Haim Of The Season

At time like these you can understand why a young Brian Wilson wished they all could be California girls. There must be something in the West Coast water, because inhabitants of that side of the US definitely appear to be more outgoing, socially confident and altogether assured than us Irelanders. As if they’re ready at any moment to be plonked on a chat show couch or thrown on reality TV. We’re supposed to be welcoming but they’re just sunnier. Haim – think cockney rhyming slang for ‘lemon and lime’ – are a case in point.

They have the talent to back up the easy talk. Three young sisters who have music industry hearts going all aflutter, they’re in a wintry Dublin to support Florence (as well as her machine) in the O2. It’s the next step on the road to stardom. Thye’ve released the instantly indelible ‘Forever’ and ‘Don’t Save Me’ singles, signed to Polydor and are plotting an LP release this spring.
Playing with their musician parents from an early age – Danielle, who takes centre stage, also toured with Jenny Lewis and Julian Casablancas straight out of high school – they write the kind of Laurel Canyon-sized songs that would make Stevie Nicks smile, throwing in a few R&B pop shapes picked up from mimicking Aaliyah in the mirror as kids.
I’ve ended up in their dressing-room as they finish off some Chinese takeaway and wait for showtime. By interview’s end, there will have been unprompted hugs, offers to engage in some Twitter flirting, comically bad attempts at Irish accents, complaints about being labelled ‘folk’ because they have long hair, and indignation that I can’t stay for their set.
Soon they’ll be named the BBC’s Sound Of 2013. Evidently, their set is worth seeing. From the get-go, they’re talking costumes. Judging by the lines outside of what appear to be tardy trick-or-treaters, tonight’s gig is fancy dress.
“We’re going as skeletons!” the three beam before 26-year-old bassist Este Haim takes over. “One of the themes is death. Like, death and life, basically. There’s a wide area of things you could be. Death or chaos.” Her voice leaps to a high comedic pitch. “Or a mermaid! Or an angel!”
The eldest, Este is the one prone to bantering it up with audiences, much to her sisters’ chagrin. A real people person, she enthusiastically greets everyone she meets like an old pal.
“She’s got a photographic memory” notes Alanah, the youngest at 21. Alanah plays guitar and joins in with her big sister’s wise-cracking. Her point is proved when a promoter wanders in, refers to a prior meeting in the States and then turns red as Este winks, “Of course, I never forget a pretty face!”
She turns to me. “It’s true, I’m telling you. You’re gonna see me five years from now walking down the street in Dublin, possibly with a kid. And I’ll be like, ‘Remember backstage at the O2? Remember the way we once were?!’ And you’re gonna be, ‘Bitch, you
told me!’”
To my right sits Danielle, the seasoned performer, lead singer and middle child, smiling silently, looking up from her carton of food. Less forward than her sisters, her hair is darker, matching a leather jacket you imagine she stole from Julian Casablancas whilst playing on his solo tour. Her smokey tones will enter the conversation when she’s good and ready and the room will fall silent.
So Haim, apparently perfectly pleasant girls, winning near-universal plaudits (“aw, thank you!” exclaims Este prematurely), I put it to you that you’re actually a properly ruthless, career-driven shower... how could you kick your own parents out of your original ‘Rockinhaim’ group?
“I know, we’re terrible,” says Alanah.
“I think my parents always thought in the back of their minds, ‘Eventually, we’re gonna have to let them go,’” surmises Este. “Some people wave their kids off to college, instead, our parents were like, ‘We have to leave the band’. Danielle always wanted to sing, we all would always write. We didn’t really come together and start writing until Danielle was about to graduate high-school. We wrote songs that emulated songs that we liked. Our parents are musicians, but they’re not songwriters. So we would just write songs ‘in the style of’...”
How everyone starts off – copy what you love, put your spin on it.
“Exactly. I watched a documentary on The Beach Boys and apparently Brian Wilson tried to make ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’ better and ended up writing ‘Surfer Girl’.”
Lest you assume California’s all surfer girls and parties or, conversely, shootings and soap opera drama, their upbringing in the San Fernando Valley was relatively mundane.
“There were many murders at my high school... nah, just kidding,” deadpans Alanah. “The place we grew up was really suburban, where couples go to raise a family.”
Were they itching to get out?
“Well, we live off Laurel Canyon, you’ve probably heard of it,” says Danielle, arriving with a wry smile. “It connects to Hollywood. So it’s not too far away, it only takes about 20 minutes. But still, it’s a mindset. I ended up living in Venice, which is kinda the ‘cool’ place to be.”
Este nods proudly: “Danielle made it out of the Valley first.”
Her sister continues.
“I started touring with other musicians. I remember the first tour, our friend Michael roped me in. We were actually opening for Jenny Lewis. But we were in this van, driving all across America. I was 19, going to community college. So I’d been living at home ‘cos I didn’t have any money. My dad was like, ‘If you leave now, you aren’t going to have a home to come back to!’ They were so terrified. My mom was having visions of the van crashing... They’re very overprotective. But, after that I ended up with Jenny and through Jenny I went on tour with Julian. It made my parents more at ease.”
Taking up guitar/percussion duties for The Strokes singer brought a whole new level of attention. Not all entirely welcomed.
“No-one really knew who we were,” says Danielle. “But we got a lot of Julian fans on our Twitter. The first 500 followers!”
“I just loved when we looked online,” laughs Alanah, “and there was a Tumblr page just for Danielle’s legs. It was creepy.”
“It was weird,” nods Danielle. “As if I wanted to have a Tumblr just about my gams: ‘Someone’s finally answered my prayers!’”
If anyone wants to set one up for this humble HP correspondent, feel free.
“Oh yeah, you’d embrace it!” says Este, sizing me up. “’Someone’s been reading my diary!’ With Danielle leaving so young, I think it also helped that Alanah and I told our parents, ‘You need to let her go’. We’re kinda the voices of reason.”
“But still,” Danielle whispers, rolling her eyes. “Our parents still come on tour with us.”
“They miss us,” counters Este. “There’s only so much they can talk about when we’re not around! Honestly, I don’t how you can be married for that long. We’re kinda all they have most of the time.”
Mr. and Mrs. Haim will have to find some
hobbies. They’ll soon be sharing their daughters with the world.

Have a listen at soundcloud.com/haimtime