Once upon a time, not too long ago Beirut was just a little band made up of College of Santa Fe students. Now, the band is playing the Coachella Valley Music Festival.

If you’re not familiar with Coachella, basically it’s a gathering of every big name indie (somewhat of a contradiction) band on the planet and a few old school throwbacks to round it all out.

On Feb. 17 Beirut will release a double CD EP March of the Zapotec and the show is sure to get the last few holdouts on board. Unfortunately, for the California crowd, there’s going to be no getting as close to the band as this photo from a CSF show a few years ago might make it seem (and hey, I spy a former SFR contributor in that shot, hi Daniel McNichol). Coachella is huge, though I can attest, it is possible to sneak ones way up front.

If you’re feeling spunky mid-April hit the road through the California desert. It’s about a 13 hour drive, it’s lovely and the lineup this year is off the hook.

And tell the boys and girls from Beirut Santa Fe says hi.