Music

Don't mistake Haim for another overnight success story

by Nicole Villeneuve

There may be no band in recent memory as mistakenly seen as an overnight success as Haim (pronounced high-im). Together, the three sisters—Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim—have been in music for pretty much their entire lives, playing in a family band with their parents at state fairs and charity events around their L.A. home since they were in the single digits, and up until the youngest of the sisters, Alana, was almost in her 20s. The trio then started writing songs together, and after Danielle was scouted to play guitar with the likes of Jenny Lewis and Julian Casablancas, decided it was something they wanted to do for real.

“Danielle would come back from tour and tell us all these stories, like, ‘you guys have got to do this, it’s so much fun,” Alana says over the phone as she starts the work day in bed at home in California. “We all just kind of really wanted that. Our first show was on 7/7/07, which we felt was kind of a lucky number, and we’ve been playing ever since.”

Haim may have moved on from the more earnest state-fair scene, but they’re still concerned with making sure their music is a good time. After landing a record deal and releasing their first EP Forever in 2012, the buzz came fast and furious, and anticipation for their debut album remains stoked by delays—the band recently cancelled a handful of European tour dates in order to finish it so that it can be the “summer album” they want. So far, we can expect production work from all-star producers such as Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence and the Machine), James Ford (Simian Mobile Disco, Arctic Monkeys), and Ariel Rechtshaid, who Alana says is helping with the harmonious melding of their rock and R&B influences.

“He worked on Usher’s “Climax,” she says excitedly. “Usher is another R&B artist that I’m obsessed with. And Destiny’s Child. They were the first record I bought at Tower Records. I think I saved money up for like three months to go buy their record. They had those amazing percussion sounds. It was so new to me.”

With the inspiration from and admiration of so many being a big part of their music, has it sunk in that Haim could soon be to someone what Destiny’s Child and TLC were to them?

“I hope so,” she says. “It really blows my mind to think like that. We have always been fans of music and fans of girls in music. To think that we could be a band that could inspire someone else gives me chills.

Our dad put us on drums when we could hold our heads up, so. We didn’t just pick up a guitar three months ago and go on YouTube and learn how to play C, D, E, and form a band. We worked really hard.”