LISKFEST 2008 & 2009

Liskfest 2009!

Orange Pop: Liskfest returns to Irvine

By KELLI SKYE FADROSKI | kfadroski@scng.com | Orange County Register
September 2, 2009

Last year’s Liskfest didn’t exactly go as planned.

What started off as a good idea for a hardcore punk and metal festival turned out to be something of a money pit for Orange County promoter Chris Lisk. His promotional partner, L.A. concert giant Goldenvoice, pulling out of the venture – and then his headlining act Pennywise cancelling – should have spelled doom for the new event. Instead, Lisk pulled together every available resource and put on the show himself last October at Oak Canyon Ranch in Irvine.

Lisk lost money, big time – “but, you know, it was just worth it,” he says. “I thought it was so much fun, and everyone had a really good time, and I survived it.

“My dad always told me that you can always make more money. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I (learned) not be fearful of big purchases, because you can fix them eventually.”

Nevertheless, last year’s event drew 3,500 people – enough to encourage Lisk to try it again this Saturday with Liskfest 2.0, with As I Lay Dying topping the bill along with Insted, Cro-Mags, H2O and Ignite.

This time around, however, Lisk has opted to cut out all the big dogs; he and partner Rob Dubar have handled all details themselves. The duo started planning for round two back in January, when they hit up Oak Canyon Ranch to set up a date – and discovered there was already only one date in 2009 left available, Sept. 5.

“I was like, ‘Book it!'” Lisk says. “I don’t think we even had a band on board yet. But after we set the date we went to a bunch of them with, like, ‘Hey, this is the date we have - who can play?’

“We lost a few bands. We lost Bad Brains because of it; they could have done it the following weekend. But it’s the best we could do.”

The bill features more than 30 acts, including roughly a dozen local bands that Lisk has met and befriended over the years. (He’s also guitarist in Huntington Beach punk band 7 Year Sophomore.) The lineup, he says, is essentially solidified, but he’s still working on a few unannounced guests.

“I’m going to keep that under wraps, though, because when it happens, whoever it is, I want it to be a complete surprise to the audience,” he says. “Last year we had the Cro-Mags come out as the surprise guest, and this year they’re actually on the bill. You never know who could end up coming out.”

With last year’s problems still hanging over his head, Lisk says he had to cut out some bigger ideas he had in mind for the second installment, and instead plan realistically. Better to have a slowly growing festival than none at all.

“We were thinking like, ‘Oh man, it should be two days and we could have camping and a motorcycle show,'” he says. “But then we were like, ‘No, let’s just go with the one day – so I don’t lose half of the things I own to pay it off.”

If he can just break even, “I’ll be the happiest guy in the world.” His enthusiasm for both the music and those who are passionate about it are driving him more than a desire to profit. “At one time I was like those kids (who come to festivals), and if I had something like this to go to I would be so happy. So I want to keep it going.”

Lisk, 32, was born and raised in a house off 19th Street and Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa. Ever since, he has never lived more than two or three streets away from that location.

“I’ve got Detroit Bar across the street, and the Avalon next door, and a Wahoo’s and an In-N-Out, everything I need is here. I’ve traveled the world looking for something better, and I can’t find it.”

In 1997 Lisk became a roadie for local hardcore punk band Ignite, and in 1998 he joined an appropriately named O.C. band called Speak 714. He went on to play in a couple other smaller groups, but none of them really took off. So instead he worked as marketing director for fashion retailer Paul Frank for 10 years. In January he took the same position at Affliction clothing.

The idea to do his own local music festival started brewing in 2004 while hanging out with the band Bleeding Through on its tour bus during Ozzfest.

“I was talking to a couple of guys about doing a show called West Fest,” he recalls. “In my core group of friends I’m the guy who jumps on something like, ‘Let’s do it, now.’ When I’m excited about something like that I actually do it. I talked to a lot of people and asked a lot of questions � talked to friends at Goldenvoice and Live Nation about how we could set it up and what venue we could use � and after a couple years of me talking about it, and it not happening, it turned from this great idea into, like, folklore, as my friends called it: the Chris Lisk folklore.”

