Tegan and Sara - Interview

Tegan's childhood dreams included being a clown, working as a veterinarian with polar bears in the Arctic and being a rock star, of course. Sara wanted to be a lawyer and live in Boston. Thankfully the combat boots (for kicking around at punk gigs) the twins received from their mom back in Junior High put them closer in step with Tegan’s musical aspirations.

Since then the Calgary, Alberta, Canada-born duo have toured with many bands and performers, including The Killers, Hot Hot Heat, Ryan Adams, Rufus Wainwright, Neil Young, and Ben Folds. Tegan and Sara are currently touring with Cake supporting So Jealous (Vapor/Sanctuary). But none of this would be possible without mom.

“My mom was way cooler than Tegan and I,” says Sara. “She went back to University when we were in elementary school, so when we were going to Junior High and we’d be going back-to-school shopping she’d be like, ‘Do you want to get you noses pierced?’ We’d go to all these crazy stores where all her friends who were in their twenties would shop. She tried to get us combat boots and tried to get us to dress cool, but we didn’t want to. We dressed the way we wanted the first six months and then we ended up being geeky. That’s when we started letting her pick things. It’s normal now. We’re cooler than our mom, I think?”

Sara’s parents also decorated their house with sounds of the 70’s, leaving a lasting impression on the girls until they made their own discoveries, like the Smashing Pumpkins.

“There was so much music in our lives,” says Sara. “There was a transition period where what my parents were listening to became what I wanted to listen to…David Bowie and Led Zeppelin and The Police and that sort of stuff…I remember being thirteen and going to school and hearing The Smashing Pumpkins. I remember hearing “Siamese Dream.” Much Music in Canada was really playing that video with the ice cream truck…I had never heard music like that before and I remember that moment, for sure. That’s when it transitioned for me. I started seeking out what was in the city, what was local. We would go to punk gigs and indie rock gigs. Because of the Internet, I think it’s really genre-fied everything now, but at the time I knew there was music that your parents listened to on the radio and then there was the music that didn’t get played on the radio.”

Growing up as a fan, Sara still treats music with religious respect and acknowledges that Tegan and she are fortunate to be performers.

“We grew up very average, normal kids,” says Sara. “It wasn’t like we were piano virtuosos or something when we were six-years-old…We really literally were obsessed with music all the time. When I figured out that we could do it when we were fifteen or so, we just started writing songs. I guess we’re accidental artists…It’s an incredible job because there are so many jobs where you don’t get that kind of validation on a daily basis.”

Tegan and Sara perform at Hammerstein Ballroom on January 20.

Originally published in The Aquarian Weekly 1/18/08.

Tegan and Sara performing "So Jealous."