It has been a whirlwind few years for sister Tegan and Sara Quin. With the release of their 2013 album Heartthrob and the single Closer their successful career suddenly went to another level. The duo was everywhere, nabbing multiple JUNO awards, joining the Lonely Island on the song  Everything is Awesome from The Lego Movie, playing arenas opening for Katy Perry, multiple festivals, and a Quebec opening slot for Lady Gaga. They left the road in 2015 to work on a new album and the result - Love You To Death - was released June 3^rd. GayCalgary spoke with Sara Quin in advance of their concerts October 7th in Calgary and October 8th in Edmonton. Sara reflected on the whirlwind of the last 3 years.

"As things got bigger I think we put more of being in control into action. Our lives don’t feel that different it just felt like the volume of what was expected and needed from us changed. We tried to increase our stamina and say yes to as many things as we can while also trying to maintain some semblance of a personal life. We were really grateful for the year and a half to be home writing and recording and working on some other projects. We are feeling very refreshed and excited to come back," she said. "We definitely never imagined that some of these things would happen. We saw ourselves as having ambition and knew we wanted to do as much as we could with the band. I just don’t think when we started out in the 1990s thinking much more than ‘I hope one day we can play our own tours to our own audiences.’ We had very limited ideas about what it would be to be successful in the music business. It is a joy for us to be entering a new stage in our career with increased visibility and a new fan base. We are very humbled by it. We know very quickly bands can disappear and right now it feels like we are just getting bigger. There is a lot of pride for that."

Of the many exciting moments of the last few years, it is their performance of Everything is Awesome at the 2015 Academy Awards that stands out as a favourite and showed just how far a couple of girls from Calgary have come.

"The Oscars were pretty out of this world. I don’t think there is anything else to compare to that. It was just such a substantial opportunity and the anxiety and fear that we would screw it up was very intense. I had an amazing time and it was one of those opportunities where we could never have known that it would blow up on such a big level. That was definitely a pinch me moment."

After a successful album, there is often pressure and expectations on the follow up release, which did influence Quin as she began writing. The sisters each write individually then meet in the studio to put the album together.

"I always feel sort of stressed out that I’m not going to be able to write or that it won’t be as popular and cherished by the fan base. That kind of burns behind me all the time. I am always thinking about how to be better and do something fresh. On the other hand, I feel very confident about where we are at and that we are probably writing some of the best songs of our career so there is a confidence too.  The writing process hasn’t changed much over the years. We have our go to routines. I like to write at home and spend a few months really hashing out material and recording stuff and then send it to Tegan for feedback. We don’t do a lot of actual collaborating until we get into the studio. Then we will sing background harmonies on each other’s songs or throw down certain ideas. On this record Tegan let me fool around with her lyrics and tinker a bit. That allows us to have this time almost as solo artists and we get to have our own vision and then we go in and start collaborating and adding that Tegan and Sara sound later on.

The first single Boyfriend definitely continues the sound and style of recent singles.

"There are a couple of songs on the record that are strong contenders and will probably have their time on the radio.  Boyfriend is what we like to call a first listen song, most people with one listen will get into it right away. I felt that lyrically it is very interesting and pretty on the nose for what is happening in the world right now. It is a straightforward pop song but also plays with this idea of gender and sexuality which are topics that a lot of people are having fun with in the entertainment industry right now."

Tegan and Sara have spent the summer touring the world before launching their North American tour in Saskatoon September 9th. This tour took them to places like Taiwan and South Korea, showing that music is universal and can transcend language.

"At the beginning of our career we had traditional ideas of where you went in your music career – London, New York, Berlin, LA. Those were the things I knew about touring. It is really only been in random situations that we have ended up outside of Europe, Australia and North America. With our last album cycle we were able to spend some time in Southeast Asia and China and the market is really exploding. There is a real excitement for western music. It feels really cool after so many years of playing music to go places that you haven’t been before. It is really different. English isn’t spoken there and in some cases we are not talking about alphabets its characters. It is one thing if you are in Germany or France and you can sort of figure out what things say or food is on the menu. It is a whole other thing to rely on pictures and hand signals to get around. I just love the travelling and new experiences and the fact that we can play shows there is such a privilege."

