Hot Press Meets Haim

I guess it’s true what they say: a Haim sister never forgets a face. It’s the day before the Californian trio headline Whelan’s and Este, Danielle and Alana are on the promotional treadmill in Universal HQ. A natural state for them now, they’ve mastered the art of giving an interview and eating Chinese food. Eldest sister
Este, however, is as good as her word from an O2 dressing-room before Christmas, greeting your correspondent with a hug and “I told you I’d remember you!” The youngest, Alana, will later block me in the hall as I make my exit and say, “We meet again” with a grin that could be friendly or could come before an unsuspecting slap.

It’s Danielle, the lead singer and quietest sister, who I speak to today. Often overshadowed by her extraordinarily gregarious siblings, she’s eager to chat in a one-on-one scenario. A music obsessive and self-admitted perfectionist, the fact she has a show to play and an album finally in the bag is making her beam.
It seems to have been an arduous journey from the hype of 2012’s Forever EP to finishing that long-player. Danielle nods wearily when I suggest that they’re not the biggest fans of being cooped up in the studio.
“It’s really gratifying when we figure it out,” she says. “When we come out with something that we’re proud of. But getting there, for some reason, always takes us a really long time.”
Aside from a mini-tour with Mumford & Sons to break the monotony – “We had to say yes, they’re our bros!” – the girls spent four months practically living in a LA studio, working with big-name producers Paul Epworth and James Ford. As Danielle describes the process, which seemed to involve tracking upon endless re-tracking, the sheer effort involved is obvious.
“We do our own pre-production on Garageband,” she says. “Before the Forever EP we tried to record live and it never really worked out.”
When did they know it was ready?
“When we were like, ‘Okay, I can’t even listen to this anymore!’ We’re not the type of band who can just give the producer our sessions. The label was a little confused as to why we wanted to be there for all of the recording. We were like, ‘Why wouldn’t we be?!’” Was there external pressure? Her eyes survey the room until we decide the place isn’t bugged.
“Yeah, there was. We’re sitting here and we can’t believe we’re playing a sold- out show tomorrow, it’s really weird to us. We want to keep going. We love our label, they’ve been really awesome to us, but they’re so about deadlines: ‘If you don’t do this now, everyone’s going to forget about you.’ It’s the scariest thing. We’ve been working for six years and finally it seems like something’s happening so we don’t want it to stop. I’m the worst to talk to because I’m always in my head. The others are: ‘If it feels good, just fucking do it!’”
Danielle has occasionally given in to that ethos. Recently, the trio lent their harmonies to Kid Cudi’s earwormy ‘Red Eye’. Not that outside projects are on the horizon. She stopped playing for Julian Casablancas years back because it felt strange not being on stage with her sisters. The only artist that could draw her away from Haim, she reckons, would be Prince.
“Oh my god, oh my god!” she gasps. “He’s probably the only one. We’d all drop everything to be a part of his stuff. He’s our collective favourite.”
Forever is released on July 2 on Polydor.