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Tegan and Sara

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Tegan and Sara

Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Kiersten Quin (born September 19 1980, identical twins[2]) are Canadian singer-songwriters, performing as Tegan and Sara.

Biography and musical career

Born in Calgary, Alberta, they got their start winning Garage Warz, a local music competition in that city.[3] Since then, the two have toured extensively with many artists, including Neil Young, Rufus Wainwright, The Pretenders,[3] Ben Folds, The Killers, Rachael Cantu, Vivek Shraya, Cake, Gogol Bordello, Hot Hot Heat, Ryan Adams,[4] Veda Hille, Little Birdy, Iron On, Little Brazil, Bryan Adams and Weezer and on Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair. They are signed to Neil Young's Vapor Records in the U.S. and to the Universal Music Group in Canada. Tegan currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia and Sara in Montreal, Quebec.[5]

Originally, as when they were competing in Garage Warz, the duo was known as "Sara and Tegan". It just so happened that they didn't submit their own application to Garage Warz; someone else did, and reversed the names on the application. 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.

The twins tell comic stories on stage, a throwback to when they didn't have a lot of material but still wanted to give people a full show.

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. Sara has been quoted saying that Tegan writes songs prolifically, "like a fish lays eggs," eventually discarding most of them. Sara's songs, on the other hand, evolve slowly and methodically and almost always make it onto the record.[3]

Their fifth album, The Con, will be released on July 24, 2007.[1] It will be 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 will appear on the album.[6]

Cover songs

In 2004, Matt Sharp and Maya Rudolph of The Rentals recorded a cover version of Tegan and Sara's song "Not Tonight" and released it for free on the World Wide Web. [1] Sharp also played moog on "So Jealous."

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[2] 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 2006, the duo also contributed a track to Australian radio station Triple J's "Like A Version" radio program - a cover of Bruce Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark. The track was released on a compilation disc of that program's songs, "Like A Version, Volume 2".

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" 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."

TV and film

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, 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.[7]

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. Their songs have also appeared on episodes for several of these shows: "Living Room", "Not Tonight", "Take Me Anywhere", "Fix You Up", "You Wouldn't Like Me", "I Won't Be Left", "Downtown", and "Where Does the Good Go?" have appeared on Grey's Anatomy, while "I Know I Know I Know" and "So Jealous" were on Veronica Mars. Their music also appeared on the show One Tree Hill, with songs including "Want to Be Bad", "Time Running", "Walking with a Ghost" and "Don't Confess".

Tegan and Sara also had a guest appearance on the The L Word. The episode was entitled "Last Dance" and aired on March 19, 2006. They played Love Type Thing while Dana (a.k.a. Erin Daniels) was high and dancing on stage near them. While Tegan and Sara are lesbians, and The L Word focuses on lesbian and bisexual characters, the duo typically keep their sexuality private.[8]

Their song "Walking with a Ghost" has received considerable TV airplay, including a 2006 NBC commercial for the TV series Medium and montage footage on the UK football entertainment show "Soccer A.M." in May 2007.

Accomplishments

File:TeganandSaraROCKRGRL.jpg

In the fall of 2003, Tegan & Sara graced the cover of ROCKRGRL magazine issue #49, which focused on a tribute to female 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 nominated for a 2006 Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year alongside Hot Hot Heat, Metric, The New Pornographers and Broken Social Scene.

Band members

Discography

Albums

Singles

  • "Time Running" (2003)
  • "I Hear Noises" (2003)
  • "Monday Monday Monday" (2003)
  • "Walking with a Ghost" (2004)
  • "Speak Slow (2004)"

DC Shoes also released a three song sampler of So Jealous as a promotional offer during 2005. DC Shoes will also be selling Tegan and Sara DC Remix shoes in the Spring of 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)

DVDs

  • It's Not Fun, Don't Do It! (2006)

Awards and nominations

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)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Tegan and Sara's official MySpace Cite error: The named reference "myspace" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Nichols, Natalie (2005-04-28). "Nervous Breakthroughs". Los Angeles City Beat. Retrieved 2006-09-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b c "Tegan and Sara". Sanctuary Records. Retrieved 2006-09-11. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ "Tegan and Sara: SO JEALOUS". Press kit on official website. Retrieved 2006-09-11. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Rodriguez, Albert (2005-06-08). "Tegan and Sara Reinventing Queer Stereotypes in Rock Music". Windy City Times. Retrieved 2006-09-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=215184
  7. ^ "ZeD: Live Off The Floor," CBC Shop Online, URL accessed 13 March 2007.
  8. ^ Tegan and Sara - MTV News
  9. ^ "Records of the Year". Rolling Stone. 2004-12-15. Retrieved 2006-09-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
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