Haim, The Californian sister rock trio are back for their first London show since their O2 Arena, Taylor Swift-starring, extravaganza last summer.
Bank Holiday Monday’s headline set, hot off the heels of the announcement of their new Louis Vuitton campaign is their debut at All Points East festival at east London’s Victoria Park, and a European exclusive.
Danielle Haim, Alana Haim, and Este Haim attend as Glamour celebrates the 2022 Women of the Year Awards on November 01, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Glamour)
Expect choreographed dance routines, rivalrous sibling banter, and the uptempo pop-rock and West Coast harmonies that scored them a UK record deal more than ten years ago. It’s unlikely that Swift will be flying over from her Mexico residency for a cameo this time, but nonetheless, this show should be as brilliant and celebratory as ever.
Haim - meaning “life” in Hebrew - are LA-born bassist Este, middle sister and lead singer/guitarist Danielle, and youngest sister and guitarist/keyboard-player Alana. Next month marks ten years since the release of their debut album Days Are Gone, a UK No1. They have since won a BRIT Award for Best International Group (2021) and four Grammy nominations, released three critically acclaimed albums including 2020’s Women in Music Pt. III, and played sold-out tours around the world.
Alana was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in the 2021 film Licorice Pizza. The band counts Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks as a mentor, and has contributed to Nicks’s songs as well as those by Charli XCX, Bastille, Vampire Weekend, Calvin Harris and Major Lazer.
Their parents, Mordechai (aka Moti) and Donna, who are known to fly from America to watch their daughters’ shows, met on a blind date and bonded over music when Moti began drumming at the table. Donna is a singer and guitarist of Polish heritage, while drummer Moti played football for Maccabi Jaffa and Maccabi Los Angeles. Donna has even joined her daughters on stage.
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They took their daughters to piano lessons and taught them music, launching their family cover band, Rockinhaim, when Alana was five. As teenagers, they’d jam in their parents’ lounge and listen to their grandmother’s Ofra Haza (the “Israeli Madonna”) cassettes.
Este and Danielle were in the pop group Valli Girls before forming Haim with 15-year-old Alana in 2007 and becoming a full-time band in 2012. Danielle had also played on tour with Jenny Lewis and Julian Casablancas.
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“When it comes to Judaism, the thing that really kept us together was the family aspect,” Alana told GQ in an interview this year. “It was the High Holidays, coming together as a family for an event. A meal.” Este said, “We did Shabbat, but that was more about just coming together as a family.”
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Their first Rockinhaim performance was at the Jewish LA deli Canter's, where they were remunerated with matzo-ball soup. Their plan to tour delis in reminiscence in 2020 was scuppered by Covid.
They released an updated version of Adam Sandler's The Chanukah Song in 2021, swapping the names in the original lyrics for their own choice of Jewish stars and collaborators including: Timothée Chalamet, Schitt’s Creek creators Dan and Eugene Levy, musicians Aaron and Bryce Dessner, and Maya Rudolph, as well as the late Stephen Sondheim.
An enthusiastic Sandler retweeted the video with the comment, “Love you ladies! You are three badass Jews! See you on tour!”
