VICE Magazine: We Interviewed Teri Gender Bender From Le Butcherettes
As many times as we’ve heard Morrissey exclaim through multiple songs and various PETA campaigns that meat is, in fact, a murderous act, it’s hard to ignore how cool of a stage prop it can actually be. I mean, who doesn’t like a severed, bloody pig’s head in conjunction with their favorite band? Since 17, Teresa Suarez, aka Teri Gender Bender, founder and guitarist of Mexican garage Punk band, Le Butcherettes, has been using blood and gore for her live performances for reasons that extend far beyond the grotesque, and into the ideals and ethics of the importance of the feminist movement.
With Sylvia Plath, Kathleen Hanna, and Chilean musician and artist, Violeta Parra as ongoing influences. Teri, now 23, has evolved from her days as a teen armed with a guitar and a bloody apron, into a woman who refuses to lose that fiery, teenage angst that continues to spread the word of feminism to whomever is willing to give a shit. Having already completed her sophomore album with fellow band members Lia Braswell (drums), and bassist/The Mars Volta , At The Drive-In guitarist, Omar Rodriguez Lopez, Le Butcherettes’ newest record will be less blood on stage mixed with literary references musically than their debut, SIN SIN SIN, but more references and possible inspiration from living life in a new country on Cry Is For The Flies. We interviewed Teri to find out what’s what.
VICE: You recently played Coachella. How was it?
Teri Gender Bender: It was crazy. We played around 1:55 pm, so it was really hot. I think that the set went by swell. Lia [Braswell, drummer], and Omar [Rodriguez Lopez , who’s on bass now, were fine, the heat didn’t affect them, but the heat got to me. I had a migraine the whole festival and I couldn’t even watch any bands, I had to go lay down in the van and ended up throwing up the whole time, and it happened both weekends.The heat was just terrible. But it was great. I’m not complaining.
Teri Gender Bender of Le Butcherettes Video Interview About New Album
Check out the video interview with Teri Gender Bender talking about her new and upcoming Le Butcherettes album “Cry Is for the Flies”.
(Source: youtube.com)
Rolling Stone: Interviews Teri Gender Bender & Omar Rodriguez Lopez On Pulling Double Duty in Le Butcherettes & At The Drive In
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Teri Gender Bender & Lia Braswell of Le Butcherettes in their trailer at Coachella.
Inside a small trailer backstage at Coachella yesterday, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez was trying to cool down after his first performance of the day, and the dressing room wasn’t much cooler than the triple-digit heat outside. Rodriguez-Lopez pulled double duty on both festival weekends in Indio, California, playing lead guitar with the reunited At the Drive-In on the main stage just hours after a full set on bass with Le Butcherettes, the fiery garage-punk band whose next album he is currently producing in Los Angeles.
Rodriguez-Lopez is a full permanent member of Le Butcherettes, and during the trio’s raging 45-minute set, he stood back with a smile as Guadalajaran singer-guitarist Teri Gender Bender roared through anxious pop hooks with sharp edges, at one point tossing a big Casio keyboard into the moshing crowd. New drummer Lia Braswell slammed a heavy beat from stage left and fans waved Mexican flags, as they would again later for At the Drive-In. Soon after, Rodriguez-Lopez sat with Le Butcherettes for several rounds of bottled water and talked with Rolling Stone about their busy Coachella week.
Is playing two sets a day a challenge?
Rodriguez-Lopez: No, it’s a blessing. Go play music all day? I should be so lucky. Last weekend we played, then we cooled off, we ate, and then just when you really feel like you’re winding down, “Oh, it’s time to play.” It’s perfect.
LA Times // Coachella 2012: The antics of Le Butcherettes make a mom worry
Teri Suaréz is trying to finish a record. Her phone, however, won’t stop interrupting. It’s her mother. “She’s freaking out,” Suaréz said.
This past Sunday, Suaréz sent her mother into a state of panic when, at the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, she walked away from her guitar and keyboard and climbed to the top of a lighting rig. Then she locked her legs around it and leaned over backward.
“That’s why my mom is calling me,” Suaréz said. “She said, ‘Please don’t ever do that again!’ I said, ‘Oh, no, Mom. I won’t do that ever again. I’ll be more careful. I swear.’ But she’s still really scared about it. She keeps calling to see if I’m OK.”
