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Tegan and Sara is an indie rock/indie pop song-writing duo consisting of Canadian singer-songwriters and identical twins, Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Kiersten Quin (born September 19, 1980).
Biography and musical career:
Tegan and Sara were born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They initially played as PLUNK and lacked a drummer and bass player. In 1997, they used their school’s recording studio to record two demo albums: Who's in Your Band? and Play Day. They had three demo albums called Orange Demo, Yellow Demo, and Red Demo. In 1998, they made an early breakthrough by winning Garage Warz Battle of the Bands, a local music competition in Calgary. Since then, the two have toured with Neil Young, Rufus Wainwright, Kaki King, Northern State, An Horse, The Pretenders, Ben Folds, The Killers, Louis XIV, Rachael Cantu, Cake, Gogol Bordello, Hot Hot Heat, Ryan Adams, Veda Hille, Little Birdy, Iron On, Little Brazil, Death Cab for Cutie, Weezer, City and Colour, and Girl in a Coma. 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.
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. The competition was held at a local bar/club in Calgary, and since the twins were only 17 at the time, they were actually not able to go inside without adult supervision. 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. Not long after Under Feet Like Ours was released, they changed their name to Tegan and Sara, because they claim it is less slurred and easier to say.
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 did not sing together on their early albums, however, they do on their later albums and in concert.
They are known for their onstage banter; their stories and commentary about their childhood, politics, life on the road, etc. have become an indispensable part of their live shows.
Their fifth album, The Con, was released on July 24, 2007. It was co-produced by Chris Walla. 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 appear on the album.
Tegan and Sara are currently writing a new album, planned to be released in late 2009.
Cover songs and collaborations:
In 2003, they covered Prince's When You Were Mine.
In 2004, they covered David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel" in Spiders from Venus: Women Cover David Bowie.
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.
Tegan was also seen performing "Borne on the FM Waves" during Against Me!'s live set time at Austin City Limits 2008.
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. Sara also covered Rihanna's song "Umbrella".
In April of 2008, Tegan recorded a song entitled "His Love" at the request of Augusten Burroughs as a contribution to the audio version of his book A Wolf at the Table. The two headlined SPIN.com's September 2008 Liner Notes benefit for Housing Works--a New York non-profit. Burroughs read excerpts from his latest novel while Tegan played "His Love" and songs from The Con sans Sara.
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 appeared as guests, providing live vocals for Tiesto's remix of "Back In Your Head".
Alkaline Trio recorded a live, acoustic cover of 'Wake Up Exhausted' from So Jealous on their 2008 album 'Agony & Irony'.
Hunter Burgan (who played bass for all of Tegan's songs on The Con) confirmed in his blog that both he and Tegan are involved in an upcoming electronic side-project.
In 2009, Amanda Palmer performed a cover of "Like O, Like H" as part of her European tour.
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 (on more than one occasion), 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.
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, Being Erica, The Hills, Ghost Whisperer, 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.
In the spring of 2008 Tegan and Sara appeared on the kids music television show, Pancake Mountain. In addition to acting in a skit they performed the songs "Back In Your Head" and "Hop A Plane", as well as an acoustic version of "Walking With A Ghost".
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.
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 Women Who Rock Right Now.
In January/February 2009, Tegan and Sara graced the cover of WonkaVision's "Women in Rock" issue, also featuring Feist, Amy Millan, Kate Nash, etc.
Personal lives:
Although their sexuality is rarely the subject of their songs, the fact that both sisters are lesbians has been the subject of some interest to the music press.
Current members:
Tegan Quin – vocals, guitar, keyboards
Sara Quin – vocals, guitar, keyboards
Edward "Ted" Gowans – guitar, keyboards
Shaun Huberts – bass
Johnny "Five" Andrews - drums
Former members:
Dan Kelly - bass
Chris Carlson - bass
Rob Chursinoff - drums
Wikipedia.org