Everyone Are Encouraged to Become the Fourth Haim Bandmate.
"Any idea when you're chatting with the Haim sisters?" a text reads. "I wanted to ask if I can join as their newest bandmate."
There's just a key snag: The author likewise wants to be Haim's newest recruit. Furthermore, we are in plentiful company. Multiple celebrated admirers have publicly petitioned for the position.
The evidence suggests something is at play. The siblings Este, Danielle and Alana started their path doing sets at neighborhood delis with their parents. Today, they are repeated Grammy contenders.
Similar to the greatest bands, they're a close trio. Their videos often depict them striding in sync down the roads of Los Angeles. During performances, they perform with such unfettered happiness you can't help but think, "I wish to be involved in that, too."
"The amount of times on tour that fans told us and said, 'After your show, I picked up a guitar'," remarks Alana, the youngest of the trio. "That's the greatest honour. That's an award in itself. Our mission is accomplished if we can inspire others to make music."
"And thus anyone are welcome to be the fourth Haim sister."
Award Milestone
The group are connecting from home, where they're resting up after an extensive tour in support of their fourth album, I Quit.
They're currently processing the news it's been in the running for best rock album at the Grammys – with Haim the very first all-woman band ever in consideration for the trophy.
"I tune into the lists every year, so it almost feels like a surreal movie when your name is called," says Alana. "I needed to phone my sisters to say, 'Did we just hear this right or am I hallucinating'?"
The significance of the nomination resonates with the sisters.
"We truly set out to make a guitar-driven album this time, so it's a major achievement," continues Alana. "Yet we're just grateful for the female artists that inspired us."
Heartbreak and Humour
The project was born from a phase of emotional upheaval. All three sisters ended up single, and the music inhabits that unique transitional period where you're glad to be free, but not entirely ready to let go.
The lyrics track departures and partings. The sisters desire love, but not the kind of love they've experienced. You can hear them working out in real life who they are becoming.
"That's a perfect way of putting it, yes," says Danielle. "I Quit is essentially a mantra. You have to consciously practice shutting out the outside opinions and saying, 'I don't give what people think'."
Development of Music
That recent toughness demanded a different sonic direction – more organic and powerful than anything the band had done before.
For Danielle, who worked on producing the album, that began with the drum sound.
"Percussion is such a detailed thing, and I care so much about it," she states.
"'Journey of the drum sound' will be the name of our biography," laughs Alana. "I've said it, our albums don't start until we find the right drum sound."
Anecdotes and Collective Humor
The trio's openness shaped the album's marketing, where the sisters revealed some of their dating misadventures.
Someone ended things with Este over a health consideration. Alana told a story of travelling to celebrate New Year's Eve with someone, only to receive a friendly slap at midnight.
"During these heartbreaks, you just feel like there's no hope," says Alana. "So to be able to laugh at those stories and hear others tell you even crazier stories, it's therapeutic."
An Assured Future
It's not difficult sense a change in the band. Today, Haim are more confident of their standing in the industry.
They're major draws, with successful albums and an global audience.
However Haim will forever be their number one focus.
"My sisters and I have been performing since I was four," says Alana. "It's like nothing else that we were meant to do. And I'm really fortunate we've gotten here and we're still kicking."