Catapult Looks to Launch a Night of Diversity into OC, LA, and Long Beach’s Music Scenes

“When’s the last time you saw something for the first time?” asks Donovan Brown. “This is going to be completely different than anything else you’ve ever seen before.”

Brown is referring to the new project he and his creative team are working on, a recurring night of music and art called Catapult. According to the musician, the warehouse events will be a slightly more geographically diverse version of LA’s darling of a series Low End Theory, with artists from Los Angeles, Long Beach and Orange County on every bill, with the intent to make them “an eclectic amalgamation of the aural and visual arts, with interactive installations, immersive sounds and electrifying live performances.

“We’re trying to incorporate a live art element into it,” Brown explains. “For the first one, there’s going to be an artist doing a full-sized mural during the event, and there are going to be other people doing artwork as well. We’ve been looking at cool ways to do art installations around the space because the people who own the warehouse do props for festivals like Coachella and stuff like that, so we may have these giant props lying around.”

As half of Long Beach’s soulful musical duo the Black Noise, Brown has had plenty of experience putting together his own shows, and the first “janky” predecessor to Catapult actually already went down in Fullerton. The event series was heavily inspired by the artist and organizer’s attendance at major genre-spanning festivals such as FYF. “My band mate and I realized that no one really knew each other,” Brown says. “You could play in a venue on a Tuesday, and the very next night, there could be a show with completely different fans who would never turn up for your show and vice versa. . . . We wanted to find a way to bridge all of these people and do something different.”

Most of Brown’s previous events were much more intimate, with him having to work within the bounds of what’s feasible in a small room. While Catapult is not quite festival-sized, this marks the first time Brown will explore what he can do when organizing a night all his own. From the music and art to the food and drinks to the sound and lighting, Catapult will be entirely created by Brown and his team. “I put my own shows together for my band, so this is kind of the same feeling as when you put together a really cool lineup for one of those shows,” Brown says. “For that, you talk to the promoter, and they let you do a lot of different things your way, but with this, you’re also choosing what alcohol you serve, the food trucks, what people you’re trying to attract, the logos, and all of that. It’s a whole different level of involvement you get to have that makes it even more satisfying if and when it goes well.”

Catapult, featuring Curtiss King, Cameo Adele and Eddie Cole, happens at an as yet undisclosed location, Anaheim; www.catapultlive.com. Sat., March 25, 8 p.m. RSVP for location and ticket price. 21+.

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