When people see a seven-piece band with a line of horns, many think jazz. When people see a three-man band, many think grunge. When people see a two-man band, many think folk. Well, think again.

If you’ve never had a chance to see a local Palouse band, KUGR is bringing three to the WSU campus tonight.

Katherine Barner, sophomore communication major and KUGR’s fundraising director, helped plan Rock ‘a Palouse ‘a with KUGR’s music director. Since KUGR is WSU’s rock station, they wanted to keep the music in the genre, but that doesn’t mean they all sound the same.

“There’s a lot of people who enjoy the progressive rock sound, and (we wanted to) bring in a different crowd of people for the ska music,” Barner said. “We’re trying to reach out to everyone, so there’s a style of music we all like there.”

The first band of the night is Landrace, a reggae ska group comprised of seven WSU students, but will have guests performing with them. The other two bands, Mother Yeti and Astronaut and the Trees are local progressive rock groups. All three bands are local to the Palouse region, Barner said.

The Pullman music scene is the few, the proud and the dedicated, said Zack Degler, guitarist, bassist and vocalist for Mother Yeti. Degler hopes the crowd will be surprised by the night’s music.

“It’s hard to put us into a certain genre,” Degler said. “we try to keep a wide range of styles. It’s hard to compare us to other bands as can be said for a lot of the other acts around here.”

Mother Yeti likes to incorporate rock influences, as well as reggae. They are currently working on their first full-length album, but the sound is very complex, Degler said.

Eric Molina, junior music composition major, manager, vocalist and saxophonist, sings cover songs in both English and Spanish in Landrace.

Right now, Landrace features seven permanent members, including guitar, saxophone, two trumpets, bass, drums and trombone. The horn players all double as singers, and one of the trumpeters also plays the keyboard, Molina said.

“We go on stage, and we party,” Molina said. “We have a lot of hardcore aspects, so I do a lot of scream-style vocals in both languages … you don’t hear a lot of screamo in Spanish.”

While ska is a popular subgenre in Mexico, it isn’t very common in the U.S., Molina said. Of the five ska groups he’s aware of in Washington, he is a member of two of them.

Local Moscow guitarist and singer for Astronaut and the Trees, Andru Gomez, make up the band with drummer, Will Thompson.

Part of what makes them unique is that they don’t have a bass player, so Gomez plays his guitar through two amps, but one is tuned lower, he said. Astronaut and the Trees tend to use heavy distortion to achieve a heavy rock sound.

“I love the Palouse. I love Pullman and Moscow,” Gomez said. “It’s just a great larger community, even though it’s two towns, there’s definitely some exchange of art and information that happens.”

Each band offers an original twist on rock music. While still broadly rock, each incorporates aspects of other genres. None of the bands will sound the same, Barner said.

“We’re just planning on playing the heck out of our instruments,” Gomez said.

Rock ‘a Palouse ‘a is at 8 p.m. tonight at the Ensminger Pavilion on WSU’s campus. Tickets are $5 presale on the mall or in Murrow 301, and $7 at the door. Doors open at 7:45 p.m.