Get to know Teri Gender Bender of Le Butcherettes
Channel: Entertainment
Le Butcherettes took over Santos Party House in New York on November 1, kicking off a month-long headlining stint through the east coast before they embark on a December tour opening up for Iggy & The Stooges. On board for all the dates are Lia Braswell on drums and The Mars Volta’s Omar Rodriguez-Lopez on bass, who also produced and played bass on Sin Sin Sin, the band’s debut album, released on his label earlier this year. But the main force behind Le Butcherettes is a stunning and intense brunette who goes by the name Teri Gender Bender.
Teri Suarez was born in Denver to Mexican parents and relocated to Guadalajara during her teen years after the death of her father. In Mexico, shellshocked by the discrimination and sexism she experienced from both men and women, she immersed herself in women’s studies and discovered female musicians such as Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, who set her on a path to make her own statements through music.
During some of her first shows in Guadalajara, Le Butcherettes wore butchers’ aprons and performed covered in blood and meat with pig heads as props, in protest of the violence towards women in Juarez. Now living in Los Angeles, Teri has put some of the macabre props behind her, and has toured extensively with The Deftones, Queens of the Stone Age, and The Flaming Lips.
The props may vary, but her stage presence is the real attraction. Bold, bewitching, and in command, Teri prowls the stage as she delivers a performance with an Iggy Pop swagger, Karen O abandon, and a mystery all her own.
