Hello!!!!


Oh man! It’s been SO long since I’ve written a blog I barely remember how.


First off, how the heck are you all doing? Sara and I are doing great. We had a lovely holiday and a fresh new year and we’ve been hard at work finishing up writing for our new record. Officially we just finished our 41st song. Don’t worry, there will NOT be 41 songs on the record! PROMISE! And for those that wish they could hear all 41 songs, really? Ha. Even my mom set the limit at 25.


The songs are sounding great and we’re nearly through the song selection process. AND we start recording February 20th! I have no idea how long it’s going to take to finish or when it will come out, but we’ll be updating you as we know things. We’ll be posting a lot while we are in the studio and keeping you up to speed on our antics and progress! So stay tuned and check back here often!


Although I have been very busy writing new songs I have also been hard at work seeing every movie that comes out each week! Ha. I’ve got to get my inspiration from somewhere! So here is a little mini movie blog about two movies you may not have even heard of but you should DEFINITELY go see if you get the chance!


The first is a movie called UNDEFEATED.

I went to an early screening of the movie in LA a few weeks back, completely and totally unaware of what it was about. All I knew going in was that it was a documentary and it was playing at a movie theatre really, really far from where I was staying. As someone who spent the last two years absolutely balls out obsessed with Friday Night Lights, you can imagine how excited I was when I took my seat and found out that UNDEFEATED was about football! Highschool football! Highschool football in Memphis no less! My enthusiasm was spilling over as the lights dimmed and the screening started. The movie, which I would easily admit was the best movie I’ve seen in a long, long time was phenomenal. The movie is about the 2009 season of the Manassas Tigers, a high school football team from Memphis, and their attempt to make the play offs for the first time in over a hundred years. Now I will be honest, I don’t really watch football. Certainly not high school football. And maybe it was Eric and Tammy Taylor or Tim Riggins and Lyla that made me love Friday Night Lights and not football itself, but who cares? I was hooked and I grew to love and appreciate the sport that had escaped me all these years. UNDEFEATED did the same thing and then some to me. I left thinking… maybe I’ll get cable and watch college football? I wondered, what happened to those players? I mean when do you leave a movie wondering what happens next!?? It was awesome! Anyway, I saw the movie with my girlfriend and her best friend and they cried the entire time. If that isn’t enough, last week it was nominated for an Oscar. So if you don’t really trust me or my crying companions, trust Oscar. The movie is being released in February! Check local listings and go see it!!!





The second movie you should go see is PARIAH.





I had seen the trailer for this one and knew it was right up my alley, who doesn’t love a movie about teenage heart break, sexual exploration and family drama on a Thursday afternoon? First off, the movie was fantastic. Just go see it. You don’t need to even read the rest of this entry. But if you want more here it is: The movie was written and directed by Dee Rees and boasts Spike Lee as an executive producer. The real star though is the lead actor Adepero Oduye who plays 17-year old Alike. Alike is in her final year of high school and balancing future college plans and an increasingly unstable home life all the while exploring her sexuality at school. I loved every actor in the film and thought all their performances were incredible. I found every word to ring true and even had a cringe worthy, wiggle in my seat moment recalling some of my own teenager experiences with sexuality. The cinematography was beautiful and the movie had a timeless, gritty feel to it that will keep it relevant for a long time. And it is worth noting that it is not often that a movie with gay themes leaves me feeling hopeful rather than discouraged, angry and sad. I felt like the director was able to showcase some of the grief and struggle with coming out in your teen years without making the entire movie feel like nothing has changed and the world is a terrible unforgiving place. I thought Alike herself was a hero we could all look up to, even those of us well into our 30′s. So go see it! Take a young gay person struggling with their own sexuality to see it! This is a “It Get’s Better” movie for sure!



And that’s all folks! Enjoy your winter wonderland wherever you are.


-Tegan

Dearest Books,


Remember when I told you I would never want to read you on a Kobo, Kindle or, iPad?


Well, I got my first eReader as an unexpected gift from someone thoughtful. And I thought you deserved to hear it from me first.