But as the years passed Lisk only got grief from band buddies, who made fun of him, redubbing his West Fest as “Lisk Fest.” When the idea finally became a reality – and Lisk approached these same acts to play the festival – they agreed on one condition: that Lisk actually call it Liskfest.

“It’s an internal joke that came to fruition – and I look like a total jackass egomaniac. And as the bands are playing, they’re laughing at me. But whatever!”

As the countdown to the fest grows shorter, Lisk says he’s extremely busy tying up loose ends – yet he doesn’t feel as much pressure this year. The dollar risk is still there, but at least this time he knows what his losses could be, and doesn’t have to worry about anyone backing out on him.

“Right now I’m a complete stress case. My hands are clammy and I’m sweating. Once it’s over and it’s a good show, and no one gets hurt and everyone has a good time, whether we make money or not, it will all be worth it.”

Liskfest 2.0 – at Oak Canyon Ranch – Irvine, CA

Ditch- Big Wheel Asst. Editor | www.bigwheelmagazine.com
September 2, 2009

Last year’s Lisk Fest was a great event with highlights being performances by Gorilla Biscuits, Cro-Mags, Ignite, and H20. The fest, which is put on by Chris Lisk of Speak 714, is turning out to be an annual get together of old guard Orange County Hardcore types with big name acts  from all around the country. This year The Cro-Mags returned along with Ignite and H20, but were also joined by late 80′s straight edge hardcore bands, Insted and Bold.

I got to the show pretty early in the day so I could check out my friends in Terezodu play on the local stage. There were some minor complications including a ten dollar parking charge (which I managed to avoid). Also many people seemed pretty unhappy with the ten dollar charge for buying tickets at the event (this made tickets forty dollars all together as they were thirty dollars in advance). This wouldn’t have been so problematic if they had disclosed ahead of time that tickets would cost an extra ten dollars if they weren’t bought in advance. Hopefully this will not affect the attendance of next year’s Lisk Fest as otherwise it was a great event. Anyway Terezodu played a cool set and made the best out if a situation where only a hand full of people were watching them.

A few hours later Ignite played on the main stage. Most of the songs that they played were from "Our Darkest Days," but they did throw in "Embrace" for the more seasoned fans and a cover of U2′s "Bloody Sunday." Ignite were followed by H20, who put on a great show, playing songs from all of their records. Vocalist, Toby Morse was accompanied on stage by his six year old son, Max who jumped around on stage and even sang with his father a bit. H20′s classic New York Hardcore sound showed through in songs like "Family Tree," Thicker Than Water," "Still Here," "Guilty By Association" (Freddy Madball’s lines were delivered by Scott Vogel of Terror), "Nothing to Prove," "I See It Us," "Five Year Plan," and "One Life, One Chance." H20 have always been a crowd favorite because they play catchy songs that are easy to sing along and dance to and they have always had enough wisdom to mix in their most current material with their older songs.

Connecticut’s Bold opened their set with "Talk Is Cheap" and although vocalist, Matt Warnke’s voice had some wear and tear from the band’s recent European tour, it was fun to see them play some old hardcore classics. While Bold didn’t have as many peole watching them as some of the other bands there were a few people who were clearly very stoked to see them. After Bold played I watched bits and pieces of Strife’s set, which was a bit of a weird trip down memory lane. Strife were never a favorite band of mine in the 1990′s but they did give a high caliber performance of heavy hardcore which reflects some Southern California influences.

Whenever the Cro-Mags play it is an event and they are never a band to be missed. Since it was a John Joseph/Mackie version of the band and not a Harley Flanagan version all of the original material played was from the seminal "Age of Quarrel" album. "Seekers of Truth" and "We Gotta Know" sounded heavy as fuck alongside other great tunes like "Hard Times," and "Life on My Own." As always they also played some Bad Brains covers- tonight they were "Attitude" and "Banned in D.C."

With all of the great band playing at Lisk Fest, Insted were still the highlight of the whole event. They brought the most energy out of any band playing and since it’s such a rare occasion for them to play it made their performance pretty special. Vocalist, KevInsted moved some monitors on stage, commenting that he didn’t like how they created a barrier between the band and audience and made stage dives more difficult. "We’ll Make the Difference" and a cover of "Young Til I Die" were huge crowd pleasers and hopefully some younger kids who weren’t familiar with Insted were turned on to their music by this performance. It’s not easy for any band to follow the Cro-Mags, but Insted did the job well.

