Tegan & Sara Stay Humble
September 22 -- When Tegan Quinn talks about how she spent her summer vacation, she sounds like any other teenager. She and her twin sister, Sara, went to amusement parks, played basketball, and logged some miles road-tripping across North America.
"We're normal!" Tegan says, and her life certainly sounds normal — until you realize she and Sara were riding roller coasters with Eddie Vedder, shooting hoops with Chrissie Hynde, and opening tours for Neil Young and the Pretenders.
Tegan & Sara's melodic folk-punk, driven by locomotive acoustic guitars and electronic rhythms, has made them a phenomenon in their Canadian homeland for years. Their debut CD, This Business of Art, is merely introducing the rest of the world to their talent. Even before the CD's release, however, they were asked by Young to join him on his summer tour. He just recently invited them to play the 14th Annual Bridge School Benefit concerts on Oct. 28 and 29.
With this type of success so early in their lives, one expects all the attention might have had an affect on how the two conduct themselves. Fortunately, as Tegan illustrates, the sisters — who just turned 20 on Sept. 19 — had some help keeping their egos in check.
"We won a Y TV Award," Tegan begins. Y TV, she explains, stands for Youth Television, the Canadian equivalent of Nickelodeon. "We walked around for six months with a bad attitude about it, saying, 'Ah, the f--king Nightmare Awards! They're gonna be so lame! It's just a bunch of kids!'
"And we finally get to the awards [ceremony], and they turn out to be the five most humbling days of my life!" Tegan admits, sheepishly. "We were the least talented [performers] there! It was amazing to meet a 12-year-old who plays with the Vancouver Philharmonic, and a dancer who travels the world dancing ballet to pay for his school!"
The experience helped put things in perspective by showing her the importance of humility. The sisters also had some good examples on tour this summer from whom she could learn.
