Angelus came to Hollywood and applied for a job at The Whisky a GoGo as a lighting designer but the position was filled at the time. The secretary DeeDee Keel was impressed by his enthusiasm and offered him a job as a door man until the opportunity for lighting became available. Not long after Van Halen was so impressed with his work they asked him to go tour with them. He became known in the management when he designed and directed a light show for Van Halen in 1980, for their first world tour as a headline act, requiring 7 tractor-trailers for the lights. In addition to light and stage design, Angelus forayed into art direction for the band, influencing Van Halen's logo and early album covers, as well as designing much of the band's merchandise from 1979 to their breakup with Roth in 1985. Angelus became such a creative influence the members of the band,
Eddie Van Halen,
Alex Van Halen,
David Lee Roth, and
Michael Anthony referred to him as "the fifth member of Van Halen." Many of David Lee Roth's quips came from the tongue of Angelus (Note the opening of California Girls: "Thank Heaven for Little Girls,
Maurice Chevalier, 1958" "And some of the other sizes, too Pete and Dave, 1985"). Roth, with whom Angelus had a falling out after managing his solo career for six years, did not acknowledge Angelus' work and partnership in his memoir. As MTV became popular, his interest turned to video production, and he went on to direct some of the most well-known and most-played music videos of all time. Five times, the videos he directed were nominated for MTV "Video of the Year" status. Angelus was interviewed at length about the making of the classic Van Halen and David Lee Roth videos in the 2011 book,
MTV Ruled the World: The Early Years of Music Video, by Greg Prato. ==Music videos==