Tegan,
When I refer to myself and our band as “old,” I’m not comparing us to rotten fruit or spoiled milk. I’m pointing out a fact, one that I think of as positive not negative. We are wiser and more experienced than we once were. People always correct me, reassure me, that we look younger than our actual age. But I do not feel that I look old, and I do not long to look young(er). Age has nothing to do with my physical appearance, and everything to do with how I feel. Don’t those of us who have lived longer understand something crucial about time? Why can’t I flaunt this knowledge? Place it like a knife between the fingers of the young people I’m always surrounded by?
With the younger cast on our TV show, I’m signalling to them that going out drinking and dancing isn’t appropriate given our power dynamic and age difference. Also, I don’t recover from a hangover the way I once did. And, hell, it should be a privilege to spend time with the aged. Telling people that I feel old is a way of saying this isn’t my first rodeo so show me some respect. It is a request to hold space in a room full of new ideas. It is also a reminder to stay connected to the tides of change, because I do not want to become cynical or out of touch.
You described our new album as sounding “youthful.” I think our new music sounds confident and assured. Who else can sound that way, but someone with twenty years of writing and producing experience? It is not that I find the young boring, but I have always preferred to be surrounded by teachers and to be taught. That I now find myself at an age where I might have something to offer to others is a gift.
Sara
Spoiled Milk