For now, yes, Suaréz is fine. If anything, the 22 year old is a little nervous herself. While Le Butcherettes concerts are known for their unpredictability, Suaréz has no intention of putting her life — or at least a few of her bones — in danger at Coachella on Sunday. On stage, as Teri “Gender Bender” Suaréz, the artist is reckless, abusing her guitar and her voice with delight. Off stage, Suaréz constantly laughs at herself, apologizes after nearly every sentence and admits to being paralyzed with shyness.
“It hasn’t been a hard time,” Suaréz said of harmonizing the two extremes of her personality, and then adds, “but, existentially speaking, it has been.”
Suaréz and her band, which currently includes drummer Lia Braswell and At the Drive-In principal Omar Rodriguez Lopez on bass, is rooted in the anything-goes ethos of punk rock. From Guadalajara, Mexico, and based in L.A., Le Butcherettes are a collision of genres and cultures, as Suaréz quotes from the novels most of us never read, serenades in Spanish, occasionally pretends to be Russian and lashes out at what she sees as political and societal constraints.
When Le Butcherettes opened for Iggy & the Stooges last winter, it was easy to label Suaréz as something of a spiritual heir to Iggy Pop. She’s aware of that, and she hasn’t stopped thinking about it. “I feel like everyone is expecting me to be crazy,” she said of her band’s live performances, and she said Iggy told her the “same story.”
SPIN: Names Le Butcherettes in Their Top 10 Best Sets at Coachella, Sunday April 15
Le Butcherettes
“It’s fitting that Le Butcherettes have opened for both the Dead Weather and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in their native Mexico. To those who’ve never witnessed the fierce glory of female lead Teri Gender Bender firsthand, it’s easiest to imagine her as a cross between Jack White (a shredder on the guitar with the high yawp of a born rock star) and Karen O (emotive, jittery, and owning the stage with captivating dramatic range). But the Guadalajara-hailing, Los Angeles-based singer proved that she should be considered in a class all her own when, following a ripping set accompanied by fulltime drummer Lia Braswell and sitting bassist Omar Rodríguez-López (At the Drive-In, Mars Volta), she jumped down from the stage and ran out into the field with her arms out like an airplane before collapsing in a small, sundress’d heap. Fans flocked, crouched low with her, gave her hugs and said sweet things in both Spanish and English before starting a chant—BOO! CHER! ETTS!—then lifting Teri and carrying her back to the safety of the stage. Even then, she hung out for another 10 minutes, bleary-eyed and speaking with fans.” -Chris Martins
FULL SPIN LIST HERE
Los Angeles Times // Coachella 2012: “Le Butcherettes come to festival, conquer it”
All Teri “Gender Bender” Suarez had to do was walk onstage. Five steps to her keyboard and one uncomfortable-looking chicken-squat later, and she already looked as if she were in need of an exorcism. Once she struck her instrument and began sputtering in time to the beat in a crouched position, the gentleman standing next to me leaned over and said, “I’m scared already.”
This, as anyone who has seen Le Butcherettes before can attest, is when the fun begins.
The local group came to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in the midst of recording its new album, and were augmented here by mentor/producer and frequent collaborator Omar Rodriguez Lopez. The member of At the Drive-In was the one and only calm presence on stage, his forceful punk-rock bass guiding Suarez and drummer Lia Braswell away from completely losing it.
Rolling Stone’s Top 10 Acts Not To Miss At Coachella // Le Butcherettes
It’s never just been about the headliners at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In fact, many of the 100,000-plus fans who bought tickets to this year’s two consecutive Coachella weekends (April 13th-15th and 20th-22nd) signed up before the lineup was even announced. Most knew that the biggest names would be part of a much longer list of exciting rock, dance, hip-hop and more gathered for the desert fest in Indio, California. Here are just 10 of the acts further down the bill not to be missed.
