Folk-rock duo
Tegan and Sara first burst onto the Canadian music scene in 1998, when they earned the highest score in history at Calgary's "Garage Warz" competition; their quick rise didn't stop, for their melodic acoustics and charming stage personas led to a slew of dates with
Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair that same year and a record deal with
Neil Young's
Vapor Records in April 2000. Natives of Calgary, these twin sisters derived their music interests from the likings of their parents. Tegan and Sara began playing piano at age eight, and in their teens they were skanking around in their own punk bands. This Business of Art, which was produced by singer/songwriter
Hawksley Workman, marked their debut in mid-2000, and a summer tour with Neil Young and
the Pretenders followed in July. Two years later, Tegan and Sara released If It Was You, and So Jealous hit shelves in 2004. In 2007, Tegan sang backup on a song on new
Sire labelmate
Against Me!'s album
New Wave, and the twins, who had by then moved far from the singer/songwriter mold and were more interested in exploring pop, punk, and indie rock, came out with The Con, produced by Christopher Walla of
Death Cab for Cutie. Working with Walla went well, and Tegan and Sara also utilized his production skills on their next album.
Sainthood was released in October of 2009, followed by
Get Along in 2011, the latter of which was paired with three short behind-the-scenes films called
States,
India, and
For the Most Part. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, Rovi