Top 10 Things You Didn't Know About HAIM

Este, the eldest of the three ladies, is the only of the three girls with a University degree. She majored in ethno musicography, aka. the study of music in culture, at UCLA. Her focus was on Brazilian percussion including conga and carnival drumming, as well as Bulgarian folk music. A seemingly strange combination, that makes a lot more sense when you consider the harmonies and rhythms that the band is known for. Her degree might just be what their band needed to strike the right chords with American audiences.

When the band was just starting out, their star-studded L.A. connections got them some pretty impressive beginner gigs. Their first tour was opening for Julian Casablancas’ band. Their debut was cut short when Julien suggested the band disappear for a while, giving them time to regroup and refocus. They followed the advice of The Strokes’ frontman, and took themselves off the touring circuit to practice and record. This time away paid off in the end, with the girls really discovering their sound.

Ever since the three sisters were young, music was an ever-present part of their lives. Their parents were musicians and taught the girls music, but it was their dad who encouraged them from a young age to take up different instruments from each other. Unlike other parents, he put an academic emphasis on the arts rather than in math or science. His hopes for the band—which supposedly came to him in a dream—differed from their present situation, with his original plan being for them to form a full-on Partridge Family-style ensemble.

If there's one thing that makes Haim stand out, it’s their addictive, unusual guitar riffs by the talented Danielle. No middle child syndrome here; not only does she play the guitar and do the vocals for Haim, she’s actually better known to some for her killer drum sets. Her skills on the drums are so finely tuned that Danielle could have comfortably made a living from it, which is exactly what she did before the band’s conception, touring first with Jenny Lewis and then Cee Lo Green. She gave it up two years later, deciding that she’d rather rock out with her sisters instead.

When nine-year-old Este was asked to pick up the bass guitar for the band by her father, it was a hard sell. She finally agreed when her dad showed her a live version of The Talking Heads who, at the time, had a female bassist. Este went all in, developing what came to be affectionately known as her ‘bassface,’ a term for the crazy expressions she pulls while playing. She even went so far as to make it her Twitter handle. Este admits that she occasionally thinks she should reel her expressions in, but doing so would cause her to lose focus on what really matters: good rock.

Everyone's gotta start somewhere, and that’s no exception for Haim. The first show the trio played was when they were in their early teens and it took place at a Jewish diner, with the girls being paid in matzo ball soup. It might have been embarrassing if the girls weren't youngsters at the time. When Este developed diabetes at the age of 14, Haim decided to shift their focus from Jewish soul food to volunteer shows for diabetes foundations to help raise money for a cure. This helped the girls prepare for a life of touring while keeping them down to earth.

Don't get your pitchforks out just yet; the girls are actually huge fans of this band. When asked by the Arctic Monkeys to provide guest vocals for their hit song “Do I Wanna Know”, it was a big disappointment to the girls when they had to turn it down. Unfortunately (or fortunately) Haim already had recording session scheduled for their album on the dates the Monkeys needed them to be available, so the group declined and opted to make their own music instead. We're glad they did, as their iconic songs “Don’t Save Me” and “The Wire” came out of the session. Nonetheless, there's no denying it would have been a killer collaboration.

It's no accident that Haim has great rhythm; the vocals keep time with the drums, and the guitar harmonizes perfectly on the off beats, and that might be because all three girls were trained on the drums at just four years old. Strangely enough, even with so much rhythmic talent the group still opted to hire drummer Dash Hutton for their band. It must be a lot of pressure drumming alongside the three talented sisters.

Way back before they were the band we know and love, Este and Danielle were in a full-on tween-pop band called Valli Girls. They put out songs with names like “It’s A Hair Thing” and “Born To Lead”. Needless to say the band didn't gain much traction on the indie music scene and quickly split up a few months after getting together. However the band did manage to land a song on the soundtrack for “The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants,” and even scored the theme song for the Trollz TV show. Maybe the Valli girls weren't so bad, after all; they were like, totally awesome!

When forming the first draft of the band, the family opted for the name Rockinhaim. Doesn't quite roll off the tongue, but the reason for the name is that 'haim' means ‘life’ in Urdu, meaning their name would have meant ‘rockin life’. Good one. When reforming the band in 2012, the sisters dropped the ‘rockin’ from their title and were all the cooler for it. Although the parents have bowed out of the group, the girls have been known to put the family band back together for guest appearances at their shows.