New Video & Photos from Liskfest 2008!

Last Night: LiskFest @ Oak Canyon Ranch in Irvine
Posted by Andrew Youssef in Last Night reviews
October 12, 2008 10:13 AM
Last Night: Liskfest at Oak Canyon Ranch in Irvine on October 11,2008

Better Than: seeing a festival in the middle of summer.
Download: "Oi, To The World!" by the Vandals from their Myspace page


Hope, change, and unity were used as themes in hardcore music long before the current political candidates incorporated these ideas into their campaigns. A sense of community united the Liskfest as it was snatched from the jaws of cancellation by some last minutes investors. It was a picture perfect weather for a day of hardcore and punk.

Walter Schreifels (Vocals/Guitar) pulled double duty at Liskfest when he played in the afternoon with Rival Schools and would later play guitar for Gorilla Biscuits. Rival Schools ripped through their set by incorporating some new tracks such as "A Parts for B Actors".
Christian death metal may seem like an oxymoron but not according to Living Sacrifice. I will admit that "Local Vengeance Killing" did slay. Their fusion of metal and thrash stuck out on a day dominated by hardcore.

Orange County was well represented throughout the festival as Death By Stereo took the stage. Efrem Schulz (Vocals) was on the prowl verbally attacking the audience as well as the stage. I found their song "Emo Holocaust" to be particularly hilarious as they openly ridiculed Emo music.

New York took the stage in the form of H2O. "Nothing To Prove" is their latest album that took seven years in the making. Toby Morse (Vocals) proudly introduced his small son Max as a "Straight edge vegetarian not by his choice".
Local favorites Ignite mentioned a few causes such as Doctors without Borders in between their rapid-fire hardcore punk songs. "Let It Burn" started one of the many circle pits that would frequently reappear throughout the day. Metalcore reared its head in the form of Every Time I Die. "Ebolarama" was a kick to the face with its furious assault of guitars and drums. Most of the audience seemed to be more in tune with regular hardcore instead of the metal tinged fare.
Bleeding Through touched upon all genres including metal, hardcore, industrial and goth. Marta Peterson (Keyboards) gets the dual distinction of being the only keyboard player of the day along with being the only female artist on the main stage. I was able to decipher most of Brandan Schieppati's vocals on "Declaration" and "Orange County Blonde and Blue" but the task wasn't easy.

Strung Out and its astrolux-tattooed fans really ignited the Liskfest. "Reason To Believe" was fast and furious as Jason Cruz spat out the lyrics behind the blazing fretwork of Rob Ramos and Jake Kiley. Their thirty-minute time slot was criminally short.

You can't not help but laugh when the Vandals start up their antics. "Oi To The World!" was only the tip of the iceberg to their wild set. They were boasting mid-set that they sounded great despite not rehearsing. I would have to agree. Their cover of the Team America theme "America Fuck Yeah" seamlessly blended into their set. I don't think anyone will forget Warren Fitzgerald's guitar solo with a Hello Kitty guitar.

The barricades in front of the stage were wisely removed prior to Gorilla Biscuits. A parade of stage divers leapt into the crowd as Gorilla Biscuits worked through a twenty plus setlist covering most of their tunes from the classic album "Start Today". Anthony Civarelli (Vocals) proudly wore his Obama "Hope" shirt as he was frequently assisted on vocals by various stage invaders. It was a true hardcore show in that everyone was having a good time and watching out for each other.

With the Pennywise rumors shot down earlier this week, the Cro-Mags filled in and continued to wave the flag of New York hardcore. I only needed to hear "Malfunction" to exceed my maximum amount of hardcore music in one day. It was mentioned that Liskfest would be returning next year so they better get working on that Minor Threat reunion.
Critic's Notebook:
Personal Bias: I checked out the Rival Schools warm up show at the Echo in Los Angeles a few days ago.

Random Detail: Apparently Josh Freese from The Vandals had just flown in to play the show as he was on tour with Nine Inch Nails.

By The Way: It was mentioned they would get Uniform Choice to reform for next year's Liskfest.

Great Review from TeamGoon.com

THANK YOU!