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Music

Tegan & Sara

TEGAN & SARA with FUN., FAMILY OF THE YEAR and DIANA at Downsview Park Meadow (35 Carl Hall), Saturday (July 6), 4 pm. $50.50-$100.50, RT, SS, TM. See listing.


On their seventh album, Heartthrob (Warner Bros), Canada’s identical twin indie rock duo, Tegan & Sara, went pop, transferring melodies from guitar to piano, building stellar bridges into power choruses and evoking Prince, Cyndi Lauper and Robyn. Over the phone from Belgium, on their final stop of a European tour, Tegan Quin talks about how they might finally be reaching the next level of commercial fame (a rare openly lesbian group in the mainstream, to boot). Whether household-name status finds them or not, here are seven reasons why they’ll always be our heartthrobs.

1. They’re openly ambitious about wanting to blow up (so not Canadian).

Tegan Quin: Sara and I have been very lucky in that we’ve been able to establish a genuine connection to the critical masses but also create this interesting vacation home in mainstream culture, too. That’s partly why we made Heartthrob, to expand that plot of land in the mainstream commercial world.

2. Yet they’re incredibly self-deprecating (oh so Canadian).

TQ: We’re outcasts. Not in the way that people have made us outcasts – we’re just really awkward. When we were in Germany, we met Billy Talent and Danko Jones for the first time. I was like, “These Canadian bands are so nice!” But we always felt that since we were so West Coast, nobody really knew us or liked us or whatever.

3. They didn’t mind skipping the Grammys (they got a nod this year for best long-form music video) but were nervous about the Polaris gala.

TQ: For Sainthood we were nominated and played, and it was so nerve-racking to play in front of all those bands and industry. I probably got an ulcer that week. [Ed note: There might be another ulcer coming – Heartthrob has been long-listed for the 2013 Polaris.]

4. They’re always trying to get better.

TQ: With this record I had Sara write every one of my bridges. I just sent them to her with an empty 16 bars and said, “Okay, you do something there.” Cuz I really felt like that was my weakness. Once I got to a place where I’d written verses and pre-choruses and choruses, I was too tired to complete the song, so I’d just leave it. My songs don’t really have bridges, and that was feedback from a lot of the producers we’d met with when I asked, “How come we aren’t a bigger band?” or “How come we don’t win Junos for writing?”

5. They’re from Calgary but still love Toronto (and Pride!).

TQ: Six of my high school best friends either live there or are flying in for the week, so we’re descending on Toronto. I don’t know how much Pride we’ll actually get to do. My friends are straightforward about how inconvenient it is to do anything fun with me in public, especially when it has to do with gay people. But I’m like, “Fuck you guys!” I’m still going to go. We’ll definitely do the parade.

6. They take their mom on tour.

TQ: She’s been out with us a few times. She’s come to India, Australia. So this was different because usually we’re flying or driving, but this was sleeping on a bus every night together. She’s like, “This is hard! This is not as cool or awesome as it seems on the outside.”

7. They’re still the same Tegan & Sara.

TQ: Sometimes people are like, “So you made a dance record!” and I’m like, “No we didn’t.” Like, what would I do? I need to play an instrument onstage. I think we’re storytellers at heart. That’s our main interest. So I could see us maybe making another record in this realm, but we also do an all-acoustic encore, and when I get out and sing Call It Off and Nineteen and everyone’s singing along, I definitely have moments when I think, “Am I old? Cuz this seems great. Let’s just tour theatres and play acoustically.”

julial@nowtoronto.com | @julialeconte

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