Angus Newton is a resident musician in Le Privilège bar in the world famous French resort of Chamonix. Things have been quite different for him this year. Covid has made it a year of uncertainty and a year of change.
When Skier & Snowboarder magazine fashion editor Clare Meaney began to organise an online party for her birthday, she thought with her friends missing out on skiing and snowboarding this season, a nice touch would be to have a bit of après ski fun. So she asked Angus to ‘Zoom’ in to provide the entertainment.
Her 40 guests included those who go to Chamonix year after year just to see Angus perform and to get their fix of belting out classic sing-a-longs such as Sweet Caroline. Therefore, Clare decided if you can’t get to Chamonix, then get Chamonix to come to you.
Thanks to Angus the party was a great success and afterwards Clare chatted to the British born musician about life during lockdown and his views of the future of après ski.
When did you first travel to France?
It was in 1983 and I was 15. My parents decided to move to the Dordogne to get away from England for a while. I didn’t speak much French then and the first six months in the local French school were quite challenging.
How old were you when first learnt to play the guitar?
I started playing classical guitar when I was 20 but later started playing in a band in Paris. I didn’t take guitar lessons but had a good book by Russ Shipton. I even took a few singing lessons for a while with a female opera singer called Karen Acampora. She is from Boston and is quite well known in opera circles. The lessons helped me learn how to sing in tune when playing live – which now keeps the band I sometimes play with happy!
Do you make a living from music in Chamonix?
Yes, I’m a resident musician in the Privilège bar in Chamonix, doing après-ski six nights a week for four months in the winter season.
Do you have another career?
I also work as an IT manager with CPHT, a network of Hypnotherapy training schools in the UK, and as a WordPress web designer.
How did you end up in Chamonix?
In 2003 I was back living in the UK just for a change of scene, when I randomly applied to an ad in the NME magazine for a guitarist/singer to play in the Terrasse bar for the winter season in Chamonix. I sent off a CD, auditioned in my parents’ house, and was delighted to be offered the job. At the end of the season, having enjoyed the experience, I went down to Portugal and landed another job playing during the summer in Albufeira. As the 2004/05 winter season approached, I had planned to drive back to Paris. However just after Toulouse at the Paris/Lyon junction I swerved right on the motorway to check out my mates in Chamonix one last time. That’s when I got the gig in Le Privilège and never made it back to Paris.
What are your predictions for the future in a place like Chamonix under the current circumstances – particularly for people in your situation?
The pandemic has meant all the bars are closed which has caused quite a hit on the finances of musicians. I haven’t played in front of a live audience for almost a year. With all the bars, restaurants and skilifts closed – and Brexit – I imagine a few UK seasonaires will have already left Chamonix. We’ll have to see what next winter is like. Luckily, I have my work in IT to fall back on and I can do this online from where ever my home is.
Have you played in lots of different bars or is it just Le Privilege?
In the winter in Chamonix, I tend to stick to Le Privilège as all my kit is there, so I just roll up and play. In the summer I now do weddings and birthdays, some of them in the UK, play at half time at the Ice Hockey in Geneva, and up until the virus lockdown I was playing two months a year in Copenhagen bars.
Have you ever had any chart success in France?
They don’t really have ‘the charts’ in France anymore, but I’ve had a song ‘Je veux être une fille’ played on French TV. Plus, just recently my new band, Les Pangolins de Chamonix (The Chamonix Pangolins), had our new song ‘Le Coronavirus’ aired on French radio with a live early morning interview. There was quite a bit of media flutter as a result. You can check out the video on YouTube. The best is definitely yet to come!
Where did you learn to ski and how old were you?
I first skied in the Pyrenees in 1984 on a school trip when I was 16. In those days, the skis were a foot taller than I was! Then I never skied again until I arrived in Chamonix in 2003.
Where in Chamonix do you like to ski?
I prefer Le Tour because it’s always sunnier than the other stations and slightly less steep. I am lucky that spending a winter in Chamonix means I can choose when to ski. So, I tend to go when it’s sunny, when I don’t have a hangover, and I when I feel like it!
If you could change one thing about your career what would it be?
Mmmm… If I could be like Hugh Grant in ‘About a boy’, living off the proceeds of a song my father wrote, that would suit me.
www.angusnewton.co.ukCategories: News