Punk music festival, LiskFest, is a hit
It was time for round two for Chris Lisk and his metal and punk music festival, LiskFest. After all of last year’s setbacks, Lisk, 32, was determined to make his second LiskFest a success.
Last year Lisk endured numerous problems with LiskFest, which included the head act “Pennywise” canceling as well as losing a lot of money on the festival. Even with the drawbacks, last year’s music festival attracted around 3,500 people, which was more than enough encouragement for him to try again this year.
Now with the plan in motion, it was time for Lisk to choose a venue. He decided to hold his festival at Oak Canyon Ranch in Irvine, California. Lisk chose the venue because “I love the layout, and it is so close to my home in Orange County. This is the only place you can put this many people without dealing with you know, big huge corporate venues such as Verizon and things like that.”
After the venue was picked and the concert was set to occur on Sept. 5, Lisk went to work on getting the bands. The headlining act As I Lay Dying was chosen, as well as many other national and local bands including Winds of Plague and The Warned.
Nick Hipa, from As I Lay Dying, said he and his band chose to perform at LiskFest because, “Lisk is a great dude. The whole vibe and what they are going for is something we are down with, so it just made sense.”
“We were asked, but we were on tour so we weren’t able to do it at first, but we found a way to do it. Basically we just flew out from the east coast to play. We’re all about it,” said Art Cruz of Winds of Plague.
With the venue and the bands chosen, Sept. 5 came and the fans flocked to the concert. Even though it was very hot, fans could be seen jumping up and down, nodding their heads to the fast-paced beat of the drum and moshing together in a fury of pushes and pulls. At one point from all the rough moshing, blood even squirted from a man as if his face was a squirt gun.
All in all, LiskFest went more smoothly this year for Chris Lisk, and music blasted all day long for the fans.
The bands gave some advice for those pursuing music as a career. “Go for it, with music, art, and things like that, really no one can hold you back, it’s all up to you,” said Nick Hipa of As I Lay Dying.
“Stick with it man. A lot of people will tell you to do it because it’s cool, or for the chicks. But do it if you love it, and love doing it, don’t let anyone tell you it’s a stupid dream, say X&#!@ you, and stick to your guns,” said Jesse Warn of The Warned.