I told myself I would just download a few light reads or some silly magazines. Just give it a shot, you know? Of course I would still purchase books, especially serious reads! Just because I live in a shoebox with an ever expanding stack of books I have no space for, it’s nothing to freak out about!


But then, I started searching all the titles that were available, and the instantaneous purchase possibilities took over. I bought so many ‘serious reads’ that I actually felt like I’d found a way to download happiness, or food. It didn’t feel right. But, I went ahead and did it, consumed all of them. And I’m not going to lie. It was different than reading a book in real life. I don’t like that I almost always felt lost with no way to gauge HOW much (based on touch) I’d read. I didn’t like not being to flip back and forth, re reading or skimming to get back into the story after a nap or distracting phone call. It was different. Easier to hold in bed or laying on the couch, and yet… blander than reading a book. Flatter. Strange.


People draw a parallel to downloading music instead of buying actual CDs/Vinyl etc… but the truth is… a stereo has always been a stereo. The disc, tape, vinyl, mp3… has evolved (devolved?) but my stereo is still speakers and a big black box with a bunch of cords. So, not having the physical heap of plastic, paper and artwork has been easier to let go of. Books are still so much about the paper, artwork, size, font, etc. The BOOK and its paper and its shape and space IS the stereo.


I don’t think I can fully leave you, physical book world. And yet, I just spent two hours reading David Rakoff’s unbelievable new collection of essays. And over the holidays I couldn’t tear myself away from Jonathan Lethem’s The Ecstacy of Influence: Non-Fictions, Etc.. I guess what I’m saying is… I want to open up our relationship. I want an eReader part time. A “third” if you will. ADDING to our relationship, not taking away from it.


When my impatience gets the best of me, when I can’t make the journey to Housingworks or Strand Books, when it’s 15 below zero and the used bookstore near my house feels TOO FAR to walk to… I guess I’ll just sign in and hook my bookvein to the machine and the internet. Sigh, change happens with or without me.


Luddite forever,


skq

It’s the final countdown to Christmas, but we still have lots of exciting T+S news this week! There are so many fun new items in our online store at teganandsara.com/shop like the Two Face shirt above, and our cycling caps below! Don’t forget that we also have downloadable sheet music available for the musician in your life. Check it out here… http://www.teganandsara.com/shop/#sheetmusic.





The Con Demos are now available on iTunes! Previously only available via a limited physical release for a fundraiser, we are happy to now be able to allow fans from all over the world have access to our home recorded demos for all the tracks on The Con. The link below will connect you to The Con Demos in the iTunes store for your country.


http://www.smarturl.it/thecondemos





MuchMore Music (a Canadian music channel) will be airing India, one of the films from Get Along, directed by Elinor Svoboda, on the following dates…


· Friday December 23rd @ 11pm ET
· Friday December 23rd @ 3am ET
· Friday December 30th @ 5:30pm ET
· Sunday January 1st @ 10am ET


Try to fit it in between your 50th and 51st viewing of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation! Goes perfectly with some nog in those moose antler cups.


And finally, the club mix for Body Work, our track with Morgan Page, is now available on iTunes and Beatport! Check out the lyric video below, careful though, it’s NSFW if they don’t allow dancing in your chair!




Wishing you the Happiest of Holidays!!!
t+s

Hello!


Well as usual December is flying by in a haze of eggnog and panic attacks at the mall. We were blown away by the response to the latest batch of merch, especially the Two Face shirt, that I think broke records for being the most talked about, tweeted, tumbled and shared design ever!



It got us thinking, and in the spirit of the holidays, we have decided that we will donate and match all the net proceeds from sales at teganandsara.com/shop tomorrow, Thursday Dec 15 (starting tonight after midnight EST to Thursday at midnight EST) to Safe Horizon. It’s an amazing organization that provides shelters for families escaping violence, hotlines for crime victims, centres for abused children and homeless youth, and many other crucial services. So if you were on the fence about ordering something for yourself (or for someone else as there is still time to get expedited shipping to get it in time for Christmas!), then here is one more reason to feel good about it!