Also a privilege is coming home to perform.

"We have always had one of our strongest fan bases in Canada, so touring and hanging out at home always feels really good. There is a vibe and social language that we have ingrained in us so it feels like some of our most poignant and intimate shows can be at home. As we have gotten older and had success outside of Canada it almost makes that connection even more special and important to us. It’s definitely the part of our touring cycle that we really, really look forward too."

There is a certain amount of pride in seeing someone from Alberta be successful. There also seems to some common traits amongst musicians that are born and/or raised in Alberta across genres. Whether an established artist like Terri Clark, Jann Arden and Paul Brandt or artists that have come on the scene in more recent years like Michael Bernard Fitzgerald or Rueben & The Dark, having a reputation of being a hard worker, humble, and often hilarious seems to be an Alberta thing. These traits are also found in the Quins.

"We saw a real shift in the early part of our career with the rise of the internet. When we first started going down into the states people were acting like we were coming from a foreign planet. Oh my god you are from Canada? Do they have electricity up there? It was almost like people couldn’t believe that it was a civilized place. I think the boundaries of what is Canadian or American or British has become somewhat blurred. It is funny because I will be asked ‘what are your favourite Canadian bands’ and I have to think ‘which bands do I listen to that are Canadian?’ Music almost now to me doesn’t have an origin. When I meet Canadian bands and specifically Albertans that we have some common DNA. There is a sense of humour and level headed groundedness to people from Alberta. I feel really proud of that. Alberta is a beautiful and wonderful place to grow up and I like to think that sense of humour and hardworking attitude came from the people that we grew up with. Seeing people support artists from Alberta and Canada is something I feel very proud about when I go around the world and talk about it."

When Tegan and Sara perform for their "hometown" crowds at the BMO Centre in Calgary and Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton, the setlist will primarily feature songs from the last two albums but will also have some fan favourites.

"I think somewhere along the lines we figured out what is most satisfying for both the audience and for us is to play the songs that we know people want to hear. Sometimes when you start out you go I don’t care if people like this song, I like it so I am going to play it. Now I just want to make sure that people feel like they came and had an amazing night and heard the songs they love. That feels very satisfying. We try very hard to play something from every record. We did four warm up shows to test out the new stuff but we also changed some of the old material to sound a little more consistent sonically with the new album and it went over really well. People seemed to be really excited and I am looking forward to getting out and doing bigger shows and doing those songs.

Over time Tegan and Sara have become less about their sexuality and more about their artistry. Both of them are still outspoken advocates for the community and continue to push for equality around the world.

"I like to take an international perspective on the whole thing. Sometimes it can become too easy to become apathetic when things are better for one group of people. We were fortunate enough to be becoming adults and our career had started when the LGBT movement in Canada for same sex marriage and adoption and the inclusive language became law in Canada. We were very impressed with that and thought to ourselves we were not a part of that movement we are just benefitting from it. Let’s go down to the States and be outspoken and advocates and talk about how important these legislative changes are for millions of Americans. Once that started to happen it became what about these other countries we go to? Australia has kind of lame LGBT rights. What about Croatia? What about France? For us it is about our closeness to the LGBT community in being visible and able to talk about it and advocate for people. That has brought us a lot of purpose and comfort. When I was growing up there were a lot of people in my parents age group that were trailblazers in that community. People like kd Lang, Ellen DeGeneres, Melissa Etheridge, Elton John, Madonna – there was this whole generation that was either queer-friendly or queer. I was looking at our generation and going where are our queer people? To see so many bands and artists and actors coming out and being out it feels like there is real change happening. It is necessary because there are places all around the world that still need people like us be visible, inspire them and inspire change."