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What the process of putting together a setlist like for you? You have six albums to draw from now.
The setlist planning is tense. We start getting really worried about what people want. We obviously want to play a lot of new material because that's the stuff that's most relevant to us ... and you want to show the evolution of your band. But we write really short records and really short songs, so we fit in a lot. Currently, we're playing 27 songs live. So, we're playing the whole new record, a third of the last, a third of the record before that. We're really able to mix it up.
I'd imagine people request the same songs all the time.
(Laughs) I was laughing so hard last night with a friend about how after song number two last night somebody was yelling for this song "Living Room," which is like a fan favorite. We play it at every show. We have for 10 years. We'll never not play it. Of course we're going to play it. You don't have to spend the whole concert screaming for it.
Any strange requests?
Sometimes people ask for songs we wrote when we were 17 on demo tapes. We're never going to play it. It's so tragic. It gets chatted about a lot backstage.
The A.V. Club: Are you interested in writing about the opposite of that Cohen lyric-when the rumors of your virtue do move her-or are you more inspired by the end of relationships and unrequited love?
Tegan Quin: I actually think Sainthood, even though it still comes off like a broken-hearted, "unrequited love" record, really is about the goodness in relationships-the beginning, where you're inspired and anxious and you're obsessive and it may not work out and you know that. There's something so beautiful and addictive at that point-your pilgrimage toward being good and being the best "you" in the relationship you can be. The race to the finish line where you accomplish what you set out to do, which was to get this person to like you and notice you and be with you. I found that very inspiring on this record, to write about that other side of things.
AVC: That "race to the finish line"-is that what you're singing about in "The Cure"?
TQ: Kind of. It's the idea that you tried to help and fix everything so that the person could finally get to the end of their list of what wasn't working, and then be like, "Okay, I'll be with you." Then they get to the bottom of that list and they're like, "Hmm... " I think that was sort of my updated version of "Came So Far From Beauty"-to feel like all that work went unnoticed.
No, and there's been many times where the stage banter has gone into train-wreck territory, and I've thought, 'Hey, you know, we should really choreograph this in advance.' But no, we're always so spontaneous and impulsive about what we talk about that I've never really thought about whether it would be more effective to have a plan. I mean, we're sisters, so we always kind of have something to talk about. We can riff and banter because the conversation between the two of us is very natural. We're always talking to one another. There's a little bit of feedback loop element to us, and I think that's funny.
'Sainthood' is your second album to be produced by Chris Walla, of Death Cab for Cutie. What about working with Walla appeals to you?
We're just very similar, even in the hours we keep. 'The Con' felt like it was just me and Tegan and Chris making a record in a basement for a couple of months. It was sort of insular. There was a real cohesive feeling about what we were trying to do and the way we were trying to execute it. So when we finished it, I had in the back of the mind a real sense of melancholy that it was all said and done. I was sad it was over. So I was really happy to have him back on board. And there's something very OCD and science-y and uptight about him. He really appeals to that person in me that says, 'Everything must be clean and organized and we must know exactly what we're going to be doing in six minutes, one hour, one week and one month!'
"We have an unwritten rule that we won't ever tell the same story twice, and if we do, it has to be almost unrecognizable," said Sara Quin. "Otherwise I feel like we're ripping the audience off. But we're getting to a point where that's getting unrealistic, so I'm slowly accepting that I might have to tell a story I once told in a nightclub back in 2002."
I think we have moved beyond any sibling rivalry at this point. We've been making music for 13 years and we've been pretty successful at it. If it were a relationship that was really terrible, then I wouldn't do it. Tegan and I have managed to take any disagreements we may have and channel those into creative energy. We are great collaborators and even when we don't see eye to eye on things, we manage to focus our energies.
Is there a danger in being a duo with your twin sister? Like being considered a novelty act?
When I was younger, I cared about that. I think the idea that Tegan and I were a joke or a novelty act--that's something created by journalists. I don't think that is an intelligent criticism. It wasn't like we dressed the same. We weren't making creepy of cheesy videos. We've never played upon any twin clichés or stereotypes. Tegan and I have great chemistry onstage, but we have done nothing to provoke the idea that we are a novelty act. Anyone who writes that is part of the exploitative, tabloid brand of journalism.
"SFS: Are you and Sara competitive with each other? T: I don't think so, at least not musically. The things that Sara and I excelled at were stuff where we did have one-on-one attention or smaller groups. We were in piano lessons. We trained classically since the time we were eight until we were sixteen. We did really well when we were given more attention. When we stopped playing piano and started playing guitar we both immediately excelled at it because we were encouraging and teaching one another. You know on a personal side of things, we are. Sara hates how much I talk over her, but I hate that I can't just tell the story I want to tell. Why do I have to have Sara tell it, it's my story! It’s pretty normal family stuff. SFS: Is that the reason why before this album you wrote separately? T: We always wrote alone since the beginning. It just me writing these private thoughts — really intense emotions and feelings — and until you get it figured out, or fixed in place, it feels like sharing something that is not yet complete. We always wrote parts for each of our songs and helped producer and engineer one another; but we never sat physically in the same room and wrote together. We experimented a lot with that on this record. We sent music back and forth and ended up writing ten songs together. They truly are the first ever Tegan and Sara songs. Everything else was written separate, so they feel like Tegan songs or Sara songs. The songs really are different. Listening to Sainthood now, eight months after it's been finished, I hear a song like "Paperback Head" and it doesn't sound like a traditional Tegan and Sara to me."
Q: Whose idea was it to send you on tour in the middle of winter?
A: We always tour in the winter. It's a great time to tour because nobody else does. The markets aren't as competitive. Buses are readily available. People are stoked that you're coming to their town. I would go stir crazy if we took the winter off and I had to stay in Vancouver.
Q: Don't you feel like you're missing out on all the Olympics hoopla happening right in your backyard?
A: I don't feel like I'm missing out. I'm glad it's happening in Vancouver because it's good for the city, but I'm glad I'm not there.
The modest approach has served the band well. Tegan and Sara have admirably built a loyal grassroots following and solid business infrastructure over the past decade while much of the music business fell into disarray. While album sales plummet, they've enjoyed some sales growth, moving from an independent to Warner Bros. and allowing them to expand their brand.
Though indie pop sisters Tegan and Sara Quin are known for their witty back-and-forth stage banter, it might be fair to say...(Read more on BLAST)
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