Tegan and Sara get haircuts, proceed to rock out
By Andrea Chiu
UWO Gazette
November 21, 2002

Sara Quin sits in the dressing room of Call the Office and marvels at the artwork on the walls.

"Every back room I've been to, they all draw penises," she says in disgust.

As one half of Tegan and Sara, Quin has definitely seen her fair share of dressing rooms and venues. She estimates that it's the duo's 70th day of touring when they arrive in London for their Monday night performance.

After months of promoting their new album, If It Was You, the twin musicians are evidently tired of being away from home.

Still, Sara graciously sits down to candidly discuss her tattoos, image, sexuality and fans. She speaks quickly, and although she is clearly confident, it's evident that she is struggling to understand how the twins' image is related to their fanbase.

"I wonder if it's all about how much image you can get [today]," ponders Quin, when discussing some fans' desire to know them beyond the stage and music. "With the Internet, and the videos on TV... there's so much of musicians in the media right now that I wonder if that is [causing] the big interest in our lives."

At 22-years-old, Tegan and Sara have yet to be hyped as a branded commodity. Many fans are drawn to their music and personalities because they are "cool" and easy for the average young person to relate to.

With the release of their new album, Tegan and Sara have come into their own with a thicker, more textured sound that shows a definite maturation from their previous songwriting. However, this change in image was not a conscious choice.

"Now we come back with a new record that sounds different and it's 'Oh my God, their hair is different', so we must be putting on a new image, it must be something that we've conceptualized. Geez, my hair is getting longer and I was tired of being a blonde. I started running and my face filled out a little more," Quin explains, as she sips Coke and munches on potato chips.

"One song gets picked as your single and that's it, so you can really be represented in a completely different way. Even though I feel like the songwriter and the person are the same person, sometimes it's not a fully realized idea of who you are."

Later that evening, Tegan and Sara played to a packed audience at Call the Office. What was more impressive than the attendance number was the diversity of the crowd. A young lesbian couple kissed, while behind them, an older heterosexual couple held hands and rowdy young men and women cheered near the stage, begging the attention of the musicians. The energy of such a diverse audience is one the twins are proud of and aim to improve, whatever their branded image ends up being.

"I don't want to be too indie and I don't want to be too mainstream. I kind of want to be one of the bands I grew up listening to," Quin states.

"The bands that have stuck with me my whole life are the bands who are in the middle, [whose] image [was truly] their image, instead of creating an image to make a statement."

If you've read this far, then you must be a true fan. Come up to The Gazette today at noon and we'll hook you up with some free Tegan and Sara swag. We're working on a first-come, first-serve basis, so come quickly!