They say never to meet your heroes, but Este Haim got a chance to talk with hers over the phone recently. The HAIM sister chatted with fellow bassist Tina Weymouth for Interview Magazine and got to tell her about how influential her playing was on her own craft.
While on the topic of her musical family, Haim talked about her father being a drummer, and the Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club icon asked if he chose bass as her instrument. "Yes. You were also very instrumental in all of that," Haim replied.
After detailing her parents' music-based romance, Haim detailed them passing their passion down to her and her sisters: "When Danielle and I were kids, my mom taught us how to play guitar. Danielle, as a five-year-old, completely surpassed me, I wasn't really allowed to watch MTV, so I didn't really know what that looked like, a girl playing bass," she explained. "I'd seen Joni Mitchell play guitar. I was like, 'Okay, yeah, girls can play guitar.' But then my dad was like, 'Ha ha ha, let me show you something.'"
She continued:
He took me to the video store and he got Stop Making Sense on VHS. I was transfixed the entire time. The film itself is magical, but I think the most magical part is your part in it. I was completely enamoured with you and how much fun you were having. I was like, "Oh my god, this girl's having such a good time on stage. She's dancing and she's singing, and she's really getting into it." So I was like, "That's what I want to do. That looks like fun."
Later on in the conversation, Weymouth talked about touring Stop Making Sense, and how it was the first time she had a designated change room: "That was the first time with the big band that I could be in a dressing room separate from the men. I'm sure you've had [similar] situations. I've had to change in cars and in porta potties."
After Haim agreed that sometimes she had to get "scrappy" while changing, Weymouth continued: "It was really a luxury not to have to think, 'Oh gosh, how am I going to change in this situation?' In the early days, I just wore the same thing on stage as after, so it wasn't such a problem."
It makes sense that Haim, like many of us, was deeply inspired by Stop Making Sense, considering we recently gave its A24 remaster a 10/10.
While on the topic of her musical family, Haim talked about her father being a drummer, and the Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club icon asked if he chose bass as her instrument. "Yes. You were also very instrumental in all of that," Haim replied.
After detailing her parents' music-based romance, Haim detailed them passing their passion down to her and her sisters: "When Danielle and I were kids, my mom taught us how to play guitar. Danielle, as a five-year-old, completely surpassed me, I wasn't really allowed to watch MTV, so I didn't really know what that looked like, a girl playing bass," she explained. "I'd seen Joni Mitchell play guitar. I was like, 'Okay, yeah, girls can play guitar.' But then my dad was like, 'Ha ha ha, let me show you something.'"
She continued:
He took me to the video store and he got Stop Making Sense on VHS. I was transfixed the entire time. The film itself is magical, but I think the most magical part is your part in it. I was completely enamoured with you and how much fun you were having. I was like, "Oh my god, this girl's having such a good time on stage. She's dancing and she's singing, and she's really getting into it." So I was like, "That's what I want to do. That looks like fun."
Later on in the conversation, Weymouth talked about touring Stop Making Sense, and how it was the first time she had a designated change room: "That was the first time with the big band that I could be in a dressing room separate from the men. I'm sure you've had [similar] situations. I've had to change in cars and in porta potties."
After Haim agreed that sometimes she had to get "scrappy" while changing, Weymouth continued: "It was really a luxury not to have to think, 'Oh gosh, how am I going to change in this situation?' In the early days, I just wore the same thing on stage as after, so it wasn't such a problem."
It makes sense that Haim, like many of us, was deeply inspired by Stop Making Sense, considering we recently gave its A24 remaster a 10/10.
