2 for the show
Calgary twins making waves even before indie CD release
JASMINE DEMARCOS
CALGARY HERALD
Sara and Tegan Quin are not nearly as interested in talking about their debut CD, as they are in bantering wordplay. And it's clear they don't like their photo being taken, as they fidget in front of the camera in the backyard of their Calgary home, questioning the photographer's intentions.
“You should take pictures of our cats instead,” Sara says.
Tegan explains that one cat won't eat, and throws up when it does, another cat is on Prozak and a third one is “just fat.”
The 18-year-old twins, who will release their CD on August 20 with a party at the University of Calgary's Den, are bright, funny, and mischievous.
“We decided it's better for us not to be together for an interview, 'cause we start playing mind games,” Sara says.
Indeed, they prefer to grill their guests about beverage names (“do you call it a slurpee or a slush?”) than answer questions about their prodigious musical talents. But, eventually, they give in and tell their tale.
The twins grew up in Calgary with a heavy musical influence from now-divorced mom and dad, listening to lots of Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Supertramp when most kids their age were into rap. Then they decided they wanted to be the ones making music.
“We started playing piano when we were eight, and we started guitar four years ago,” says Tegan.
“But we've always been this obnoxious,” Sara adds, laughing.
The girls put out their CD, Under Feet Like Ours, themselves but they are independent by choice — not because they couldn't catch the attention of a record label.
“Actually, you can pretty much take every major label in Canada, and say they were interested,” says Jared Kuemper, 23, who has worked with acts like Sheryl Crow and Ashley MacIsaac. He co-produced the album with the girls, and engineered it.
“The first show they played, they had every A&R representative from Canada there,” Kuemper says. “Sony, EMI, Warner, Mercury/Polygram — which is now Universal Nettwerk, you name it. They had MTV, they had MuchMusic there. They were the buzz band of the weekend.”
The twins got started by playing in short-lived rock bands, before they developed their own folky style, and won the Garage Wars music contest in Calgary in the spring of '98. That's when the ball really got rolling. Right away, they began playing gigs here and in Vancouver and Toronto, making contacts in the music industry.
Within months, the girls were opening for Juliana Hatfield and 54-40, and performing with the Scrappy Bitch Tour (Veda Hille, Oh Susanna and Kinney Starr) and July's Stardust Picnic (Blue Rodeo and Great Big Sea).
The duo refused offers of management, saying they weren't ready. But after the girls played a few shows with the Toronto musician Hayden, they decided to sign with his managers, Pandya Monium/William Tell.
“That's been really surreal,” Tegan says. “Listening to Hayden, thinking, this is good, and then you're hanging out with them and their management manages you. It's like, wow.”
All the tunes on Under Feet Like Ours were written by the twins. They performed all the vocals, piano and guitar. And they recorded in their living room, with quilts lining the walls to muffle outside noise. Their soulful folk-pop CD will be in stores after August 20, and they're looking into making a video.
The girls say simply that the album was “independently financed,” and then elaborate, reluctantly.
“Our grandfather paid for it,” Tegan says. “But it wasn't just given to us — it's an interest-free loan...it sounds like we're spoiled, but it's being paid back. We won't make any money on this until we've sold $15,000 worth of CDs.”
The recording was done in two weeks in May, and then mixed in Toronto in one week. Tegan and Kuemper took the finished product to the twin's management.
“They shook their heads and were like, 'You guys!'” Tegan recalls. “They loved it. But the best part is people saying 'You guys are so mature, beyond your years.' Then I don't feel so young when people say 'you're only 18?' I'm like, yeah, I'm 18, and I did that, and it's not bad. For the first time in my life, I look back and I'm not embarrassed.”
Sara and Tegan, who go by only first names on the disc, are identical twins. Sara's hair is bleached blond, Tegan's is still brown.
Another distinguishing detail is their piercings — Sara has an eyebrow barbell; Tegan has a chin stud. Their hard-to-tell-apart looks have prompted a lifelong struggle for individuality.
“Imagine having two of you, and you have to hang out all the time, and use the same bathroom,” Sara explains. “I mean, we're all positive about it now, but it's inevitable that one day we'll kick the crap out of each other on stage.”
“We're trying to be independent of each other while still having a CD and T-shirts with both our names on it,” adds Tegan.
Whenever the two come home from touring, they spend a few days apart, hanging out with separate groups of friends in entirely different places. Tegan prefers the cafe scene, while Sara likes to dance in clubs.
“I'm way more extroverted,” Sara says. “I like to hang out with obnoxious people who fight for air time, but Tegan has found these quiet people who are into the whole political thing.”
As much as the girls enjoy chatting (and cutting each other off to finish sentences) they're not entirely comfortable doing interviews. But they manage just fine.
“I hate doing interviews,” says Tegan. “Afterwards, I'm always like, 'why did we talk too much?'
“A lot of musicians, I find really nauseating in interviews,” Sara adds. “I'm like, 'shut up, you're so pretentious!' Maybe that's how we come off sometimes, who knows what people think of you.”
Kuemper only has nice things to say about Sara and Tegan, though.
“I think being independent was a brilliant thing for them to do, mostly because I think everyone wanted them to be pop divas, to be pretty girls, like Britney Spears times two.
“And they are full of way more attitude and way more heart. People want to mould them into something that makes them millions and millions of dollars, and I know the girls would love to make millions, but on their own terms.”
Preview
■ Sara and Tegan perform at the Den, MacEwan Student Centre, University of Calgary, on August 20, to celebrate the release of their new CD, Under Feet Like Ours. Tickets for the licensed event are available at Megatunes and the U of C Ticket Centre.