Bands You Should Know: Haim

By Justin Cates

As you may have noticed recently in addition to our now trademark woeful lack of posts, I've ceased posting our somewhat popular recurring feature "Cover Tuesday's".

Essentially, I ran out of good versions of cover songs and stopped temporarily for fear of pushing mediocre content on the world–not to say that's stopped me before.

I don't really mind posting a rant that no one cares about—that puts me in company with about 15,000 other bloggers—but pushing mediocre music suddenly turns me into MTV and I WILL NOT become TRL 2.0 (unless MTV or some other network wishes to pay me an exorbitant fee, in which case I will quite quickly "sell out").

At any rate, I'm going to start posting about mildly obscure bands because there a few greater joys than discovering new music. 

To start with, I present Los Angeles rockers Haim (rhymes with lime).

The group features the Haim sisters sisters Este, Danielle and Alana along with drummer Dash Hutton.

Haim's first album Days Are Gone doesn't drop until September, but they've created plenty of buzz with their debut Forever EP released in 2012.

The songs are an interesting brand of funky, offbeat indie pop that makes for an excellent summer soundtrack.

Most articles about the band seem to try and paint them as some kind of modern take on seventies pop. I can't really comment on that specifically as apart from Zeppelin and Little Feat I've always been mortally terrified of that decade from a musical (and cultural) standpoint*.

The EP's title track, "Forever" is the catchiest cut on the record and the performance below from their appearance on Late Night with David Letterman was how I stumbled upon the group.



"The Wire" is a track from their new album that is incredibly catchy. Admittedly, the drum track is borrowed quite directly from The Eagles which does not please The Dude.

*For the sake of full disclosure, I did at one point own a Bee Gees Greatest Hits cassette and I quite enjoyed it.  

A Look at Warren Zevon: Part One

Damn it! Every time I apologize for a post hiatus, I manage to come right back with a magnificent lull. The only proper way to deal with this seems to be to stop apologizing and take no responsibility for any wrongdoing.

Anyway, my latest adoration in the singer/songwriter genre is for the genius of Mr. Warren Zevon.

Zevon's macabre humor and way with words helped forge some of the most lyrically intriguing songs in music history. His penchant for "hard-boiled" narratives told stories that were at once hilarious and heartbreaking.

Politics, the music business, celebrities; no one was off limits from the might of his pen, the growl of his guitar or the tinkling of the ivory keys on his piano.

His career spanned over four decades—not including the release of his 1969 debut album Wanted Dead Or Alive which Zevon said was released "to the sound of one hand clapping."

While Warren had only one "hit" in terms of solo chart success, 1978's "Werewolves of London", his albums created a cult following and he was respected throughout the business for his unique style and talents.

Zevon had a penchant for mischief and led a very hard life, struggling with substance abuse much like good friend Hunter S. Thompson, seen above giving Warren a mock check-up after he'd been diagnosed with terminal mesothelioma in the fall of 2002.

As Zevon told David Letterman during his final appearance on TV, "I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years."

During the same broadcast, Zevon also gave one of his most famous insights on life proclaiming that he learned to, "Enjoy every sandwich."

Below is his final public performance, the classic "Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner." This song still gives me goosebumps when the dual vocals come in once poor Roland has lost his head in the narrative.

Also below is the studio version of the track from 1978's smash album Excitable Boy.

It's much crisper obviously and the vocals are stronger, but the emotion of the moment in Zevon's last television appearance is palpable.

Since I mentioned it earlier, I've included "Werewolves of London" from the same album. It essentially sums up Zevon perfectly, and you should absolutely know any song with a chorus consisting of a wolf howl.