So you guys are touring the UK soon – how do you prepare for long stints on the road? Do you enjoy all the travelling that comes with being pop stars?
We started touring in 1999 so the road is the place where we often feel the most comfortable. It’s also afforded us the opportunity to see so much of the world through the unique lens of the arts. Its not always easy to leave the lives we’ve built at home but with technology it sometimes feels like the world has become much smaller.
How do you go about booking your support acts? It’s Alex Lahey and Ria Mae for this run, isn’t it?
Yes, Alex Lahey and Ria Mae are both joining us for parts of this next tour. Both are terrific performers and songwriters that we both like very much. We generally select artists to support our tours that we feel that our audience will like – I think they’re going to really love Alex and Ria.
This tour sees you promoting your new album, but you’ve also just launched the Tegan and Sara Foundation – what prompted you to formalise your social activism?
We’ve been discussing the idea of formalising our activism for many years. The goal for us is to be more purposeful but also proactive and not always reactive. Our community currently faces enormous challenges and we see ourselves as uniquely positioned to amplify the crucial work being done to an audience that may not be aware of the inequities faced by so many LGBTQ women. The tremendous support of our fan base, many of whom identify as LGBTQ, has emboldened us and this feels like a way to give back to them too.
Can you tell us a bit about what the Foundation’s currently working on?
We’ve just wrapped up our first convening of LGBTQ women this week and are excited to begin work on projects that address health, economic justice and representation in the media.
Is there anything you’ve learnt since its launch that you were particularly surprised by?
The statistics and stories that we’ve been hearing go much further than surprise; I’ve been heartbroken and enraged by the absence of research, funding and concern that LGBTQ women and girls receive around the world. There is so much more to “gay rights” than marriage equality and at the very least our goal is to remind people of that.
There are so many problems at the moment with health care, discrimination, poverty and the like – what advice would you give those who want to help but feel daunted?
I do believe that there are so many valid and incredible programmes and providers in the world who want to and are helping those struggling with health care, economic justice and discrimination. I know there are ways we can expand and increase the access to those programmes and people by using technology and research. I don’t feel hopeless, although I sometimes feel helpless to address these issues that are so important in an expedited way. I have felt galvanised by the efforts of the organisations and educations and health care providers we’ve been meeting with and our ongoing focus is to anything we can to try and reach those folks in need asap.
Back to ‘Love You To Death’ – how has the response been from fans? Has the album been understood in the way you wanted?
We are so happy with the response to the latest album but specifically the positive feedback about our live show. We spent a great deal of time figuring out how best to create a performance that would feel sonically cohesive , allowing our older music to work seamlessly with the newer material. I think we did it!
How have you found releasing videos for every track? That must have been an awful lot of work – is it something you’d do again?
It was a lot of work! But it was exciting to collaborate with ten fantastic artists, all of whom came to us from very different backgrounds with unique experiences in a wide range of mediums. Choreographers, photographers, Visual Artists, Comedians and Dog Groomers, puppeteers and animators helped us create a visual component that we’re very proud of!
Tegan and Sara’s album ‘Love You To Death’ is out now. They tour the UK this month.