Melinda asks: I love the cover artwork for Under Feet Like Ours and I have always wondered, which one is you and which is Sara? Do you remember the day those pictures were taken at all?
Hey Melinda,
I don't remember that day specifically but I do remember going camping at that age. Sara and I loved to go camping. Our whole extended family was on that specific trip. I have a lot of other photos from that day. Sometimes its hard for me to know if I actually remember the trip or if I just am so familiar with the photos I think I do. Either way. Sara is in the red and I am in the lavender hoodie.
Thanks!
Tegan
Realtin asks: Do you still have the demos from This Business of Art and If It Was You? Would you ever release them like you did with the So Jealous and The Con demos?
Hey Realtin,
Great question! We have demos from If It Was You and So Jealous and Sainthood. And yes, I think someday we might. If It Was You was the first record we demoed in Pro Tools so those demos are REALLY rough. But they have a really cool vibe about them. Same with So Jealous. The demos are super experimental. I think people would be really surprised. Sara and I also would love to release the songs we wrote together in New Orleans. One of the books we are releasing this fall documents that trip and I hope that perhaps later next year we can actually release the soundtrack to that trip. None of the song we wrote there made the record but those songs would make a great EP.
Bye,
Tegan
Alyssa asks: I just saw the album artwork for Sainthood; I think it's very interesting and I was wondering what the story behind it is.
Hey Alyssa,
Sainthood is a tough one to explain quickly and clearly for me. Unlike So Jealous or The Con it's a concept rather than an explanation. Not that the record itself is a concept record but..the title feels conceptual to me. I guess the easiest answer I can give is to say that we basically feel that there are A LOT of parallells between love and faith. Whatever kind of faith you want. And saints themselves are seen often as beacons of faith. They are seen as people who would give up anything for their beliefs. Their faith often times seems romantic to me. Their belief and their love is what enables that faith. And so our Sainthood is a romantic and non secular version of this. We're playing with the idea of perfection and abstanence on this record. The idea that you would/could love something and be ideal and saintly in your pursuit of it. Or something like that. Ha.
Bye,
Tegan
Barbara asks: How do you go about putting together a setlist? How do you decide whitch of the "old" songs make the cut, and how different are they from night to night?
Barbara,
These days its pretty easy to pick what songs are going to get played from the old records. The good ones! Ha. And the fans really decide. The crowd response is what matters to us. We're not up there playing for us. If the crowd enjoys the show it feeds us. So we take into consideration what YOU want. There are of course songs that people have been calling out for years that we just don't want to play. So I shouldn't say we never do what we want..but we definitely consider the fans first when we're making a set list. And like sequencing a record... there has to be a flow. If we're playing a theater we often times throw in a few more slow numbers. If we're playing a festival, more high energy songs. You know?
Thanks!
Tegan
Katherine asks: Have you ever had moments in interviews where you wished you didn't say what you just said or did what you just did?
Katherine, Yes. All the time. Those moments extend to both my personal private life and my life on stage. I basically have no edit and I talk way too much. I'm not a great listener. Its something I'm working on. And I feel like I give WAY too much information in interviews and that makes it harder for me to control what is printed later on. Once a journalist finds their angle...in the mess of words...I'm screwed. Ha. Another goal for this record: Talk less in interviews. Be clear! Ha. Tegan