The Bucstock music festival returned to East Tennessee State University for its fourth year on April 15, offering a full 12-hour slate of music and fun.
Organized by Buctainment, the festival was hosted on ETSU’s campus with one stage set up in the Quad and another stage in the Amphitheater, with the musical acts divided between the two stages. The music ranged from acoustic to rap and, of course, crowd-pleasing songs everyone knew and loved.
One of the bands that performed was Kryss Dula and Friends, a band led by ETSU’s very own Chris Dula, a professor in the psychology department.
“Generally we just play three or four chord songs that everybody tends to know,” Dula said. “I don’t play my original music because my job as I envision it is to provide an atmosphere for other people to enjoy themselves, and they are more likely to do that with songs they know.”
When asked about the unique title of the band, Professor Dula was eager to provide an answer.
“I spell it K-R-Y-S-S to differentiate between the person you will see on stage from the licensed clinical psychologist, full professor, adjunct faculty member of the Quillen College of Medicine who takes his job deadly serious.”
Dula pointed out the makeup of the band is essentially a makeshift group made up of different members. He said the many people that come and go do perform just for fun though.
“Kryss Dula is the only thing consistent about the band,” Dula said. “The friends are literally about 25 other people — seven or eight drummers, so many bass players. They all know that nobody gets paid. Rule number one is we never take money to play.”
Many of the audience members enjoyed the festival throughout the day. Jessica Shelton, an ETSU staff member, liked the venue and the music.
“This is my first year attending Bucstock,” Shelton said. “The stage setups are really neat, and the vendors are very nice. It’s like a nice, chill, relaxed feel. I’ve only listened to two bands so far, and they sound pretty good!”
Courtney Fitzstevens, a volunteer helping organize Bucstock, stated that the festival had gone well.
“The festival has been a success so far,” Fitzstevens said. “The numbers keep getting bigger and bigger.”
Fitzstevens said last year they were rained out halfway through the festival, but this year the skies were clear. She hopes Bucstock will only continue to grow in size with the coming years.
