Everyone Are Welcome to Join as the Extra Haim Member.
"Do you know when you'll be chatting with Haim?" a text reads. "I was hoping to ask if I can become their fourth member."
There's just a key snag: The sender also longs to be Haim's newest recruit. What's more, we are in plentiful company. A host of high-profile supporters have openly petitioned for the role.
It's clear a special quality is going on. Sisters Este, Danielle and Alana began their path doing sets at local delicatessens with their family. Presently, they stand as repeated Grammy Award contenders.
Like all the best ensembles, they're a inseparable unit. Their visuals frequently show them marching in harmony down the roads of Los Angeles. During performances, they jam with such boundless exuberance you inevitably think, "I want to be involved in that, too."
"The amount of times on tour that young girls came up to us and said, 'Watching you live, I bought a guitar'," remarks Alana, the youngest of the trio. "That's the ultimate honor. That's an award in itself. We've done our job if we can motivate young girls to start a band."
"Therefore all is invited to be the fourth part of the family."
Award Nod
The band have called into a break, where they're taking a pause after an lengthy tour in for their fourth album, I Quit.
They're presently celebrating the news it's been shortlisted for Best Rock Album at the Grammy Awards – with Haim the first all-female band ever in the running for the prize.
"I tune into the lists every year, so it kind of feels like a surreal movie when your name is called," explains Alana. "I needed to phone my sisters to say, 'Am I hearing this right or am I dreaming'?"
The importance of the accolade resonates with the band.
"We truly set out to make a rock album this time, so it's a huge step," adds Alana. "Yet we're just grateful for the pioneers that came before us."
Emotional Upheaval and Humour
The record was born from a phase of emotional upheaval. All three sisters found themselves single, and the music inhabits that strange transitional period where you're glad to be free, but not quite ready to let go.
The lyrics track departures and goodbyes. The sisters desire love, but not the relationships they've had. You can hear them working out in the moment who they are becoming.
"That's a perfect summary, yes," responds Danielle. "I Quit is essentially a personal statement. You have to make an effort in blocking the outside opinions and saying, 'I don't give what people think'."
Development of Sound
That recent resilience required a fresh approach – more raw and immediate than anything the band had done before.
For Danielle, who helped produce the album, that was founded on the drum sound.
"The drum sound is such a detailed thing, and I care so much about it," she emphasizes.
"'Journey of the drum sound' will be the name of our memoir," jokes Alana. "Our motto is, our albums won't commence until we find the perfect drum sound."
Anecdotes and Shared Camaraderie
The trio's openness fueled the album's promotional campaign, where the sisters shared some of their romantic misadventures.
One man ended things with Este over a health concern. Alana recalled a story of travelling to spend New Year's Eve with someone, only to receive a friendly slap at midnight.
"When you're going through these heartbreaks, you just feel like there's no hope," notes Alana. "Thus to be able to share those stories and have them tell you even crazier stories, it's therapeutic."
An Assured Legacy
One can easily sense a shift in the band. Today, Haim are more certain of their standing in the rock pantheon.
They're festival headliners, with hit albums and an international audience.
But the sister act will forever be their number one commitment.
"We have been playing music since I was four," concludes Alana. "It feels as if no alternative that we were meant to do. And I'm really grateful we've reached this point and we're still kicking."