It’s amazing how bands can be playing to crowds of 100 people (if they’re lucky) one month and massive theaters the next. This is exactly what happened with our best new band of 2011: Grouplove. I remember writing a show preview in January for the band’s free, month-long residency at Bootleg Theater. I had never even heard the music, so I listened to the self-titled EP, and it was pretty good, but I never got the chance to see the indie troupe during that residency…and I am kicking myself for that right now.

The story of the group’s formation is an atypical one. Hannah Hooper and Christian Zucconi met while living in New York and decided to attend an art residency on the Greek island of Crete. While abroad, the two artists met Sean Gadd, a songwriter and guitarist from London, and Ryan Rabin and Andrew Wessen, both musicians from Los Angeles. The five clicked instantly and began making music together in the small remote mountain village that hosted the residency.

Once the summer fling came to an end, the newfound friends scattered back to their respective spots on the globe, but the passion behind the music the quintet created in Greece could not be extinguished. Eventually, the distance became overwhelming, and every member scrounged up enough change to visit L.A. and record an album in Ryan Rabin’s studio. While recording, the band agreed that the City of Angels was the best place to call home, and the three non-Los Angeles natives packed up their bags and moved out West.

In 2010, Grouplove played its first ever live show in Los Angeles’ small Silverlake club, El Cid. Since then, the five-piece has toured the U.S. with Two Door Cinema Club and Young the Giant, as well as played shows with Florence and the Machine in San Francisco and L.A. before embarking on a UK tour in February of 2011. The indie pop project released its debut full-length, Never Trust a Happy Song, in September of the same year to much praise. The record’s two singles, “Colours,” a twangy, catchy folk-tinged track, and “Tongue Tied,” a pop gem, have garnered the band a healthy fan base and landed it performances on Conan, Late Night with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

Every member of Grouplove is spilling with talent, but it’s the creative kinship and overwhelming genuineness that magnetizes its fans. You can connect with this band. It is spilling its guts to you, and that’s a special feeling. Not to mention, the group puts on a killer live show.

Coachella commences Grouplove’s first headlining U.S. tour. The band plays on Friday at 5:05 PM in the Mojave tent.