Tegan and Sara
An Indie Pop/Rock/New Wave band hailing from Alberta, Canada, led by identical twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin.
The twins began as musicians at about age fifteen, writing songs and playing guitar, and were able to record a few demo albums throughout their late teens, culminating in their first whole album Under Feet Like Ours, released independently in 1999, and they were placed on the figurative scene with their signing on by Vapor Records and the release of their second album, This Business Of Art, the next year. They'd prove to gain popularity two albums later (after If It Was You, starting with So Jealous), and have come out with another two albums since then (The Con and their latest Sainthood).
The two live and songwrite separately, each sister usually writing the music and singing the melody to her own songs, which often results in their albums being interestingly divided stylistically in music and lyrics. In addition to their music, they're known among fans for their concert banter; approachable, likable, and very "real" personas; and, to a level, for the fact that they're both gay.
The pair came to mainstream attention with the song "Everything Is Awesome" (recorded with The Lonely Island) from The LEGO Movie, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song in 2015. They won the National Arts Centre Award in 2018; since this is one of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards, that means (in accordance with tradition) there is now a National Film Board short about them.
- Tegan and Sara Quin - Vocals, guitar, keyboard
- Ted Gowans - Guitar, keyboard
- Shaun Huberts - Bass
- Johnny "Five" Andrews - Drums
- Under Feet Like Ours (1999)
- This Business Of Art (2000)
- If It Was You (2002)
- So Jealous (2004)
- The Con (2007)
- Sainthood (2009)
- Awesome McCoolname: Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin.
- Break Up Song: A few various ones. They'd include "Not With You", "You Went Away", "City Girl", "Don't Confess", "Where Does The Good Go", and "Call It Off". In general, their lyrics are often a bit melancholic.
- Canada, Eh?
- Evolving Music
- Intercourse with You: "All You Got" is the best Yuri Fanboys will get out of them.
- New Sound Album: Synthed-up So Jealous is a notable change from the comparatively folky If It Was You.
- Non-Appearing Title: The titles of Under Feet Like Ours, This Business Of Art, If It Was You, and Sainthood don't actually appear in the albums. Sainthood, however, is titled after the Leonard Cohen lyric that inspired its songs.
- Sibling Team
- Silly Love Songs: If nothing else, "Underwater" actually uses the phrase - "For now, my head is in the clouds/I'm a silly love song/A twisted-elbow crush song..."
- Shout Out: See the above comment about Sainthood
- Also Fat Mike of NOFX shouted them out in a song about meeting one of them at a festival. He doesn't seem sure which one...
- Stalker with a Crush: "Living Room" comes off this way - "My windows look into your bathroom, where I spend the evening watching you get yourself clean..."
- Twin Banter
- Vitriolic Best Buds: They bicker on stage and in interviews. A lot.
- Sara: I wouldn’t say I miss her [Tegan], but sometimes when we’ve taken a month off or something, we’ll be flying somewhere and I’ll see her at the airport, and I’ll get excited like “Look there’s Tegan!” And then she’ll start talking and I’ll be like, “I hate you, you’re so annoying!