They may be identical twins, but don’t dare get 19-year-old rockers Tegan and Sara confused.
"We’ve always tried not to be look-alike," insists Sara, who bleaches her dark hair white to avoid confusion. "I just can’t handle it. But people get introduced to us and are like, ‘How am I gonna remember?’ And I’m like, ‘Are you retarded? How hard is it?’ Tegan has piercings, like nine earrings, and I have none. She looks different than me, I’m obviously cuter, and I don’t get why people don’t know that!"
Nonetheless, the girls are similar in many respects beyond physical appearance. Both possess a facetious, playful sense of humor. Both currently have girlfriends. Both, says Sara, "are really emotional, quite self-absorbed, and always want to talk about us, like ‘me me me!’"
And both are immensely talented in the arena of rock music. Their debut disc This Business of Art (Vapor) features a catchy hodgepodge of well-written, guitar-soaked power pop. They had a prime spot to prove themselves this summer, opening for Neil Young and The Pretenders on tour.
"I’m not nervous to play to that audience," Sara confesses. "Instead, I want Neil Young to think we rock! I wanna get off the stage and have Chrissie Hynde wrestle me and be like, ‘You kids fucking rock!’"
Hailing from Calgary, Canada, the Quin twins were born on Sept. 19, 1980 — Tegan is eight minutes older — and raised in a liberal household by their mother, a therapist who works for a last resort program to reintroduce former teen prostitutes and chemical dependents to schooling.
The girls first got serious about music at 15, when Tegan fell ill and their mother’s boyfriend left his guitar where Sara could get to it. Sara reckons their first songs "were probably really dark lyrics, really horrible songs," while Tegan dubs the early days as "out of tune and out of control." After wowing the audience at a local contest, however, the girls found themselves on a magazine cover, touring with a pair of big Canadian acts, and landing a four-record deal.
"Some days I wish I’d gone to university," Tegan reports, "but most days I’m feeling humbled and blessed by this wonderful industry that’s accepting of our kind of music."
Sara was the first to date other girls, and currently boasts a relationship of two years.
"My mom’s always really open, and I think that she was just nervous that life wouldn’t be as easy," Sara recalls of coming out. "But what I’m doing right now is not hard. It’s less to worry about than if I had a guy in my life. At least she knows I’m not going to get pregnant! And Tegan I’m happy for — as long as she’s happy I don’t care who she dates, and this girl is cuter than any guy she ever dated, so that’s pretty cool."
"I’m at that age where guys seem a little immature to me and so I picked up a girl who’s a lot older than I am!" Tegan says with a laugh. "We’re in kind of an emotional world; we run a very emotional business, so it’s really nice to have emotional support and I think I found that with girls."
Both sisters maintain that their sexuality hasn’t made many waves professionally or personally — although they admit this might not be the case were they men.
"It’s getting more accepted for women but I think is still really hard for guys," Sara says. "I’m not afraid I’m going to get beat up — I’m scared I’m going to get a dirty look. My guy friends are worried they’re going to get beat up."
"Girls have it a lot easier than guys, I must say," Tegan agrees. "My ex-boyfriend of four years just came out and it’s such a difference for guys. We have a very easy time just doing our thing, I don’t think people really care, it comes up so little in our lives. And in our professional life it’s not the only thing that’s sellable about Tegan and Sara. We’ve shown people that we are broader than that one world.
"Plus," she notes, "we date really cute girls, so everyone’s totally into it!"