Biography
Le Butcherettes originated in Mexico as a garage punk ensemble launched by vocalist and guitarist Teri Gender Bender, born Denver-raised Mexican Teri Suarez Cosío, who has served as its lone consistent participant. Their unruly sound merges punk foundations with mariachi, funk, industrial noise, and whimsical absurdist avant-rock across efforts such as the 2011 debut album Sin Sin Sin.
Born in Denver to a Mexican mother and Spanish father, Suarez Cosío began experiencing repeated dreams of guitar performance at age ten and ultimately persuaded her father to purchase an instrument. His death at her age thirteen led her mother to relocate the family to Mexico. At seventeen she formed Le Butcherettes in Guadalajara with drummer Auryn Jolene. Their earliest concerts incorporated theatrical props—1950s women’s clothing, feather dusters, brooms, aprons, fake blood, flour, eggs, meat, and an actual pig’s head—to illustrate women as patriarchal household slaves.
The band delivered its first EP, Kiss & Kill, in 2008. The music together with the force of the women’s live presentation secured Best New Artist and Best Punk Record honors at the Indie-O Awards 2009. During that stretch, at a Los Angeles show interrupted by a power outage, Suarez encountered Omar Rodriguez-Lopez; she promptly took to the crowd and kept singing through a megaphone. Impressed, Rodriguez-Lopez signed the group to his label, produced, and played bass on 2011’s Sin Sin Sin alongside drummer Normandi Heuxdaflo.
In 2012 Suarez supplied lyrics and vocals to Rodriguez-Lopez’s Octopus Kool Aid and appeared in his film Mi No y Esperanza. She later moved to Los Angeles and began a sustained creative alliance with him that encompassed recording projects with Bosnian Rainbows and Kimono Kult.
Early in 2014 Le Butcherettes returned to the studio for Cry Is for the Flies on Rodriguez-Lopez’s Nadie Sound imprint; he again produced and played bass, with drummer Lia Braswell. Three digital singles appeared beforehand, granting buyers three-week-early access to the full album released May 20. In early 2015 Gender Bender sang on a limited lathe-cut Melvins single titled “Rebel Girl,” while the full band shared a split-EP with the Melvins on Amphetamine Reptile months afterward.
September saw the release of A Raw Youth on Ipecac, produced by Rodriguez-Lopez and featuring Iggy Pop on “La Uva” plus guitarist John Frusciante on “My Half.” Its songs address personal and social oppression, focusing on the experiences of victimized women from solitary hitchhikers to those in the Middle East subjected to subjugation and slavery.
During tours through Europe, Mexico, and the United States the stage lineup operated as a quartet with drummer Alejandra Luna Robles, guitarist Rikardo Rodriguez-Lopez, and keyboardist Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez, shifting between mainstream arena rock and vanguard anarcho-punk. In 2018 the group issued the surprise struggle/STRUGGLE EP blending indie rock and post-punk. They followed with the full-length bi/MENTAL in January of the next year, produced with assistance from Jerry Harrison and including the struggle/STRUGGLE title track, the single “spider/WAVES” with Jello Biafra, and ex-Bags frontwoman Alice Bag on “Mother/Holds.”
Le Butcherettes resurfaced in 2020 with the seven-song EP Don't Bleed, examining shame and revenge through its sleek, ominous rock tracks.
Born in Denver to a Mexican mother and Spanish father, Suarez Cosío began experiencing repeated dreams of guitar performance at age ten and ultimately persuaded her father to purchase an instrument. His death at her age thirteen led her mother to relocate the family to Mexico. At seventeen she formed Le Butcherettes in Guadalajara with drummer Auryn Jolene. Their earliest concerts incorporated theatrical props—1950s women’s clothing, feather dusters, brooms, aprons, fake blood, flour, eggs, meat, and an actual pig’s head—to illustrate women as patriarchal household slaves.
The band delivered its first EP, Kiss & Kill, in 2008. The music together with the force of the women’s live presentation secured Best New Artist and Best Punk Record honors at the Indie-O Awards 2009. During that stretch, at a Los Angeles show interrupted by a power outage, Suarez encountered Omar Rodriguez-Lopez; she promptly took to the crowd and kept singing through a megaphone. Impressed, Rodriguez-Lopez signed the group to his label, produced, and played bass on 2011’s Sin Sin Sin alongside drummer Normandi Heuxdaflo.
In 2012 Suarez supplied lyrics and vocals to Rodriguez-Lopez’s Octopus Kool Aid and appeared in his film Mi No y Esperanza. She later moved to Los Angeles and began a sustained creative alliance with him that encompassed recording projects with Bosnian Rainbows and Kimono Kult.
Early in 2014 Le Butcherettes returned to the studio for Cry Is for the Flies on Rodriguez-Lopez’s Nadie Sound imprint; he again produced and played bass, with drummer Lia Braswell. Three digital singles appeared beforehand, granting buyers three-week-early access to the full album released May 20. In early 2015 Gender Bender sang on a limited lathe-cut Melvins single titled “Rebel Girl,” while the full band shared a split-EP with the Melvins on Amphetamine Reptile months afterward.
September saw the release of A Raw Youth on Ipecac, produced by Rodriguez-Lopez and featuring Iggy Pop on “La Uva” plus guitarist John Frusciante on “My Half.” Its songs address personal and social oppression, focusing on the experiences of victimized women from solitary hitchhikers to those in the Middle East subjected to subjugation and slavery.
During tours through Europe, Mexico, and the United States the stage lineup operated as a quartet with drummer Alejandra Luna Robles, guitarist Rikardo Rodriguez-Lopez, and keyboardist Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez, shifting between mainstream arena rock and vanguard anarcho-punk. In 2018 the group issued the surprise struggle/STRUGGLE EP blending indie rock and post-punk. They followed with the full-length bi/MENTAL in January of the next year, produced with assistance from Jerry Harrison and including the struggle/STRUGGLE title track, the single “spider/WAVES” with Jello Biafra, and ex-Bags frontwoman Alice Bag on “Mother/Holds.”
Le Butcherettes resurfaced in 2020 with the seven-song EP Don't Bleed, examining shame and revenge through its sleek, ominous rock tracks.
Albums
Singles
DON'T BLEED, YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOREST
2020
TUNISIA
2019
Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)
2019
nothing/BUT TROUBLE
2019
give/UP
2019
father/ELOHIM
2018
strong/ENOUGH
2018
struggle/STRUGGLE
2018
spider/WAVES
2018
Live
