Teri gender bender biography definition

“I would personally describe my music as strong yet soft to someone who has never heard it before,” TERI GENDERBENDER explains. The Denver-born singer’s real name is Teresa Suárez Cosío, who is best-known for being the frontwoman of punk band LE BUTCHERETTES, as well as her solo project, TERI GENDER BENDER. Her description of her music is spot on. Throughout her fourteen EPs that have been released as part of her solo project, the music jumps from acoustic to groovy new-wave and punk- to name but a few genres that she confidently makes herself at home. Her latest EP, Outsiders, has an extended edition that is coming out, which includes a bonus track that didn’t make the original cut.

However, her start out in the music industry was anything but easy. She lived in Denver until she was thirteen, which was when her father passed away from a heart attack. She returned to Mexico with her mother and two younger brothers, where she founded LE BUTCHERETTES with drummer Auryn Jolene at the age of 17. The band are still going to this day, and are beloved in the punk scene. But the rise of Teri‘s solo career was “a gradual path in the making without knowing it in the moments of my songwriting.”

She elaborates, “it was never really a plan to go solo until somewhere during the pandemic. The isolation turned into solitude and it helped me let go of LE BUTCHERETTES as my only sole identity, as it was taking over my life, as it was going at full speed, non-stop touring and we had just released new music but it was all put to a halt when the pandemic came.”

The pandemic undoubtedly turned all our lives upside down. However, for some people, spending time at home made them rediscover their purpose in life. That was the case for Teri, who – despite facing challenges due to the first lockdown – also found time to hone in on her solo project.

“Like many people, I came across so many mental hurdles (and blessings) that just havin

When Teri Gender Bender takes the stage, she’s clad head to toe in monochromatic red: crimson paint cloaks her bang-framed eyes, creating a bloody mask through which she watches her audience, and a Chichimeca headdress sits at the top of her head. As Le Butcherettes—the garage punk band she started in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2007—launches into song, the singer/guitarist/pianist begins ritualistically peeling back layers, both physical and emotional.

Her convulsive movements echo the distorted guitar and heavy drums on each song, at one point causing her headdress to fall to the side. She rips off her belt and repeatedly bashes it on the ground while releasing a guttural howl about her toxic relationship with her bipolar mother. During one of several spoken word interludes, she cradles herself on the ground, removes a shoe, and slaps herself with it, seemingly evoking traumatic scenes from her childhood.

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The performance is the realization of bi/MENTAL, the 13-track album produced by Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison and released under Rise Records on February 1. Much like the record itself, Teri’s stage presence brutally exposes her inner turmoil and indigenous heritage. Once a source of shame, her performance becomes a way of reclaiming them—an unsanitized depiction of living with mental illness and battling your own demons.

“That’s why we do this—at least for me, I don’t want to speak for you guys,” she says, gesturing to her bandmates, who are all hanging out in a dressing room overlooking the stage of Atlanta’s The Masquerade. “But [we do this] to stay in the creative zone because it can be disruptive in there if you don’t keep the river flowing.”

At her most susceptible state, Teri Gender Bender is a warrior. Stripped down to fishnet tights and a taut red dress after ripping off part of her costume, her headdress readjusted over her sweat-drenched hair, and a tribal harness strapped around her chest, she fin

When and where were you born?

I was born in Denver, Colorado in 1989. I think it was at 9:06 in the morning. I remember my mom being very prideful, because according to her mother, my grandmother, when you’re born in the morning, it means that an angel can possess your body. If you’re born at the nighttime, the devil will possess your mind. I don’t know. They really strongly believed in that and so ever since I was little, my mom would always say, “You’re an angel, you’re an angel,” to the point where I didn’t want to be an angel. Basically, I think that’s why I started doing punk rock music, because I don’t want to be an angel at all.

How long did you live in Denver before you moved to Mexico? Tell me a little bit about how that worked.

Basically, while I was growing up in Denver, we’d go back and forth a lot between the States and Mexico. Eventually, my dad found a stable job in Denver in the prison industry. He was a prison guard. He would overlook the kitchen area to make sure none of the inmates, while cleaning the dishes, would take the knife or anything, because then that would be on his head. He could even end up in prison if he let that pass by.

I hated going to Mexico at first. I was very ashamed of my own culture and I think that was very embedded in me in Denver from going to public schools and being bullied. That made me ashamed of speaking Spanish, for example. I tried to hide it. I’d lie to my teachers and tell them my father’s name was Mark, when in fact it was Roberto. It took him passing away for us to go back to our roots and that’s when I most embraced the Mexican style of life, which is basically obsessed with death. That explains why, ever since I was little, I would think about death a lot.

What was the first music that you ever fell in love with?

The first type of music that I fell in love with that I can remember was classical music. I think it was more related to the fact of how he reacted, my father, while listening to classical

Teri Gender Bender, vocalist of the powerful punk rock band, Le Butcherettes, is arguably an iconic musician. Her lyrical prowess, and the way in which she articulates herself are unlike any other, and she possesses the ability to inspire everyone. “We all choose to use the pain to create, refusing to die timid and blind,” she states, when asked what message she hopes to convey through her music. “In short the message is, be a rebel. Rebels make history. Be a fighter. The age-old chant of what does not kill will make you stronger. Just take a look at historical figures, individual stories through out the world. You can either serve your people or serve yourself. To do the latter will not get you very far. One needs a purpose and intent… when one has no purpose of looses focus and “searches for a reason to die young”. Yes… I am that asshole who has quoted a song off their own record. Ha!”

Le Butcheretes’ 2015 album, ‘A Raw Youth’, which despite being their most refined effort to date, captures the assured urgency of her message. “On a technical level, a different and far more superior console was used,” she reveals. “On an over all ground, a tight and embrasure oiled machine of a team was part of the magic. On a spiritual level, having the tranquillity and freedom of being able to experiment with new sounds and going back to the technical, being able to work with engineers and a producer that work with great vintage analog gear.”

“The studio team is small yet tight,” she continues. “There were two studio engineers, which includes Chris Common, my drummer for ‘A Raw Youth’ who also mixed and mastered the record. Jamie Aaron Aux recorded the bass parts in a matter of days and touring with her for the record was great. Omar (Rodriguez-Lopez of At The Drive In, The Mars Volta etc), our dear friend and producer who did an exceptional job adding flare and fire to the songs. Most importantly, I feel like we all were there to serve the music and the story te