My jaw dropped when I looked at the Coachella lineup this morning and saw The Evens on there! The Evens are a DC-based duo consisting of hometown hero Ian MacKaye (founder of Dischord Records, Fugazi, Minor Threat…) and his wife Amy Farina (formerly of The Warmers). The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival is a big, three-day music & arts extravaganza that happens outside of Palm Springs, California every April. It is a strange event to imagine the super-DIY/indie duo appearing at, but kudos to them! That’ll be something to see!

Also representing our nation’s capital at the Coachella Festival will be the recently reunited Make-Up. Frontman Ian Svenonius (formerly of Nation of Ulysses, Weird War, currently in Chain & the Gang) is well-known for his style and crazy southern-revival-type stage antics. The group reunited in 2012 for the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival (along with a couple DC shows). (Svenonius also has a book out right now titled Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock ‘n’ Roll Group, which is awesome- laugh-out-loud funny, smart, artfully written and educational at the same time. I highly recommend it.)

Hooray for DC bands representing the District at Coachella!

Alexia Kauffman

Alexia was born and raised in Arlington, VA. She has been a cellist since age four, and a lover of rock & roll soon after. The first tape she owned was “Make It Big” by Wham, and the first tape she bought was Nirvana’s “Nevermind,” and she still loves both. She was a member of local synth-rock outfit Soft Complex for several years, and has recorded with bands including Engine Down and Two if By Sea. By day she works for a non-profit distributing royalties to musicians and labels. She currently plays cello, lap-steel guitar and tambourine in the DC post-folk/Americana band The Torches.