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Nay sat down with a surprise sidekick, our very own Lauren Klein, for today’s interview with musician, songwriter and author, Sara Quin, who you may know from the band “Tegan and Sara.”
Nay: I had so much fun interviewing Sara with Lauren! But let me tell you, I also had fun watching lots of old Tegan and Sara interviews that I came across on YouTube. I highly recommend going on your own deep dive into the archives and getting a solid gay history lesson. (My favorite is the twins' interview with Seth Meyers from 2022.)
Sara is witty, laid back, funny, and relatable. I’m still cracking up thinking about her describing her kid’s thoughts on his auntie Tegan. This conversation was refreshing and I hope to have more in the future.
Sara also shares her transparent parenting approach that came from her experience of being raised by a very honest mother. A refreshing take when it feels like the younger generation is so isolated and insulated from adulthood and then thrown into the world as soon as they leave home, to fend for themselves.
“I remember going to the grocery store [with] my mom, we would put groceries in the cart and we would get to the thing and my mom would say, when we hit X amount of dollars… we’d have to put shit back. It was hard to be a kid and know those things. But the flip side of that was, I felt very prepared for life. Like when I became an adult, I wasn't like, holy shit, how much money does this cost?”
The singer goes on to describe her own child, Sid, and seeing the world, especially movies and musicals, through his eyes. Sara talks about Sid’s preferences for Miguel from Coco as a singer and his reverence for Tegan when talking about their band. (Spoiler: He thinks it’s “Te-Te’s band!”)
Sara says that she can already see at three years old that Sid’s his own person, and reflects the same thoughts when Nay talks to her about interviews she’s done in the past when people ask about being a twin. The musician believes we are all born with a vibe and so of course, despite being twins, she learned later on just how different she was from her sister.
“I mean, we were in our late thirties when we wrote our memoir, and I remember getting Tegan's draft of the book and being like, I don't even know this person.”
Sara talks about her and Tegan’s different experiences not only as queer kids with secret girlfriends, but how they approach the world and what that balance brings to their life and the band.
Sara also talks about her book collection, her controversial thoughts on digital music sharing and of course, politics… it is Today in Gay, after all.
“It could be horrible, like truly horrible. But there is always going to be good things. There are always, there's always gonna be a people connecting, people loving each other, people enjoying each other, making things.”
Lauren: I love this interview – it was already going to be a treat to work on the post production side of things, but to get to hop in the hot seat with Nay last minute was really special (and nerve-wracking!) Sara is literally the coolest and I feel so grateful we were able to talk to her as just herself, during the Tegan and Sara 2025 Hibernation.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the “queer historical record” lately, something I honestly didn’t think about much until Tracy Gilchrist mentioned it in our interview with her. And after reflecting on this conversation, I honestly think we are so lucky to be alive in a time when Tegan and Sara have not only been contributing to said archive for the past 20+ years making cool ass art, but to ALSO witness them knowing when to take a break (to do more cool ass shit like raise a family, or “raw-dog an activity,” as Sara explains). What a huge flex for us to our future grandkids! Thanks for joining us, Sara!
Check out Sara and Tegan’s Substack “I Think We’re Alone Now”
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