In other news, remember when I said we would be releasing some demos in time for Christmas? Well we have decided to do a digital release of The Con Demos on iTunes! If you missed the limited physical release we did a couple years ago then now is your chance to get these rare and raw bedroom demos of all the songs on The Con. They will be available at iTunes starting December 20!


Finally, we wanted to share a couple new remixes of Call It Off. Check them out at these links…


http://www.iamchord.ca/


http://www.overcastsound.com/callitoff.html


We hope you are having a great holiday season and are properly packing on pounds to protect yourself through these cold months!


Tegan

I get asked that question a lot. How often? Sometimes, it’s the question I get asked immediately after someone has approached me and said, “Are you who I think you are?”. It always makes me excited to talk about books and reading with people. But I always feel panicked about WHAT book to recommend. Sometimes my mind goes completely blank- as if I’ve never read a page of anything in my life.


SO, I’ve decided to post the ever changing answer to “what are you reading?” here. Perhaps a monthly blog and a simple list that anyone seeking inspiration for new titles can refer back to at teganandsara.com/skqreads. Traveling and touring over the last decade has meant that I’ve supplemented my life with reading. Books, magazines, graphic novels… without their company, education and stimulation it’s inconceivable how I would have managed to pass the miles and time sanely. Thank you for being so interested in the answer and enjoy!


For this initial post, I’d like to tackle “what are you reading right now?”. But, why not “tweet” us other suggestions?


For example:


What were you reading when you were in Grade Nine and still had long banger hair and wore pants the width of tree trunks?


or


What were your favorite horror novels or non-fiction true crime accounts that you bought at a used paperback store in the early 1990′s?


——


What am I reading right now!


I just got off of an airplane and spent much of my day reading this week’s Harper’s Magazine. My two favorite magazines are The New Yorker, and Harper’s. I have much gratitude for the time in my life needed to properly read both of those magazines cover to cover.


A lot of this year has been spent “at home”, with real people, doing normal “living in a city and not touring” type things. This has meant that I’ve spent less time reading novels and more time reading articles or essays on the subway or before bed. Some of my favorites this year: (I’m not going to say anything very critical, and I likely won’t include any of the books I didn’t finish, hated, or couldn’t recall without looking through my bookshelf).


- The Moronic Inferno, Visiting Mrs. Nabokov and The War Against Cliche, all by Martin Amis and all very excellent.


- (Woman) Writer by Joyce Carol Oates


- The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides


- Paying For It by Chester Brown


- Bossy Pants by Tina Fey. I read this on the beach and aboard a Greyhound bus to and from Atlantic City, laughing all the way.


- I got through 34 percent of the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. A delightful start, now I must finish before the films are released!


I currently have no other books on the go. Which made me feel panicked, so I just stopped writing this and ordered three books online. Curious aren’t you?


1. The Ecstasy of Influence: Nonfictions, Etc. by Jonathan Lethem
(Lethem’s last collection, The Disappointment Artist, is one of my all time favorites)


2. The Sense Of An Ending by Julian Barnes


3. Pauline Kael: A Life In The Dark by Brian Kellow


Okay, I’m off to read. No, I’m actually not. I just said that because it’s a blog about reading. Maybe I’ll watch a subtitled movie! I’m not. I’m actually going to have a glass of wine and watch Brothers and Sisters.


Good night! Good luck with the reading!


skq

It’s the final month of our year long Merch Odyssey. Thank you to each and everyone of you who bought anything or even just aspired to! We are ending the year with a bang, with a new design that has quickly become a new all time favourite. We have been receiving requests to see some more unique “signature Emy” type designs, and this one really fits the bill. Introducing, the Tegan and Sara TWO FACE shirt!





It’s a super soft, comic book style print, available in both crew neck and v neck T’s, and two different colour hoodies.





Another new edition to the hoodie line up, to complement the Friendship Coin and Black Eye Get Along T’s, is the Get Along Hoodie!

We also have another new design based on a Lindsey Byrnes photo, called Sweaters, printed on an organic cotton American Apparel T.





