Tegan and Sara
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tegan and Sara | |
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Tegan Quin (left) and Sara Quin at a concert in Kingston, Ontario
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| Background information | |
| Born | September 19, 1980 |
| Origin | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Genre(s) | Indie rock, indie pop |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, keyboards, synth |
| Years active | 1995–present[1] |
| Label(s) | Vapor, Sanctuary, Sire |
| Website | www.teganandsara.com |
| Members | |
| Sara Kiersten Quin Tegan Rain Quin |
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Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Kiersten Quin (born September 19, 1980, identical twins[2]) are Canadian singer-songwriters, performing as Tegan and Sara.
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Tegan and Sara were born in Calgary, Alberta. They initially played as PLUNK, and lacked a drummer or bass player. In 1997, the two 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 extensively with many artists, including Neil Young, Rufus Wainwright, Kaki King, The Pretenders,[4] 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 and performed one 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";[2] 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 often goes to whichever twin wrote the particular song. The two usually do not sing together on their albums, however, they do in concert.
Their fifth album, The Con, was released on July 24, 2007.[1] It was co-produced by Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie. Jason McGerr of Death Cab for Cutie, Matt Sharp of The Rentals, Hunter Burgan of AFI, and Kaki King appear on the album.[7] The band is currently on tour promoting the album.
In 2005, The White Stripes did a cover of Tegan and Sara's song "Walking with a Ghost" which was released on the Walking with a Ghost EP by the group. "Walking with a Ghost" was also used in a mashup dance remix bootleg by Party Ben[1] 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 they did a cover of Cyndi Lauper's version of Prince's "When You Were Mine".
In 2006, Tegan and Sara also contributed a track to Australian radio station Triple J's "Like a Version" radio programme - a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark". 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, while kicking off their fall tour in Victoria, BC. Tegan and Sara performed a live cover of Rihanna's "Umbrella".
Tegan and Sara have made many television appearances, including Vicki Gabereau's Canadian talk show, The Late Show with David Letterman, 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.[8]
Their songs have appeared on several soundtracks, including those for the films Monster-in-Law and Sweet November, and television shows Grey's Anatomy, The L Word Season 3, and Veronica Mars Season 2.
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.
Tegan and Sara have been profiled in a number of magazines and had their albums 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 late 2004, Rolling Stone magazine named their album So Jealous on their list of the best 50 albums of the year.[9] Tegan and Sara were also nominated for a 2006 Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year alongside Hot Hot Heat, Metric, The New Pornographers and Broken Social Scene. More recently, they appeared on the cover of the Summer 2007 issue of Under the Radar, and Spinner.com placed them at #7 on their list of Women Who Rock Right Now.
- Tegan Quin – vocals, guitar, keyboard and piano
- Sara Quin – vocals, guitar, keyboard and piano
- Edward "Ted" Gowans – guitar and keyboard
- Shaun Huberts – bass guitar
- Johnny "Five" Andrews – drums
- Dan Kelly – bass guitar (until Fall 2007)
- Chris Carlson – bass guitar (until 2006)
- Rob Chursinoff – drums (until 2005)
- Yellow Demo (1998)
- Orange Demo (1998)
- Red Demo (1998)
- Under Feet Like Ours (1999)[10]
- This Business of Art (2000)
- If It Was You (2002)
- So Jealous (2004)
- The Con (2007)
- I'll Take the Blame EP (2007)
- "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)
- "Nineteen" (2007)
- "Back in your Head" (2007)
- "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)[11]
- "Back in Your Head" (2007, directed by Jamie Travis)
- "The Con" (2007, directed by Suzie Vlcek)
- It's Not Fun, Don't Do It! (2006)
- The Con - The Movie (2007)[12]
| Year | Award | For | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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) |
- Official website
- Tegan and Sara at MySpace
- Tegan and Sara at Rolling Stone
- Audiojunkies Interview with Tegan and Sara
- Blast Magazine interview with Sara
- YeboTV.com Interview With Tegan & Sara
- ^ a b Tegan and Sara's official MySpace
- ^ a b Nichols, Natalie. "Nervous Breakthroughs", Los Angeles City Beat, 2005-04-28. Retrieved on 2006-09-12.
- ^ Tegan and Sara biography. AskMen.
- ^ a b Tegan and Sara. Sanctuary Records. Retrieved on 2006-09-11.
- ^ Tegan and Sara: SO JEALOUS. Press kit on official website. Retrieved on 2006-09-11.
- ^ Rodriguez, Albert (2005-06-08). Tegan and Sara Reinventing Queer Stereotypes in Rock Music. Windy City Times. Retrieved on 2006-09-11.
- ^ http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=215184
- ^ "ZeD: Live Off The Floor," CBC Shop Online, URL accessed 13 March 2007.
- ^ "Records of the Year", Rolling Stone, 2004-12-15. Retrieved on 2006-09-11.
- ^ 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
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| Sara Quin · Tegan Quin | |
| Albums | Under Feet Like Ours · This Business of Art · If It Was You · So Jealous · The Con |
| Singles | "Time Running" · "I Hear Noises" · "Monday Monday Monday" · "Walking With a Ghost" · "Speak Slow" · "Back in Your Head" · "The Con" |
| Demos / EPs | Yellow Demo · Orange Demo · Red Demo · Tegan and Sara EP · I'll Take the Blame EP · |
| DVDs | It's Not Fun, Don't Do It! · The Con: The Movie |
| Related articles | Discography |
Categories: 1980 births | Living people | 2000s music groups | People from Calgary | Canadian female singers | Canadian singer-songwriters | Family musical groups | Identical twins | Lesbian musicians | LGBT musicians from Canada | Sibling duos | Canadian indie pop groups | LGBT musical groups | Calgary musical groups | All-women bands | Musical groups with siblings | Celebrity duos | Duos | Alberta musicians