Tegan and Sara
is a band consisting of Canadian singer-songwriters and identical twins, [1] Tegan Rain Quin
and Sara Kiersten Quin
(born September 19, 1980). [2]
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TEGAN AND SARA TICKETS
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Biography and musical career
Tegan and Sara were born in
Calgary,
Alberta. They initially played as PLUNK and lacked a
drummer and
bass player. In 1997, they both used their school’s recording studio to record two demo albums:
Who's in Your Band?
and
Play Day
.
[3] In 1998, they made an early breakthrough by winning Garage Warz Battle of the Bands, a local music competition in Calgary.
[4] Since then, the two have toured with
Neil Young,
Rufus Wainwright,
Kaki King,
Northern State,
An Horse,
The Pretenders,
Ben Folds,
The Killers,
Rachael Cantu,
Vivek Shraya,
Cake,
Gogol Bordello,
Hot Hot Heat,
Ryan Adams,
[5] Veda Hille,
Little Birdy,
Iron On,
Little Brazil,
Bryan Adams and
Weezer. They also performed a show at
Sarah McLachlan's
Lilith Fair. They are signed to
Neil Young's
Vapor Records in Canada and to
Sire in the United States as their previous label,
Sanctuary Records, is no longer releasing new music in the United States. Currently, Tegan lives in Vancouver and Sara lives in Montreal.
[6]
When they were competing in Garage Warz, they were known as "Sara and Tegan" because that is how their mother registered them on the competition forms. Their first album,
Under Feet Like Ours
, was initially released under the name "Sara and Tegan";
copies are now a sought-after commodity among their fans.
While both twins are similarly involved in vocals and playing instruments, the singing of the lead melody usually goes to whichever twin wrote the particular song. The two usually do not sing together on their early albums, however, they do on their later albums and in concert.
Their fifth album,
The Con
, was released on
July 24,
2007.
It was co-produced by
Chris Walla of
Death Cab for Cutie.
Jason McGerr of
Death Cab for Cutie,
Matt Sharp of
The Rentals (who was with
Weezer during
The Blue Album
and
Pinkerton
),
Hunter Burgan of
AFI and
Kaki King appears on the album.
[7]
Cover songs and collaborations
In 2003,
Ryan Adams played a live cover of "
Monday Monday Monday" while Tegan and Sara opened for him.
In 2004, they covered David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel" in "Spiders from Venus: Women Cover David Bowie".
In 2005,
The White Stripes performed a cover of Tegan and Sara's song "
Walking with a Ghost", which was released on that band's
Walking with a Ghost
EP. "Walking with a Ghost" was also used in a
mashup dance remix bootleg by
Party Ben [8] with a song by
Mylo, "Paris Four Hundred", under the title "Walking with a Ghost in Paris", which became a sought-after club track after an influential dance radio station in the
United States, C-89.5/
KNHC/
Seattle, Washington, started playing the song.
In 2005, the two performed a cover of
Cyndi Lauper's version of
Prince's "
When You Were Mine".
Tegan and Sara have performed covers of Flock of Seagull's I Ran.
In 2006, Tegan and Sara also contributed a cover of
Bruce Springsteen's, "
Dancing in the Dark", to Australian radio station
Triple J's
Like a Version
radio programme. The track was released on a compilation disc of that programme's songs,
Like a Version: Volume Two
.
Tegan has contributed backup vocals to "The Alphabet" by
Vivek Shraya, "Never Give Up" by
Melissa Ferrick, "La Le La La" by
Kinnie Starr, "Hey Kids" by
David Usher, "Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart" by
Against Me! and "Saturday" by
Rachael Cantu.
In 2007, Sara contributed backup vocals to
The Reason's "We're So Beyond This" and
Vivek Shraya's "Your Name".
In 2007, Sara recorded a cover of
R.E.M.'s "Sweetness Follows", from the album
Automatic for the People
, on the
Stereogum album
Drive XV: A Tribute to Automatic for the People
, with previous Tegan and Sara collaborators
Ted Gowans and
Kaki King providing the music.
In 2007, Tegan and Sara performed a cover of
Rihanna's "
Umbrella".
In 2008, Sara had an appearance in
Kaki King's music video for "Pull Me Out Alive".
In 2008, Tegan wrote & performed "His Love" as a companion piece to the Augusten Burrough's novel,
A Wolf at the Table
.
In March 2008, "Friends of P – Tribute to The Rentals" was released, and Tegan and Sara contributed their recording of "Man With Two Brains."
In addition to their own set, Tegan and Sara performed with DJ Tiesto during the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival on
June 13,
2008. Tegan and Sara surprised the audience and appeared as guests, providing live vocals for Tiesto's remix of "Back In Your Head".
[9]
It was also confirmed in Hunter Burgan's Blog (Who played Bass for all of Tegan's songs on The Con) that both him and Tegan will be involved in an upcoming electronic side-project.
[10]
Television and film
Tegan and Sara have made many television appearances, including
Vicki Gabereau's Canadian talk show, CityTV's "Ethnosonic",
The Late Show with David Letterman
,
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,
MuchMusic's
The New Music
and
Brad TV
,
Sonic Temple
,
Jonovision
,
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
(on more than one occasion),
Jimmy Kimmel Live
(
March 23,
2005) and
The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn
(
November 11,
2004). They also played "Monday Monday Monday" on
ZeD
, and thus the song appeared on the 2003 CD
ZeD: Live Off The Floor
.