For those who are on the look out for Christmas gifts there is still time to place an order for the T+S fan in your life (even if it is yourself!) and get it in time. Generally for Canada and US, if you order by tomorrow (Thurs Dec 8th) and choose airmail, you’ll get it by the 22nd. There are even some options for later orders too! Please check this info link for details on which shipping method you would need to chose to get your order in time for each territory…. https://www.maplemusic.com/holidayship.htm

t+s

Hello!


Well! What a busy few weeks this past year has felt like (that’s a joke about how the past few weeks felt like a year). I’m finally recovered from our two weeks of GET ALONG screenings around this fine continent and also done digesting two different turkey dinners that I partook in here in the US of A over Thanksgiving. Phewff.


First of all I just want to say how freaking grateful I feel for all of you (and the turkeys). Honestly, even though it’s only been a year since we were out touring properly with all our friends and family and road mates with us, it feels like it’s been a century.


Standing in front of an audience again, sharing our work with you and answering your hilarious and often insightful questions was a privilege! So thank you to ALL who attended!


Another thank you goes out to all the people who preordered GET ALONG! WOW! And to those that bought it the first week it came out, WOW! And for those who are putting it on their Christmas/Holiday wish list, yes more WOWing! Thank you, really! It’s been so fun to share it with all of you. It’s our first real live album, and some of the most intimate films we’ve ever released and we are just so happy to have all of you so excited about it! So thanks, thanks, thanks.


Sara and I are back in our home studios working away at more songs. We’re really looking forward to making a new record now. Our hope is to be in the studio by early 2012 (February or March). We talk all about it in this month’s AP magazine (with Paramore on the cover) if you feel like reading about it.


I also wanted to say that we have some pretty cool new merchandise items coming up soon for the final month of 2011: A Merch Odyssey. We just approved a whole bunch of new shirts/hoodies and we have a big surprise coming too about some demos that may or may not be coming out just in time for Christmas (hint, hint). So stay tuned for updates!


Lastly, there were a few FAQs that I wanted to tell you all about here on the blog. One question we got a lot was, “What is Sara reading?”. Sara is now the OFFICIAL book reviewer for our band. She was asked so many times, but didn’t have any answers prepared so felt terrible about it. SO, she has agreed to do a monthly “reading list”. So keep your eyes peeled for that too!


We also got asked a lot about when our new record was coming out and what it was going to sound like. Truthfully, I don’t really know. We are hoping that if all things go well in the studio early next year, we should have a record out late summer or early fall of 2012.


And regarding what it will sound like…we’re not really sure of that either. We’re meeting with lots of different producers, writing lots of different types of songs, and challenging ourselves to do a lot of really new things within those songs. So hopefully it sounds like T+S but with a whole new element of awesomeness. Right? Let’s hope so.


The MOST frequently asked question (way more than any others) was, how on earth did I get so darn funny and cute. Well, my Mom and Dad made me that way. They both appear in the GET ALONG movies, so check em out! Ha.


Bye for now,
Tegan

Sorry we didn’t end up making the T+S thong bathing suits, but the amazing Get Along T-Shirts designed by EE Storey are now available in our online store, teganandsara.com/shop along with copies of Get Along!

On Monday, Nov 21 at 2pm EST, we will be at Live Stream HQ in New York to participate in a Live Stream Session!


We’ll be performing 5 acoustic songs as well as doing a live chat that everyone can participate in.


You can check out the site even earlier than 2pm though as they’ll be posting behind the scenes photos and texts leading up to going live with the session.


Find out more details about how you can log on to view the performance and join the chat at http://new.livestream.com/livestreamsessions

A quick tip for those of you who will be viewing the Get Along DVD on Mac computer!


You’ll need to disable the “Dynamic Range Compression” in the DVD Player Preferences, for the optimal audio experience. This isn’t required, but it helps with concert DVDs in general.


Here is a screen shot of the setting that should be disabled. Go to DVD Preferences, Disc Setup, then select the “Disable Dolby dynamic range compression” box.