Music career In 1967, Aart Mol met Geertjan Hessing at his home in the Warmonderweg in
Oegstgeest,
Leiden, who wanted to play the drums and also knew a singer, Theo van Es. The three were joined by guitarist Erwin van Prehn, and formed the rock band Axis Purple, which, according to Hessing, "motivated [them] to become professionals". They performed at venues including Leyton, Het Volkshuis and Zaal Mekel. After Axis Purple ended, the members met ex-
Golden Earring drummer
Jaap Eggermont, and performed as Chamberlain in the 1970s. In June 1973, during a holiday in the Spanish resort of
Lloret de Mar, Hessing, Van Prehn, Mol and Cees Bergman decided to form a band. As with the former three, Bergman was a veteran of the Leiden/
Katwijk rock scene, but their previous other groups, such as Axis Purple (Leiden) and Oriental Garden (Katwijk), had achieved little success up to that time. During their stay, they drew up plans for their band and started taking their work seriously. Various holiday girlfriends, having heard of their plans, gave them many words of encouragement. Upon returning home, they immediately quit jobs and dropped out of school to concentrate on their work. The band was advised by Eggermont to start playing glam rock, a popular genre of music at the time. Assisted by their manager Aad van Delft, the band chose 1 September 1973 as their official starting date. Later that month, keyboard player Michael Eschauzier joined them. The band's name was suggested by Golden Earring vocalist
Barry Hay. In an episode of
Toppop Yeah, Bergman revealed the amount of effort it took to get his long bleached haircut for the band. On 23 November 1973, the band played their first gig supporting Golden Earring in the
Maassluis Sport Hall. After that, they worked on their first single, "Hit The Big Time", produced by Eggermont and recorded at Phonogram Studio in
Hilversum in December 1973. The single was a raunchy, catchy and energetic song about their stay in Spain. Released in February 1974, it reached No. 16 on the
Dutch Singles Chart. On 23 December 1979, Catapult gave their farewell gig in the "Feest Paleis" in Beervelde.
Patricia Paay, Liberation of Man, The Internationals,
The Surfers, Rita Hovink, and
Snoopy. Joanne Daniëls, hip hop groups Comfort & Joy and Party Freaks, and
Eurobeat quartet Twiggy Bop.
Compilation releases In 1996, Pseudonym released a compilation album of Catapult's singles,
The Single Collection. The album also contained three bonus tracks,
progressive rock-style "Accident" and "Midsummer Switch", and "White Christmas", which was recorded but went unreleased. In 1999, Rotation released the compilation album
Let Your Hair Hang Down, named after Catapult's single of the same name. "Hit The Big Time", "Let Your Hair Hang Down" and "Teeny Bopper Band" were included in the compilation album
Cat Nuggets, released by Red Bullet. In 2008, Cat Music released
Catapult Complete Collection, Volume 1 and
Catapult Complete Collection, Volume 2 on
Spotify and
Apple Music. In 2020, "Hit The Big Time", "Let It Be True", "Let Your Hair Hang Down", "Performers Prayer", "Teeny Bopper Band", "Nightrake", "Seven Eleven", "Springtime Ballyhoo", "The Stealer", "Back On The Road Again", "Remember September", "See You Back In '86", "Here We Go", "Run For My Wife", "Disco Njet Wodka Da", "Didn't Sleep A Week Last Night", "Spanish Eyes", "The Highways And The By-Ways", "Schoolgirl", "Woman", "Accident", "Midsummer Switch" and "You Better Stay" (from Picture's
Every Story Needs Another Picture) were released as part of the compilation album
The Golden Years Of Dutch Pop Music by
Universal.
Personal lives In July 2017, Bergman was diagnosed with
pancreatic cancer. He died at the age of 65 in his hometown of
Leimuiden two months later on 21 September 2017. Van Prehn (born 1950) would pass away the following year in 2018 at the age of 68. Veerhoff currently works as a
computer scientist. ==Discography==