They didnt belong to a particular scene.
They lacked a mentor.
They couldnt find a peer group of like-minded artists.
Credit: Pamela Littky
Mainstream music publications also hadsomeregrettablethingsto say about their work and identities as queer women.
We never really fit in for whatever reason, the bands Sara Quin tells EW.
That stuff is really important to us personally.
From there, we took a more curatorial approach.
We would select a song and say, Who would do I Was Married?
What kind of artist would be interesting?
We asked Neil Young I Was Married would be cool performed by a straight guy.
And obviously, the criteria for anyone was that they would be either LGBTQ or a great LGBTQ ally.
In terms of what we told people, we said they could do whatever they wanted.
It was actually a very slim budget.
We were able to get most people in for under $500 a song.
What an interesting way to do that!
It made me feel like crying.
Thats the gift this project gave me as a songwriter: Wow, this person made that part better.
Or, Wow, what an interesting perspective.
I felt very humbled having all these other artists work on something that we had written.
Tegan is so annoyed at me right now.
Weve been doing rehearsals for the tour, and I am not playinganyguitar right now.
Im a pretty basic piano player, but I cant stand the guitar.
I also think that no one needs to hear Back in Your Head on guitar.
Ive played that song for 10 years on acoustic guitar.
Ive given up on thinking thats interesting.
That should not be what people expect fromThe Conanniversary tour.
Currently Im playing it in a way thats really sad-sack.
I wanted to reframe it that way because thats what it was an incredibly sad song.
I can do that!
With the guitar, I dont really have the skill.
My skill level was based on doing these weird tunings and coming up with these weird songs.
[Reworking them for piano] has given me a lot of power back over those songs.
Part of why we played so many of Tegans songs fromThe Conis because theyre more straightforward.
Its not a diss.
Call It Off is very simple.
Nineteen is just a very straightforward chord progression.
They were easy to figure out and change.
My songs would come up and everyone would be like, What the hell is this tuning?
What is this part?
And Id be like, Nevermind, Im not playing it!
Now I can fix all of that.
[Laughs] Its not a bit when Tegan and I are self-deprecating.
We were always apologizing for the space we took up, and I think we doubted ourselves.
I can do something interesting with it.
Its fascinating when someone youve listened to since you were 4 sings your song.
I mean, not that youre retiring or anything.Thats exactly it!
Its so cool that you guys retired and are gonna die now!
We never really fit in for whatever reason.
I deeply, deeply desired a mentor who would show us the way.
He was totally in his own career and had his own sh going on.
In a way this record is an extension of that.
That stuff is really important to us personally.
All I care about is the gesture.
She came backstage in Australia with a guy we used to work with really closely.
He was like, you oughta check her out.
We spent 15 minutes talking and I was like, Yeah, I love her.
I hadnt even listened to her music!
I just wanted to support this person.
We dont need to be in a constant cycle of self-promotion.
We get too much attention!
It makes me feel good to see the bands weve toured with or the organizations we believe in succeed.
It inspires me and makes me feel like theres some reason for all of this.
Did any of the covers flip the mood of a song in ways you werent expecting?
It was a choice we made in the studio to pop them up.
It was like, Oh God, I dont want this record to be a fing funeral march.
There was already some pretty dark sh.
There are a couple clarifying moments in the other arrangements as well.
Sara Bareilles take on Floorplan is like that for me.
Theres anguish in her version of Floorplan that is maybe missing from mine on the record.
Not that I want to tear our versions apart!
But it was nice to have these artists push into the emotional core even more.
We were 26 when we madeThe Con.
And what I found really interesting was the approach of some of the older artists.
I feel that way about my own music and about music I listened to when I was younger.
There was a protective nature to it.
I could say, I lost my grandmother, that was sad, and it was.
I was going through a divorce.
We spent six months being being sold to another company and being involved in these crazy negotiations.
The price that Sanctuary was trying to sell the record for was insane.
Being an adult is death and taxes and leases and existential crises.
I was a disaster.
Thats a real full-circle note to end on!
Im excited to do this again in 2019 whenSainthoodturns 10.We have some big plans!
Big plans for that one!
