HAIM recently visited Amoeba Hollywood for a special album release event and made time for some record shopping while they were here. In this What's In My Bag? episode, the bandmates and sisters give us a peek into some of the music and movies from their childhood, including Donna Summer's Love To Love You Baby, which guitarist/keyboardist Alana explains was often played when they were washing dishes. "I have great memories of drying," she said, adding that she was never a washer. "It's a great drying tempo."

Los Angeles pop rock band HAIM features Este Haim (bass), Alana Haim (guitars/keyboards), and Danielle Haim (lead vocals/guitar). The sisters began their musical careers early, backing their parents Moti and Donna in a family cover band called Rockinhaim. Este and Danielle performed together in pop band Valli Girls in the mid-'00s, releasing tracks on soundtrack and comp albums before Danielle departed to tour as a guitarist with Jenny Lewis and Julian Casablancas. In 2012, the women formed HAIM, releasing the Forever EP and attracting attention through a series of buzzed about appearances at SXSW which led to a deal with Polydor and a management contract with Jay-Z's Roc Nation.

       

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Tex-Mex, the melding of rock and roll with Chicano music, started in San Antonio and L.A. in the late 1950s. It quickly spread to all Mexican-American communities throughout the Southwest. It wasn’t called Tex-Mex in L.A., but there was a similar aesthetic in all the Chicano communities and I’ll lump them together for the purposes of this article.

Some of the more famous bands in Texas were The Sir Douglas Quintet,Sunny & the Sunliners,Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, Little Joe & the Latinaires, Freddie Fender, Rocky Gil, and The Royal Jesters. In L.A., it started with Ritchie Valens and Chris Montez, and the mid-‘60s saw the rise of Thee Midnighters, The Premiers, Cannibal & the Headhunters, and a host of lesser known bands.