By Dale Y the Green Guy
There has been an Indie-to-mainstream musical movement over the past year, and in case you haven’t heard, some heretofore Indie bands have crossed over. People like Lorde, Chvrches and even established acts like The Black Keys and Jack White are coming out of the Indie shadows and making a mark in mainstream music. The world of music is beginning to turn in a slightly different direction, but no band has made a bigger splash than Haim.
Pronounced Hy-Um, they are a band of sisters, fronted by Danielle, the lead singer and guitarist, Alana, who plays just about everything and is nicknamed “Merlin” because she is a magician at her musical station on tour, and the oldest sibling, Este, who also does lead singing and plays bass. Este is the oldest, tall and blonde, and by age the natural leader. But she is best known for what is called her “bass face.” She gets totally into the music and contorts her facial expressions into distorted shapes and menacing scowls, that take her bass playing to a new level of awareness. The band is rounded out by drummer Dash Hutton, son of Danny Hutton, one of the lead singers from the legendary group 3 Dog Night.
Haim burst on the scene last year, seemingly out of no where, and their debut album, “Days Are Gone” rocketed to #6 in the U.S. and #2 in the U.K. the week it was released. This feat amazingly being done by a relatively unknown band. One of their songs, “Forever” has even been used by the department store “Target” to accent their summer clothes selection. However, what most people don’t know is that Haim, the band of sisters, have been playing together as a formed band since 2007. In fact, one of their bigger singles, called “The Wire,” was written during that period, and it is just now receiving recognition.
Haim toiled as a wanna-be rock and roll Indie band, sometimes playing 50 person venues where only 8 or 9 people showed up. But they never gave up, and in 2012 they released “Forever” as their first EP single, and from that they gained their first national recognition at the 2012 SXSW festival. By August of 2012, they became the opening act for Mumford and Sons, and in 2013, they began playing music festivals and TV gigs. Most notable was Late Night with David Letterman, the famous Glastonbury Festival in England, and landing the musical guest gig on Saturday Night Live. Suddenly, the 3 sisters, and a mister, from the San Fernando Valley, had become stars!
They began winning awards for their music. The BBC award for the best band of 2013, the NME award for the Best International Band, and awards for their blogs and social media status on Twitter!
In 2014, they killed Coachella, being the most watched band on Day #1, and following up that performance during the second week. Although they have an almost a 70’s or 80’s feel to their music, they tear it up on stage and have become a must-see live band because of their stage show, with such notables as Ke$ha, Lorde, Jay Z and others, attending.
Haim is now working on their next album, and are planning another world tour to support it. They just came off of their first American tour, and the venues were sold out as soon as the tickets were available, literally months in advance.
If you like rock and roll, if you like girls with long hair, if you like guitar shredding, primal drum beats, catchy tunes and lyrics, and a band that is brilliant in every aspect of musicianship, then you are going to love Haim!
Haim singing “Forever” on Letterman
Haim and “Falling” at Coachella, 2014
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Haim, “T in the Park,” live music at it’s best.
The Green Guy can be reached at daleythegreenguy@imoveilive.com