Rocking to their own beat

Sheeran, Alt-J compete for Mercury Prize

NEW YORK, July 27, (Agencies): The rock trio Haim remembers filming their first music video for just $200 before they were signed to a record label.

The clip for the song “Forever,” released in 2013, features Alana, Danielle and Este Haim riding bikes, playing the guitar in their parents’ living room and dancing in a hair salon (while imitating moves by Destiny’s Child), infused with videos from their early childhood.

It is carefree, but meticulous, with the Haim sisters at the creative forefront.

Fast forward four years with the release of their sophomore album, and the trio is still in charge, and executing their own vision. They write their music while also playing the drums, electric guitar, bass guitar and percussion; they buy and style their clothes; and they design their own music video treatments and album packaging.

“We’ve just never known it any other way. We don’t do anything unless we are 100 percent invested. Everything you see just comes straight from us, every idea,” Danielle, 28, said in a recent interview.

Jump

“I think the reason why it has been that way from the jump is (because) no one really can come for us because we are so opinionated,” said Alana, the youngest sister at 25. “I think I know what I don’t want to do more than what I do want to do.”

Danielle said she was signed a teenager to a group along with Este, 31, but is happy they parted ways.

“We didn’t write our own songs ... we were so young, like babies, like 13, so after that we quit the band and for the next eight years we just grinded it out in Los Angeles playing every venue for zero people,” she recalled. “We worked from the bottom ... (and) we’re not going to compromise because that just would be horrible.”

Since the release of their 2013 debut, the critical darling “Days Are Gone,” Haim has spent most of their time on tour — headlining their own shows and also opening up for close friend Taylor Swift. They also earned a Grammy nomination in 2015 for best new artist.

They said they’ve always known what kind of artists they want to be.

“We’re kind of a wolf pack. I don’t know if you can tell,” Este said, laughing.

Danielle credits The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas, who she toured with, for helping the band take charge of their careers: “He was so detail

“I was beyond overwhelmed with the response I received from community leaders, D.C. pundits, and blue-collar folks that are just simply tired of the extreme left and right bullshit,” he said. (RTRS) oriented, and I think we just learned from that.”

And though they’re signed to JayZ’s Roc Nation management, they say the rap icon lets them do their own thing.

“It’s just great to be a part of company that’s so supportive of whatever you need. (They’re like), ‘Let me know. Let us know. We support you.’ To be a part of that, especially with someone like (Jay-Z), it’s just so amazing,” Danielle said.

The girls co-wrote each song on “Something to Tell You,” which debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 albums chart this month. Grammywinning producer Ariel Rechtshaid, who worked on Haim’s debut and also produced for Vampire Weekend, Usher and Charli XCX, returns on the album, along with helpers like former Vampire Weekend member Rostam Batmanglij, Dev Hynes (Solange, FKA twigs), Twin Shadow and Matt Sweeney.

Danielle said returning from the road and heading straight to the studio made them feel like “road warriors.”

“And we felt kind of on fire as a band,” Este added.

“We felt really locked in as band,” Danielle chimed in.

The studio felt like a playground, Alana said, as the girls wrote and recorded songs that captured “a lot of ups, a lot of downs, kind of like a crazy roller-coaster going through the last four years of our lives.”

LONDON:

Also:

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran was nominated Thursday for the prestigious Mercury Prize for his third album “Divide”, going up against breakthrough grime star Stormzy and former winners Alt-J and The xx.

“What these artists have in common is an infectious pleasure in music making and an arresting sense of urgency about the music they make,” the jury said in a statement announcing the 12 shortlisted albums.

“They delight in exploring musical possibilities and refusing to be pinned down by genre conventions”.

Sheeran is in the running for his record-breaking third album “Divide,” which topped the album charts in several countries including his native Britain, Australia and the United States.

It also smashed Spotify records, drawing nearly 57 million listens on its first day of release.

The previous record was held by The Weeknd’s “Starboy”, which drew 29 million streams on its release date.

TORONTO:

Rolling Stone magazine has put liberal Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the cover of its latest issue and asks: “Why Can’t He Be Our President?”

Perhaps recognizing that only Americanborn US citizens can become president, the magazine takes a different tack on its website. There, its headline for the article posted Wednesday is: “Justin Trudeau: Is the Canadian Prime Minister the Free World’s Best Hope?”

Trudeau is pictured with his shirt sleeves rolled up and perched on the edge of a desk.

In the profile, writer Stephen Rodrick outlines stark contrasts between Trudeau’s liberal views on health care, marijuana legalization and environmental policies and those voiced by US President Donald Trump. (AP)