Sometimes, when I’m anxious to get off a plane, in the last half-hour, I’ll go through my photos looking for doubles, scenery, and random cat photos people have sent and delete them. I’ll attempt to shuffle things into folders so they are easier to find should I go looking for something specific at some point. And I promise myself that I’ll take time one of these days to finish the job when the wheels of the plane touch down and I shift back to scrolling and texting, and out of my iPhoto cleanup haze. But is it ever finished?
Back in the day, I’d take photos on a film camera, develop them, and put them in albums. Now everything else just sits on my phone, and computer in a big jumble of photos I’ll never look at again, photos I should just delete, photos people sent me, photos we’ve posted on the T&S IG, photos I forgot to post on IG. And then like, two billion cat photos.
I said over email the other day to our management team and Sara that if we do make a live album from the recordings from our last tour, I think we should make physical packages (CDs, tapes, vinyl) for the collectors among us. Think Ani Difranco’s "Living In Clip”. The songs and the stories. A double album. With a booklet with photos from the tour. So maybe we should hold some stuff back, I suggested, and keep the stories and recordings and photos for that. It would be nice to have images and videos that no one has seen. For social media, for the booklet. Right? Or maybe it doesn’t matter; we share so much content (we = everyone) at this point, who even remembers what’s been posted and hasn’t? I certainly don’t. Anyway. The verdict is out on that.
In the meantime, I am cleaning up my iPhoto. I found myself moving photos of Sara and me with amazing artists we’ve toured with into a folder. And so today is a post called BACKSTAGE. Maybe more to come? Or maybe not. We’ll see.
-Tegan
I met Jack Antonoff backstage in 2009 when his band Steel Train was opening for Hanson in LA. His sister and parents were there and I thought they were a lot like us. Like our family, they all thrummed with anxiety and health hysteria, and I found myself feeling very at home in their presence. We took Steel Train on tour with us a few months later. This was taken around that time by Lindsey Byrnes.
One of the many funny things that happened to us when we released our album “Heartthrob” was that we met a lot of famous people doing press and events. The day we met New Kids On The Block was a highlight. I was obsessed with Jordan when I was a kid. Sara was a massive fan of Joey. We had never met them in real life. I have no idea if they had a clue who we were, but it didn’t matter. Someone on our team heard they were in the studio next to ours where we were shooting and brought us over to meet them. It was incredible. And they were so nice.
We opened for Jack Johnson in 2010 across Australia and New Zealand. We had just been in India where we both got very sick. So this photo made me laugh. We’re probably still recovering from barfing and shitting our guts out for three days, but look how happy we are to be there (and be alive)! Jack and his band, and crew were so nice. The tour was so relaxed. Except for when they chartered a flight to take us between Wellington and Auckland and the pilot flew too close to a mountain and an alarm sounded and I thought, this is it, we’re going to die. But we didn’t die!
If you don’t know Shura, you should get to know her music. A true talent, a hilarious human, and about to drop new music soon. Plus she is a muscle mommy now. Her words, not mine! So get caught up. We had a blast touring with Shura in 2017. There were so many years where we were desperate to tour with queer people. Desperate to find women our age to connect with. So many years spent opening for (awesome) other bands, but always a little on the outside. It was a dream to get to a point in our career where we could start to choose the bands who came out in support of us. Seeing the world, and sharing the stage with friends is a gift. And that is Shura. A gift. All for you. Go open it!
If you have not heard the Nancy Podcast, do check it out. I feel like when Kathy Tu and Tobin Low started the podcast I am fairly certain there were none or almost no podcasts about queer people made by queer people. It was a joyous thing to finally have something powerful and funny and touching and queer to enjoy. Legends! Love them. I couldn’t tell you what backstage this photo was taken in but likely in and around 2017, or 2018. We were genuinely stoked as hell to meet them and get to hang. Plus Kathy has a very cute dog. That feels worth mentioning here. :)
Do I need to say much about this photo? I’m holding hands with Katy Perry at a fundraiser show we did in 2014. We held hands in front of thousands of people. Look at how happy I am. It is worth noting from this angle she looks like a giant compared to me. Or maybe I look like a child. Which is fine. She can be my mommy.
Sara Bareilles is a god damn legend. Top ten funniest, and sweetest human. We met at Lilith Fair (the redux in 2010) at the press conference on our first day of the tour. She showed us the ropes that week and was our backstage best friend who made us laugh until we cried. Once Sara visited us when we were making “Heartthrob” and told the funniest / saddest story about a recording studio session with a superstar gone bad and I will never forget it. As a multi-hyphenate superstar, she remains down to earth, humble, hysterically funny and a bright light. Also, if you have not watched Girls5eva you are missing the F out. Oh and also, we saw “The Lego Movie” in the theatre in New York with Sara B and then we dropped all three of our names to get a table at a fancy restaurant. And it was snowing. Does that not sound epically cool? It was! LOL
The first time we met Cyndi Lauper was opening for her on the True Colours Tour. We did a couple weeks of dates and she was always gracious and friendly backstage. I don’t recall if we went on stage with her more than once, but we did share the stage at least once for a finale and it was staggeringly epic and terrifying. On stage during our set every night, Sara told a story about how no one ever got her and her first serious girlfriend any gifts when they became common law. Gays weren’t allowed to get married so we didn’t get to have weddings etc. This was pre gay marriage, you guys! CRAZY! Anyway. The last night of the tour Cyndi gave us each a blender. Tell me that isn’t the fucking coolest move of all time?
Couldn’t love the xx more. This was backstage at a festival in South America in 2017 I believe. The festival scheduled our two bands at the same time which felt like a hate crime if you ask me. Fucking hate when festivals take the ONLY TWO QUEER BANDS on the lineup and put them on at the same fucking time. WHY!? Also, Romy’s new record is killer. I flew back to America next to Oliver. I tried not to act like a psycho and definitely didn’t watch him sleep. Nope. Not me. Not even a peak.
Phoebe Robinson. Backstage in 2017 at Bonnaroo. Later Phoebe and Jessica Williams (Two Dope Queens) came on stage to sing/dance to “Closer.” It was SO fun to see them on stage singing and dancing. I love them. Their podcast is such a delight. Phoebe’s books are all so funny. And when we were out trying to sell our book she gave such good advice. 5/5 human.
Backstage with Laetitia aka Vagabon in 2017. We did a tour together that year in the US. She is incredible. Funny, sweet, insanely talented. If you are not familiar, you are missing the F out. A legit artist with a heart of gold. Don’t sleep on this recommendation. Also, look how cute the three of us are, we’re all shorties!
Yes for making all the collectors edition items. All of them. Pls 🙏 it helps me thrive as a hoarder.
I humbly beg for the collector editions. I promise to buy them all lol Probably multiple of each. Also the masses of folders to organize the pictures that will never be a finished task...Forever relatable