Le Bucherettes
This explosive indie/punk-rock trio is led by Guadalajara singer-guitarist Teri Gender Bender, whose sound and fury land somewhere in the Jack White/PJ Harvey tradition. Songs from last year’s Sin Sin Sin are all hooks and sharp edges, and Gender Bender’s known to act out onstage – climbing scaffolds, stage-diving and even suddenly clipping at her hair. They’re at work on a new album produced by The Mars Volta guitarist Omar Rodriquez-Lopez, Le Butcherettes’ bassist at the Festival. He’ll be pulling double duty at this year’s Coachella, shredding guitar with the reunited At the Drive-In and laying down a driving rhythm for Gender Bender’s wild and crazy rock. - By Steve Appleford
Le Butcherettes play on Sunday in the Gobi Tent at 1:55pm
See the whole list at ROLLING STONE and Listen to their Spotify playlist of 10 Coachella Can’t-Miss Acts:
Le Butcherettes To Play Chicago June 1st & 2nd
Le Butcherettes, O’Death & Murder by Death are first bands to be announced to play this years Do Division Street Festival which is set to take place from June 1-3 in Wicker Park. Le Butcherettes will be playing on June 2nd and will also play their own show at Subterranean on June 1.
That’s it for now. Stay tuned for more lineup additions.
(Source: artistdata.com)
Verbicide Magazine Interview w/ Teri of Le Butcherettes
It’s safe to assume there are myriad performers in the world that are products of a neighborhood where feeling safe was never an option. For most of them, though, music (or any form of art) was seen by the community as a gift. However, in the case of Teri Gender Bender (real name Teresa Suaréz), who grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico, the notion of a female speaking her mind through music were not met with much praise and acceptance.
Admittedly shy and timid when not on stage, Teri has been recording with her avant-garde garage punk outfit Le Butcherettes under the Sargent House/RLP umbrella, garnering praise from all directions — something that, at one time, may have seemed unattainable.
Noted by many as a must-see act, Teri is looking at all the avenues that are opening up for her while keeping herself grounded in the reality her rising fame is creating. Calling from a sunny day in Los Angeles, Teri spoke with us to reflect on how all her new options for the future are affecting her art and her world as a whole.
I was thinking about the last time I saw you perform live; it was back at the Highline Ballroom, opening for the ORLG band. I find it amazing how much power you create from such a minimalist setup. Is that something you specifically strive for?
It’s funny that you mention that. For the few people that we have [onstage], we try to push it as much as we can, and it has always been like that since the old days when I was 17 in Mexico. All I could have at my grasp was a guitar and a bass drum, and I guess the fact that I didn’t have much with me made me push myself even further.
Voto Latino: Le Butcherettes’ Teri Gender Bender Puts a Spell On You
I was a little nervous to interview Le Butcherettes frontwoman Teri Gender Bender (real name Teresa Suarez) last October at her Rodriguez-Lopez Productions record label, which Omar Rodriguez-Lopez runs with Cathy Pellow out of a house in the hills of Echo Park. Her stage presence is intense, so I was expecting her to scream at me for asking stupid questions; or not answer them at all. Instead, we vibed off deep discussions on feminism, philosophy and the healing aspects of nature. We were stuck behind this cement truck that wouldn’t move,” Teri’s first words were to me before going in for a big bear hug. “I thought, ‘Oh my God. She’s gonna think I’m a diva.’”
“I like to lay in the grass and just breathe. It’s so humbling. I feel like I’m becoming a hermit. I’ve just been staying away from people. I’ve become so anti-social. I’m dealing with myself for once,” Teri, who doesn’t drink or smoke, said. “I feel like you’re my therapist.”
Conversations with Bianca Interview: Le Butcherettes’ Teri Gender Bender
I’ve listened to Le Butcherettes practically every single day since I first discovered them last year. There are not many bands that have made my daily playlists, especially so quickly. I get the same feeling listening to Le Butcherettes’ Kiss & Kill and Sin Sin Sin records as I did when I first discovered Hole’s Pretty On The Inside and Live Through This as a 15-year-old. Le Butcherettes have become a really important, special band to me in the same way Hole (the real Hole with the Love/Erlandson combo) is. All the things that I love about Hole frontwoman Courtney Love – the intelligence, the love of literature and culture, the introspection and commentary of the female experience in the world, the strength, heartfelt soulful lyrics, musicianship, powerful live shows – I find again in Le Butcherettes’ frontwoman Teri Gender Bender. Le Butcherettes are a band that matter.
TERI GENDER BENDER: I’m nervous because my answers always suck!
No, they don’t! Every interview I’ve ever read with you is so incredibly thoughtful. You answer every question with such grace and no matter what is asked you always answer it really considerately.
TGB: That’s probably because the writer made it sound thoughtful.
No way. You’re selling yourself short lady.
