Tegan and Sara: Hearing Double

With over a decade of touring and the release of 6 albums under their belt, it would be safe to assume that Canadian sibling duo Tegan and Sara Quin are due for a holiday.

Alas, since the release of their most recent album Sainthood in 2009, the thought of a holiday is fairly unlikely. Unless of course, they are travelling to Australia.

“It’s such a luxury to get to come to Australia once a year”, Sara reveals. “Tegan and I say it all the time, going to Australia is like a vacation for us."

Fortunately for us, Tegan and Sara will be hitting our sunny shores in early May to play the massive Groovin’ the Moo Festivals alongside an abundance of acts like Vampire Weekend, Spoon and Silverchair, as well as headlining a string of sold out side shows across the country. The Dwarf was lucky to catch Sara while visiting her mother in Vancouver to discuss the how she discovered a career in music and what success means for her.

“It’s funny, the perception when you start to do really well is that you suddenly have a room where you just roll around naked in money”, quips Sara.

“I think that what success has meant for us is that we can all live like normal people.”

For Sara, leading a ‘normal life’ is admittedly a difficult task. To maintain a normal lifestyle while battling such a hectic schedule Tegan and Sara insist on taking breaks throughout tours. This is not just for their emotional and physical wellbeing, but also in the best of their crew.

“We used to take breaks when we were burnt out, now we take breaks so that we don’t burn out”, Sara explains.

“We learnt what we can endure physically and emotionally and the difference between working until we couldn’t work anymore. Now we are doing three weeks on and four days off throughout a 16 month tour.”

“I could probably tour more without needing the breaks, but a lot of the people we work with are in serious relationships or are married so we are trying to make it so people can have normal lives while touring and travelling.”

Although she was always passionate about her music, Sara never considered that the concept of a music career was a viable option.

“This sounds absurd, but I didn’t know that you could be a musician. I’d always loved music, I took music lessons outside of school, I was fans of bands and I went to concerts. I knew that giant musicians existed but I didn’t understand the music industry as a functioning machine. I didn’t know that a music career was an option for me.”

It wasn’t until the conclusion of her high school studies and college life was looming that Sara found the connection between making music and making money.

“Throughout high school I always thought I’d be a teacher or a social worker or something”, Sara recalls.

“I was so excited to be out of school, I just couldn’t believe that I was going to have to go College straight away. I started to think of ways to make money and realised that I could do that by playing music. It really became a function of ‘ok, if after school I can get gigs and make enough money to pay rent, then that is a job right?’ But my mum was like, ‘are you fucking kidding me? I’ll kill you if you don’t go to school!’

“I can remember the early stages of wondering what it would mean to be a musician, but I didn’t think that it was a job - just a way to make money and eventually I would have to go back to school and get a real job.”

The idea of going to University and getting a real job was a concept that Sara toyed with for many years to come, even upon the release of the duo’s fourth studio album So Jealous in 2004.

I was coming home from the So Jealous tour and looking at University applications, still wondering what the fuck I was doing with my life. I wasn’t making any money and I was also exhausted. I loved making music but I was just so tired. I thought that maybe I could just make music and not have to tour because the touring part was killing me and sucking my soul and my will to live.

“I would feel terrible because it’s everyone’s dream to go on the road and tour, but I seriously thought that maybe music just wasn’t the right job! But suddenly something shifted around So Jealous and I realised that it was a job and I’m making a living. I started making enough money to buy an apartment and I was able to get through tours without wanting to die at the end.”

Although Tegan and Sara’s name was propelling throughout the music industry and their career was booming, it took them quite a while to build an awareness of the industry and learn the fundamentals of their new found career.

“At the beginning Tegan and I didn’t really understand what we were doing - and we learnt the hard way. It’s tough when you don’t really understand your business and all of a sudden you are surrounded by people who do understand the business, and you are lost because you don’t understand what’s going on.

“I think that for me and Tegan this path was really important to learn all the different aspects of our business. If all the agents of the world suddenly lifted up into the sky and I had to book my own tours, I now understand how to do that.”

Her laid back demeanour, crafty wittiness and ability to be realistic about her career within the music industry indicates Sara is in fact, a normal person who is just doing her job like the rest of us.

“At the end of the day I feel like we’ve had great amounts of success over the years. Our tours are so lovely and wonderful, but even when you’re having the most amazing time, sometimes I just wish I was at home and I could go hang out with my girlfriend and go to sleep in my own bed. That would be nice.”

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