Tegan and Sara Quin Interview

Not all that long ago it hit me that I was not the typical Tegan and Sara fan. Maybe it was the over 2000 miles and countless hours of driving I put in to see them on three separate occasions in Vancouver, B.C. and Seattle and Olympia, Washington in the space of three months. Maybe it was all the money I spent on merchandise for myself and my friends. Or maybe it was when I found myself, a 24-year-old male, at a meet and greet with them and three other fans, all of whom were somewhat giggly teenage girls.

I first became enamored with Tegan and Sara not long after their third album, If It Was You, found its way into my music rotation. While their previous material was mostly acoustic and something that could likely be heard at a conference for female empowerment, If It Was You offered songs with mass appeal, regardless of gender (even if I still love their previous material). These lovable twins from Calgary have made a steady musical progression starting from the when they signed on Neil Young’s Vapor Records as a folk duo. They are now armed with the sound of a full band, complete with layered guitars, heart-felt vocals, thumping drums, and the occasional synth – all of which help fashion their own unique brand of indie-pop.

In mid-September I had the opportunity to meet Tegan and Sara in Vancouver on their birthdays (their 24th) – fresh off the release of their newest album, So Jealous. The other three fans at the meet and greet were juniors at local Vancouver high schools, so Tegan and Sara seemed quite impressed when I told them that I had driven nine hours from Pullman, Washington, where I was going to college, just to see their show. Not being a giggly teenage girl probably impressed them too.

After their show that night, featuring a break for several birthday cakes and balloons, Tegan and Sara stuck around to talk to and sign autographs for anyone who ventured over to the merchandise booth. After an hour of waiting for all the other fans to clear out, I walked over to the booth and asked them for an interview which, to my surprise, they enthusiastically said yes to. It was agreed that I would interview them in Seattle at an in-store show five days from then.

In Seattle they played an acoustic set to a packed record store where they again signed autographs, took pictures with, and talked to anyone who came up to them after the show. Due to their tight schedule that day, I was only able to interview Sara. After the last fan got their autograph, Sara and I wandered around the store like lost children in a crowded mall trying to find a suitable place for an interview. We eventually decided on their tour van parked out front. I crawled into the back while Sara curled up in the front passenger seat, leaning against the dash.

Dave Montgomery:  What prompted the changes between This Business of Art, If It Was You, and So Jealous?

Sara Quin:                You know like, when we were like 15, 16 and we could record and we had our own recording system at school, and all those little demos we made, and the first record, we were really just making music that was available to us. We had an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar so we were like “we’re gonna play acoustic and electric guitar.” We didn’t have a drummer and a bass player so when we hired out people it was a very minimal approach when they would come in and lay down tracks and stuff like that. After Business of Art, me and Tegan toured for like 2 years acoustically and when that record was done we were just like “what are we going to do?” And it was the first time we were like “let’s put together a band.” That was really the big transition, instead of getting people to play on top of what we were doing to accompany it, we were actually looking for people who wanted to work at doing what we really heard and fleshing it out and thinking about it.

So when we started working on If It Was You, it was like we were in the rehearsal spot as if we were a real band with a drummer and a bass player saying “okay, I’m thinking like this,” and working out parts we wanted to hear, and having somebody with an outside perspective give us not just “well, this is what I would do.” I think that that is the transition is that when you start working with other people it’s just natural that you expand.

I don’t think Tegan and I will always make records that sound like this or like our other records. I think that at heart we’re song writers and that’s what we do; I think that our sound will always change. So I don’t think anybody should expect to hear a record that sounds like our last record, unless we do it by accident. It’s just that the better we get, the more we do things, the more natural that it becomes to change.

DM:         Natural progression?

SQ:           Yeah, totally, just like changing your hair cut, you know.