We’ve done so many things in our career, despite what people in the industry have said,” the sister trio told ‘ELLE UK’ in a new interview
Against all odds, Haim has become one of the biggest all-girl rock bands in the world.
In a new cover story interview with ELLE UK, the sister trio opened up about record executives doubting their ability to make it as women rock stars — and how they proved such naysayers wrong.
Alana, Danielle and Este Haim grew up performing in a family covers band called Rockinhaim with their parents, dad Moti and mom Donna. “We played at country fairs, church fairs, charity events,” Alana, 31, told the outlet. “In our minds, we weren’t great — we were amazing.”
The sisters decided to become a trio in 2007, and Danielle recalled them writing “really bad songs” and playing small shows. They’d later earn critical acclaim with singles like “Forever” and “The Wire” in 2013 — but in the interim, they faced sexist pushback.
“No one wanted to sign us,” said Alana. “The amount of people who were like, ‘You’re never going to make it. Give up!'”
Danielle, 34, echoed her statement. “People would say to us, ‘You’ll never get a record deal. A girl rock band, unfortunately, is not something you see,'” recalled the lead vocalist. “People used to say that s— all the time. But we had such a crazy focus, plus we’re sisters — we’re like a wolf pack.”
The “Gasoline” performers have since earned three Grammy nominations and played sold-out concerts at massive arenas like New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
“We’ve done so many things in our career, despite what people in the industry have said,” said Danielle. “Being told you’ll never sell out a venue, then you do. You’ll never headline a festival, and then we do. It fuels the fire.”
Despite their success, Haim has still experienced hardships as women in the music industry. In the ELLE UK interview, they recalled finding out a male rock band was getting paid 10 times more than them to perform at the same festival.
After the incident, they fired their booking agent — who also represented the male rock band in question. “I think I can comfortably say that will never happen again,” declared Alana.