I’d like to try.”

Can you tell us any twists and turns while filming the edit?

“Nothing major! It was definitely tricky to get enough good footage in the time we had to film, stoked it all worked out though. Other than one clip that I tried a bunch and got kicked out before I could get it done – it was a wall ride to rail ride but the angles made it pretty tough to stay on the rail. Hopefully one day I’ll get back there and get it!”