LAS CRUCES, N.M. — For over 20 years, KRUXFest has been the staple music festival for New Mexico State University students and the greater Las Cruces community.
The event, which is hosted by KRUX, the student-run radio station at NMSU, served as a proving ground for up-and-coming bands. KRUXFest returned to the Corbett Center Student Union Outdoor Stage this past weekend, with day one being Friday, April 25. The headliners included local indie bands Brute, Acrolein, NVMD, Moon Queen and Amber.
“Every year, we usually put out about four events a year,” KRUX general manager Nathaniel Shinners-Medina said. “But KRUXFest has always been like our crux — literally our main event.”
“We used to have Warped Tour here in Las Cruces,” Shinners-Medina said. “They would actually come and set up here and then they stopped and I think probably the older students at KRUX decided we should do something, so it’s something that we’ve been doing since forever. I think the oldest poster I can find here is from 2002.”
For many up-and-coming bands in the Southwest, particularly from El Paso, landing a spot on the KRUXFest lineup is a milestone.
“I heard about KRUXFest in sophomore year of high school,” KRUX production director Rubi Reyes said. “The El Paso music scene is huge, and it’s huge with high school bands mostly. Making it into KRUXFest for a lot of El Paso high school bands is a huge, huge deal. It’s like making it in this music scene.”
Shinners-Medina said the festival is also a great way for NMSU students to be exposed to new music.
“For me, KRUXFest has always been a great place for students at NMSU to come catch their friends who are in bands that they don’t even know about,” Shinners-Medina said. “It’s also just a great way to get involved with the music around here. If you’re not familiar with the scene between here and El Paso, finding venues and concerts can be kind of stressful, so we like to bring it to the students and really get the bands here at NMSU the fame we think they deserve.”
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