Kazzufest 2018 to host international headliner

Festival will feature regional artists, Dutch beat maker Eevee, Bellingham punk rock The Wednesdays

GEORGE RODRIGUEZ | The Daily Evergreen

Cesar Rubio, Kazzufest organizer and festival chair, discusses this year’s alternative performances on Tuesday at the CUB.

BLAINE ROSS, Evergreen reporter

Kazzufest 2018 will bring alternative music to Pullman this Saturday.

Four years ago, Kazzufest was started with the goal of providing a platform for underground and up-and-coming acts to play in Pullman, said Cesar Rubio, Kazzufest lead organizer and festival chair.

“It’s basically a group of student’s banding together to have an event for the WSU community that highlights music that wouldn’t usually come here to perform,” Rubio said.

Organizers fulfilled this goal by inviting acts from across the state and globe. They’ve brought in artists from Idaho, the Seattle area, the Tri-Cities and the Netherlands, he said.

Rubio said they managed to do this by utilizing cost-effective WSU resources, such as the venue, to lower the price of admission for students.

“My goal with this year was to kind of pick and choose from different areas,” Rubio said. “I think this year has been the year with the most musical acts performing.”

Rubio said the festival has received positive responses from social media, and students are hyped for the headliner of the event, Eevee. Eevee is a 24-year-old beat maker from the Netherlands who has gained popularity through Youtube and Spotify, he said.

“A lot of people have been commenting on her Instagram like, ‘Hey out of all these places, she’s hitting LA, Seattle, all these big cities and right on the line of the tour is Pullman, Washington,’ ” Rubio said.

Rubio explained that in order to book Eevee, he had to pitch his idea to a committee to get approved through a majority voting system. Alongside Eevee, Kazzufest will present The Wednesdays, a female punk rock band from Bellingham.

“All of their songs are about issues women face,” Rubio said, “and I do like the music coming from their Bandcamp, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how they perform live.”

The event will have an eclectic mix of music with a line up consisting of Eevee, Sisters, Bart Budwig, I Am Infamy, Le Grotto, Mother Yeti, Clark and The Himselfs, Dancing Plague, The Wednesdays and U4RIA.

Kazzufest 2018 will take place from 2 – 10 p.m. Saturday at the Ensminger Pavilion. Tickets are $6 for students and $12 for the general public.