Interview: Stan Liszewski Of Bangin' In The Rock Fest

A few week's ago TERMINAL NATION's vocalist Stan Liszewski announced the latest festival to hit the extreme music scene, Bangin In The Rock 2022!

The two day event will take place at the Rev Room in Little Rock, AR on December 9th and 10th. The line-up features heavily from both the death metal and hardcore worlds, headlined by XIBALBA, CREEPING DEATH, and the return of FUMING MOUTH. Tickets are on sale now, click here to buy.

Interested in more information? Stan answered a set of questions about the fest below, but more importantly, Terminal Nation's bassist Chase Turner was recently in a serious car accident. Check out the band's post below on how you can help!

From the Terminal Nation Instagram:

"As many of you may have already heard, but our own Chase Turner was in a bad car accident this week. He flipped his car 4 times and was ejected out of the vehicle and the vehicle rolled over him. Fortunately, he’s alive and healing up but unfortunately, he won’t be able to come back to work for a while. He’ll be having to focus on getting better and healing his body. We were in the midst of finishing the writing of the second LP and this is a huge set back. Right now we are not sure how soon he can return to live shows, but this mfker is a beast and if anyone can bounce back quick, it’s Chase. More importantly than the band though, Chase works in a field where if he’s not actively working, he has NO INCOME. He doesn’t have paid time off, and bills never stop, not including the bills from this accident. We are taking cash donations at @dogtownbarberlounge on his station, as well as through his Cashapp $barberchase & Venmo @ barberchase. Any help is greatly appreciated. We’re all thankful he’s still alive, and we’re thankful for the support we’ve already received. He’ll be back to rockin with us and finishing up this LP soon enough. If you have a little cash to toss his way it’s much appreciated!"


Stan Liszewski
Interviewed by Dan Craley
  • How long have you been promoting shows in Little Rock?

    I’ve been promoting shows for close to 15 years at this point.

  • Were there previously any other extreme music fests in the area?

    The main one in Little Rock is Mutants of the Monster fest. Terminal Nation has played that one a handful of times, along with a handful of other killer acts over the years including Gatecreeper, Full of Hell, Genocide Pact, Racetraitor, Thou, Weedeater, Pallbeaer, Rwake, Bell Witch, and many others. Beyond that, my homie Evan, one of the partners in putting together BITR, used to organize Brigade Fest a few years back. It was predominantly a hardcore fest but he had a pretty solid run with it.

    Mutants Of The Monster 2018
  • Why did you decide to book Bangin' In The Rock Fest and not just another show?

    For several years now, a few friends and I have always wanted to do a high caliber extreme music festival in Little Rock. My homie Evan previously put on Brigade Fest, which was around for a handful of years and had some pretty notable acts including bands like No Warning and Downpresser. While those fests we’re cool, the formula was more so “fly in one really big band and then pull some locals and regionals to open up for them”. It was cool, but that was the only formula that would work in Little Rock, because the scene has always been so small. As shows have started to come back, we’ve had a huge influx of new bands pop up, many of them on the younger side, which has resulted on a whole new crop of younger kids coming to shows. The scene here is hotter than it’s ever been. If there was ever a time that Bangin in the Rock could work in Arkansas, now is that time.

    Brigade Fest 2016
  • The lineup heavily features bands straddling death metal and hardcore. Was it your intention to keep a consistent style and sound throughout the fest?

    Having both hardcore and death metal represented on the fest was a very intentional decision with this one. I’ve seen points in time where those two crowds would make for pretty combustible elements, but in recent years, the lines have become more blurred. We considered doing a single day for metal and a single day for hardcore but figured it’d be best to keep them mixed. Plus a lot of the newer and younger kids don’t really give a shit about genre nuances, they’re just stoked on whether it riffs or not, which truly is awesome.

  • How did/does being in Terminal Nation factor into booking shows?

    I think there are a lot of bands who know of me through Terminal Nation or just know of Terminal Nation and will reach out directly to the band about helping them book a show. Many times we aren’t able to play the shows due to our personal schedules but, 9 times out of 10 I can usually book something for a band in need and it works out for every one.

    Terminal Nation (Kurt Lunsford)
  • Do you anticipate making Bangin' In The Rock an annual fest?

    That is absolutely the goal. For it to be an annual thing, the first one has to be successful and I think it en route to being just that. We have talked to bands already about playing next year, we’ll have to see how year one goes. This is an extremely ambitious project for a city as small as Little Rock, but I think we all have put in work and have faith in the fact that we can make this happen.

  • The official poster/flyer features some very cool artwork. Who did it?

    Artwork was done by my friend Valentine. You can find em on Instagram at @malo.vida - they do pretty much all my fliers and a lot of the terminal nation merch designs too. I’ve worked with Valentine for years and they are 100% my go-to person for stuff like this.

  • Where does the name Bangin' In The Rock come from?

    It’s been a saying here in Little Rock for many years. I think it originally is a phrase that may have been influenced by various outlets describing Little Rock in the 90s. Over the years “Bangin in the Rock” has kind of just been adopted as a slogan by people in the city. We wanted something cool that was also regional and I think this works.

  • For the outsiders, aside from Terminal Nation, which bands on the bill are repping Arkansas?

    Besides bands from all over, Arkansas  is being represented hard on this fest.

    Terminal Nation is playing of course. We’ll be retiring some of the older songs in our set and this will be the last time to hear them as we focus on more newer material.

    Also, BITR Fest curators, Evan and Ted both play in Morbid Visionz, you’ll be hearing a lot about them in the coming weeks and months. Early 90s influenced death metal. They have a new EP slated to drop really soon and it’s killer. Expect a lot of buzz on this one, not just locally but all over.

    Also, there is Second Life who is the city’s hardcore band right now. I expect a high energy set. I think they’ll be winning over the hardcore crowd that’s previously unfamiliar with them for sure.

    Severe Headwound are Little Rock death metal veterans, spear headed by the Emmon brothers, Zayne and Trevor. They have been around for 10 years now playing nasty, brutal death metal, but when you see them, you would never that based on their age. When I tell people, their response is “no way this band has been around that long, they had to have been literal kids when they started it”, which is exactly what they were. It’s wild to see how far they’ve come.

    Severe Headwound

    Then we’ve got Open Kasket, which straddles a line between death metal and hardcore. They will likely be opening day one, which could be a tough spot to be in because they’ll have to set the tone for the whole fest, but I wouldn’t put them in that position if I didn’t think they’d hold their own.

    Open Kasket

    Scorched Earth is probably hardest Arkansas band on the fest to catagorize. The self proclaimed “Blackened DM” band has a wide array of influences. There’s some death metal, sludge, metalcore, black metal and even crust elements that makes up the Scorched Earth DNA. While there are a lot of sonic influences, they do it all well. And have a lot of melody, more than your average death metal band. They have a formula that resonates with a few interchangeable genres, so everyone should be able to find something they like about it.

    Then there’s Condemn, which is kind of a wild card. They’re from North west Arkansas, so not exactly a Little Rock local, but they get a lot of local love. Tommy from Terminal Nation plays on Condemn and they might be the tightest and heaviest Arkansas band playing. They recently got a new vocalist and recorded a new EP so I’m excited to see where they go next.

Dan Craley
Gotten Out By
Dan Craley

Dan started Getting It Out back in 2018 as a stand alone podcast. He’s been writing for music websites for over a decade and finally decided to start his own. Now living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with his wife and kids, he briefly sang for Baltimore’s Pleasant Living.

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