[11]
Their songs have appeared on several soundtracks, including those for the films
Monster-in-Law
and
Sweet November
. Tracks are also found on the television shows
Grey's Anatomy
,
The L Word
season 3,
Veronica Mars
season 2,
One Tree Hill
seasons 1 and 2, and
jPod
. On The-N's channel, their song "The Con" was played repeatedly between television programs.
Tegan and Sara also had a guest appearance as themselves on the
The L Word
, playing the song "Love Type Thing". The episode was entitled "Last Dance" and aired on
March 19,
2006.
They also appeared on
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on
April 23,
2008.
Their song "Time Running" was used in the Scooby Doo episode "Mummies Scare Best"
Accomplishments
Tegan and Sara have been profiled in a number of magazines and their albums have been included on several notable "best of" lists. In the fall of 2003, they graced the cover of
ROCKRGRL
magazine issue #49, which focused on a tribute to duos. In 2004,
Rolling Stone
magazine named their album
So Jealous
on their list of the best 50 albums of the year.
[12] Tegan and Sara were nominated for a 2006
Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year alongside
Hot Hot Heat,
Metric,
The New Pornographers and
Broken Social Scene. They were also nominated for 2008 Alternative Album of the Year alongside
Arcade Fire,
Wintersleep,
Holy Fuck and
Patrick Watson. The 2008 Junos were presented on
April 6 in Calgary, Alberta and they lost to Arcade Fire. More recently, they appeared on the cover of the Summer 2007 issue of
Under the Radar
, the March 2008 cover of
Alternative Press
magazine and Spinner.com placed them at #7 on their list of .
Personal lives
Although their sexuality is rarely overtly the subject of their songs, the fact that both sisters are
lesbians has been the subject of some interest to the music press.
[13]
Band members
right
Current
- Tegan Quin – vocals, guitar, keyboard, piano, MalletKAT, and various percussion
- Sara Quin – vocals, guitar, keyboard, piano, and various percussion
- Edward "Ted" Gowans – guitar, keyboard, and MalletKAT
- Shaun Huberts – bass guitar, synth bass, keyboards, and various percussion
- Johnny "Five" Andrews – drums, and various percussion
Previous
- Dan Kelly – bass guitar (until Fall 2007)
- Chris Carlson – bass guitar (until 2006)
- Rob Chursinoff – drums (until 2005)
Discography
Albums
- Yellow Demo
(1998)
- Orange Demo
(1998)
- Red Demo
(1998)
- Under Feet Like Ours
(1999) [14]
- This Business of Art
(2000)
- If It Was You
(2002)
- So Jealous
(2004)
- The Con
(2007)
- I'll Take the Blame
EP (2007)
- Live Session EP: Tegan and Sara
(2008)
- The Con Demos
(2008)
Singles
- "The First" (2000)
- "Time Running" (2003)
- "I Hear Noises" (2003)
- "Monday Monday Monday" (2003)
- "Walking with a Ghost" (2004)
- "Speak Slow" (2004)
- "Back in Your Head" (2007)
- "The Con" (2007)
Music videos
- "The First" (2000)
- "I Hear Noises" (2002, directed by Sean Michael Turrell)
- "Monday Monday Monday" (2003, directed by Christopher Mills)
- "Living Room" (2003, directed by Kaare Andrews)
- "Walking with a Ghost" (2004, directed by Troy Nixey)
- "Speak Slow" (2005, directed by Tegan Quin/Angela Kendall/Brian Dutkewich)
- "This is Everything" (Angela Kendall) [15]
- "Back in Your Head" (2007, directed by Jamie Travis)
- "The Con" (2007, directed by Suzie Vlcek)
DVDs
- It's Not Fun, Don't Do It!
(2006)
- The Con - The Movie
(2007) [16]
Awards and nominations
Year
| Award
| For
| Result
|
2000
| YTV Achievement Award
| Band/Musical Group
| Won
|
2003
| Western Canadian Music Awards
| Outstanding Pop Recording (If It Was You
)
| Won
|
2006
| Juno Awards
| Alternative Album of the Year (So Jealous
)
| Nominated (lost to Broken Social Scene)
|
2007
| Juno Awards
| DVD of the Year (It's Not Fun Don't Do It
)
| Nominated (lost to Sarah Harmer)
|
2008
| Juno Awards
| Alternative Album of the Year (The Con
)
| Nominated (lost to Arcade Fire)
|
References
- The Mighty Quins
- Nervous Breakthroughs
- Tegan and Sara biography
- Tegan and Sara
- Tegan and Sara: SO JEALOUS
- Tegan and Sara Reinventing Queer Stereotypes in Rock Music
- Title Unavailable
- Title Unavailable
- http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/festivus/2008/06/bonnaroo-2008-day-3.html
- http://www.spinner.com/2008/03/04/tegan-and-saras-tegan-quin-launches-side-project/
- "ZeD: Live off the Floor," ''CBC Shop Online'', URL accessed 13 March 2007.
- Records of the Year
- spinner.com=http://www.spinner.com/2007/06/11/rockin-out-interview-tegan-and-saras-tegan-quin/
- initially released under Sara and Tegan, re-released under Tegan and Sara in 2001
- hidden video on It's Not Fun, Don't Do It dvd. Officially a music video as discussed on the commentary
- On the DVD portion of the CD/DVD ''The Con''