TEGAN AND SARA

OUR RECORD SO JEALOUS CAME OUT IN SEPTEMBER OF 2004. The record made Rolling Stone’s top 50 records of the year, and we got the opening slot on the Killers’ big sold-out tour in support of Hot Fuss. But it was the rumour that the White Stripes were covering the album’s lead single, “Walking with a Ghost,” live that truly made us feel like we had made it.

It was while being interviewed at a radio station that someone read a quote from Jack White — I think it was from Rolling Stone, or maybe Spin — but he said he liked the song because it felt like something he could have written for the White Stripes. This truly rocked our world. The fact that it was a man saying it also felt truly profound to us. At that point in our career, we were still facing so much sexism and homophobia from the press, and so to have a rock god like Jack White acknowledge our songwriting had a dramatic effect on the respect we got as a band and as songwriters.

We got word that the White Stripes had recorded their own version of “Walking with a Ghost” and were going to release it on their record label later that year. If I remember correctly, we were scheduled to go through Detroit on our headline tour later that year, and our management got a call from the White Stripes’ management (maybe their label?) saying that Meg White wanted to come to the show and play us the recording they had done of the song.

Throughout the entire show, I couldn’t think of anything except that Meg White was in the audience. After the show, she came backstage. Someone from her team had requested we have an actual portable CD player available as she would be bringing a copy of the song to play it for us. So Meg and the CD player were there, waiting for us backstage when we finished our show. Meg was delightful, friendly, affable and complimentary about the show. She at some point pulled out an actual sleeve with a CD in it, popped it into the portable CD player, and cranked the volume up. The recording is epic, and we were over the moon, gushing and red-faced.

Meg took us bowling that night after she played us the song. It was 10-pin, which we had never done. The alley was packed, and I remember people were smoking and drinking everywhere. I smiled so hard that night my face ached after. It might have been, and might still be, the most rock’n’roll moment of our career.

Meg was an incredible bowler, by the way. She threw multiple strikes while also holding a lit cigarette and short glass with whiskey or some sort of straight liquor, which impressed me greatly. We met Jack a few years later, backstage at Coachella. We’d finished our set, and the Raconteurs were playing after us. He approached to say hi and was incredibly kind to us. And very tall.