Indie music’s Tegan and Sara revisit their high school selves for Vancouver Writers Festival

“We had come off the road after back-to-back records in 2018. We were looking for a creative path and maybe one that wasn’t musical initially,” said Tegan over the phone from her Vancouver home. “When we sold the proposal and sat down to write I was definitely a little regretful, a little bit. Well, maybe not regretful, but definitely terrified.”

“We did spend a lot of time together,” said Tegan of growing up. “Our memories are really tangled up. I think that was a really fun part of writing the book — was to untangle some of the memories, to get the facts straight, but also our editors really encouraged us to write our own version of the story. It was OK if some of the details didn’t line up.”Products of the grunge and rave-era 1990s, the sisters’ story of those school years in Calgary will be, for many, very relatable.

Tegan said the pair turned to a group of their still close high school friends to help with memories, photos and journal entries. “ ‘You have to try it,’ I told Tegan dozens of times over the summer, but she remained adamant that she had no interest, retelling our mom’s story about a friend who had done the drug only once and had a schizophrenic break,” Sara writes in the book. “I wouldn’t let up, and when Tegan finally gave in, we agreed that I would stay sober to ensure nothing went wrong while she took her first hit.”

That course sent them on a musical journey that began in Grade 10 with the discovery of their stepdad’s guitar. Tegan and Sara taught themselves to play by watching videos on MuchMusic and started putting their thoughts and feelings down on paper. Something clicked and after playing for friends in basements, playing for small coffee-shop audiences and winning a radio station contest, the sisters got a record deal that went nowhere, forcing them to adopt a DIY approach.

Now age 40, they are very much a successful business. They have made nine studio albums and have sold more than a million records. They have three Juno Awards, Governor General’s Performing Arts Award and have been nominated for a Grammy. Their Tegan and Sara Foundation has spent the last four years fighting for health, economic justice and representation for LGBTQ+ girls and women.

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