Everyone Are Invited to Join as the Fourth Haim Bandmate.
"Any idea when you're speaking to the Haim sisters?" a message pops up. "I wanted to ask if I can become their newest bandmate."
However, there remains a single issue: The sender also longs to be the Haims' fourth member. What's more, we are in plentiful company. Several celebrated fans have publicly begged for the position.
The evidence suggests an irresistible appeal is going on. The siblings Este, Danielle and Alana started their musical journey playing gigs at local delicatessens with their family. Now they're multi-time Grammy contenders.
Like all the most iconic bands, they're a tight-knit unit. Their music videos frequently depict them striding in sync down the roads of Los Angeles. On stage, they play with such unfettered joy you can't help but think, "I'd love to be a piece of that, too."
"How often on tour that fans came up to us and said, 'Watching you live, I picked up a drum kit'," states Alana, the youngest of the trio. "That is the greatest honour. That's an award in itself. Our mission is accomplished if we can inspire people to form a group."
"Therefore all is invited to be the next part of the family."
Historic Recognition
The group have called into their homes, where they're recovering after an major tour in for their new album, I Quit.
They're presently celebrating the news it's been in the running for Best Rock Album at the Grammy Awards – with Haim the very first all-female band ever in contention for the award.
"I follow the announcements every year, so it kind of feels like a surreal movie when your name is announced," explains Alana. "I immediately called my sisters to say, 'Am I hearing this correctly or am I dreaming'?"
The weight of the honor isn't lost on the trio.
"We deliberately set out to make a rock record this time, so it's a huge milestone," continues Alana. "However we're just thankful for the women that inspired us."
Emotional Upheaval and Laughter
The album was born from a period of emotional upheaval. All three sisters found themselves single, and the music explores that strange transitional period where you're happy to be free, but not yet ready to let go.
The words follow endings and partings. The sisters want love, but not the kind of love they've had. You can hear them determining in real life who they are becoming.
"I love summary, yes," agrees Danielle. "I Quit is kind of like a personal statement. You have to make an effort in shutting out the outside opinions and saying, 'I don't give what people think'."
Development of Sound
That recent resilience required a fresh approach – more organic and powerful than any of the music the band had done before.
For Danielle, who worked on producing the album, that was founded on the drums.
"The drum sound is such a specific thing, and I am so passionate about it," she states.
"'Journey of the drum sound' will be the name of our biography," quips Alana. "Our motto is, our albums won't commence until we find the ideal drum sound."
Anecdotes and Collective Laughter
The trio's honesty shaped the album's promotional campaign, where the sisters disclosed some of their dating misadventures.
Someone broke up with Este over a medical consideration. Alana shared a story of travelling to spend New Year's Eve with someone, only to receive a high five at midnight.
"When you're going through these heartbreaks, you just feel like there's no light," notes Alana. "So to be able to laugh at those stories and have them tell you even crazier stories, it's therapeutic."
A Confident Path
You can clearly sense a shift in the band. Today, Haim are more certain of their standing in the music world.
They're festival headliners, with hit albums and an international fan base.
However Haim will forever be their primary focus.
"We have been playing music since I was a young child," concludes Alana. "It's like no other path that we were meant to do. And I'm really thankful we've reached this point and we're still going strong."
