Every once in a while, crazy shit happens. An 18-million-year-old wooly mammoth is discovered in ice. Gold floats down a river. That beautiful girl doesn’t have a boyfriend. The same sort of thing happens to bands. Often it’s the British press that does it, by taking a little-known group—say, the Klaxons—and popping them off like a big fucking bottle rocket. Even if you miss the sparks, you hear the bang. And thanks to those very Klaxons—NME’s latest dance-pop Cinderella—a relatively unknown local band, Fist Fite, is about to get that same opportunity. The Klaxons picked up the prog-dance-rockers for the opening slot of their upcoming West Coast and European tours.

Years ago, Fist Fite frontwoman Jonnie Monroe befriended the Klaxon's Simon Taylor-Davis online. Taylor-Davis dug Monroe's outfit, Le Push, and the two began sharing music and kept in touch. When the Klaxons caught fire and headed west, they invited Monroe and her band to join them for two shows last April. Before a sold-out audience in Seattle, Fist Fite played their first show. And there, Taylor-Davis and Monroe finally met face to face. "It was really weird meeting him. He's this weird little British turd," she said, laughing. "He kept saying things were 'massive.'"

And though the show christened Fist Fite, it was hardly the first for Monroe and longtime collaborator, drummer Christian Carmine. The two played together in Le Push, Arcularius, and others. Fist Fite delivered at Seattle's show, and the Klaxons invited them to join their next tours. To bolster their sound, the group recently added Justin Wheeler on bass, and has been working feverishly for what awaits. Still, they haven't gotten their heads around what's happening.

"It's ridiculous," says Wheeler. "We haven't put a record out, and we're doing interviews and a tour."

For Carmine, it's a little different. "The surreal thing is going to be my mom being there in Los Angeles. That's going to be the worst. I don't want to think about that."