TGB: Thank you, you are very kind [laughs].
I wanted to start by asking, what does music mean to you?
TGB: Honestly, it means [pauses] aw fuck, it just means so much to me. All these words want to come out but my throat stops them—the act of living and doing, that’s what music means to me. Being able to express oneself, even when you’re not playing it, the act of listening to it makes me feel so alive. It makes me feel like I can do anything, that I can conquer any man or any animal – that I could just go up to any bear and just hug him. Maybe that might not be the case but to me, music is just a big part of my life. Thanks to music, it prevented me from being depressed, or when I was depressed music helps lift my spirits up. I guess it has something to do with the vibes, the vibration, maybe some kind of molecules; I’ll go along with it. Its medicine, music is medicine.
CRAVE Online’s: 10 Must - See Bands at Coachella 2012
2. Le Butcherettes:
Sargent House’s spaz-blast rock outfit Le Butcherettes have had us by the musical throat for over a year, and we’re chomping at the bit to see them in the blazing desert. Led by fireball vocalist/guitarist/pianist Teri Gender Bender, Le Butcherettes’ songs & untethered energy evoke early-era Yeah Yeah Yeahs, with the seductive energy of The Kills in an explosive minimalist package. To see them live is to be equally inspired, adrenalized and disturbed. Find us in the pit.
Check out a video for “New York”:
SEE ALL TEN CHOICES HERE - by Johnny Firecloud for Crave Online
Reforma: Impulsa orgullo a Teri Gender Bender
El Economista : “Las artes más fuertes en México que en EU”: Teri Gender
Una fría noche de octubre del año 2009, el dueto conformado por el vocalista de los White Stripes, Jack White, y la vocalista de los Kills, Allison Mosshart, The Dead Weather presentó su primer disco Horehound en el José Cuervo Salón de la Ciudad de México. Aquella noche, una joven rokcera de 20 años: Teresa Suárez, con los nervios de punta salió a telonear para un público exigente. La escena parecía sacada de una película de terror japonesa: una muchacha muy delgada, de tez blanquísima y cabello negro se sacudía como loca sobre el escenario, como si eso no fuera poco ella vestía un delantal de carnicero manchado de pintura roja como si fuera sangre.
Llamó la atención hasta del más despitado. La gente la veía incrédula, no sabían con certeza si se trataba de una animadora o de qué. Pero lo que nadie podría negar es que era realmente interesante. Teresa dejó a más de uno con la boca abierta.
También conocida como Teri Gender, esta chica de colosal presencia es el alma de Le Butcherettes, agrupación originada en México que desde hace un año radica en los Estados Unidos y que, luego de la salida de la otra fundadora de la banda, la baterista Auryn Jolene, por problemas con Teri, se dedicó a sembrar su música en los bares fronterizos. Muy poco tiempo después, los resultados están a la vista: el próximo mes de abril será una de las representantes mexicanas en el Festival Coachella, lo que a ella la llena de orgullo:
“Quiero demostrarle a estos cabrones gringos que lo que se hace en México está bien chingón. Que vean que las bandas mexicanas estamos haciendo algo importante. Yo no sé qué idea tiene de nosotros pero a mi me ha tocado que gente se sorprende de que yo pueda hablar inglés muy fluido. Acá en EU me han tratado como una mexicanita que no sabe qué onda y qué bueno que se da esta oportunidad para demostrar lo contrario.”, cuenta la cantante vía telefónica desde Los Ángeles, California.
Spinner: Le Butcherettes, ‘I’m Getting Sick of You’ - Video of the Day
Artist: Le Butcherettes
Video: ‘I’m Getting Sick of You’
Highlight: “Being able to to play with Lia and Omar on MTV Iggy has been nothing but a pleasurable experience, wanting nothing more or less to create an understanding of the self,” singer/guitarist Teri Gender Bender tells Spinner. “This video, ‘I’m Getting Sick of You,’ is so special to me because this is a song I wrote in my bedroom when I was 17, in my home country Mexico. I was surrounded by my family’s love, which helped me focus anger at the third-world bureaucracies that occurred against the working class man and woman. I was sick of it. It’s just so amazing to me how the song’s energy could be transformed with time and get so far as going to another country, such a great opportunity for a proud Mexican girl of 17 (now 22). You should see the e-mails I get from my fans in Mexico saying how proud they are of me.”
