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."

COACHELLA 2012 | Full coverage

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. Born in 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."

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.

 COACHELLA 2012 | Full coverage

When Suarez plays her keyboard, she bends down between strikes as if she’s in danger of falling off the stage and the instrument is her only lifeline. When she slaps at her guitar strings, the noise coming out of the speakers sounds as if it’s coated in daggers. Vocally, she shouts out quotes from novels, serenades in Spanish, occasionally pretends to be Russian and lashes out at American political leaders. When not doing any of the above, she may sing, but she approaches the microphone with the all-encompassing bravado of a Joe Strummer.  

She punctuated “Tonight” with less-than-graceful ballet kicks, and squared off with Braswell on “Dress Off.” Lopez was wise to leave the stage, as the facial expressions of Suarez and Braswell would lead one to believe that the two were locked in a duel to the death. Yet when Suarez howls to rip off her clothes, it’s a statement of reclamation, a dare to anyone — male or female — who would attempt to size her up.

Critic's Notebook: At Coachella, a rebellious spirit

The booking of Pulp, with its ‘Common People' anti-1% screed, typifies Coachella '12. 

One of the great, universal rock anthems of the last two decades — Pulp's “Common People” — bypassed the U.S. when it exploded out of England in 1995. But if and when a reunited Pulp plays the song at this year's Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., its artful and catchy screed against the 1% couldn't be more timely.

At a moment when jobless kids are cracking open piggy banks and digging deep for a Coachella ticket to see 120-odd bands over one weekend at the Indio festival, Pulp seems the most relevant among veteran acts that also include Refused, Mazzy Star, At the Drive-In, Company Flow, Madness and Squeeze. But Pulp's arrival isn't the biggest name coming out of the desert's festival, which runs two consecutive weekends. This year's roster, which was announced Monday afternoon by promoter Goldenvoice, will feature Dr. Dre and Snoop, Radiohead and the Black Keys as headliners, while dozens of other acts will occupy the festival's five stages, including Grammy-nominated names such as Bon Iver, Florence and the Machine and David Guetta. An undercard includes dance, hip-hop and rock upstarts SBTRKT, M83, Azealia Banks and Feist.

Pulp's arrival at Coachella this year, however, typifies the festival, its ever-evolving and maturing aesthetic, and its place in the culture right now.

“Common People” is a lyrical conversation with a rich girl longing to slum it with the commoners. With bitterness in his voice, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker tells of her desire to “sing along with the common people,” then replies that she could never truly do that because inherited wealth blinds her to the realities of the paycheck-to-paycheck life. “You'll never get it right,” he sings, conjuring the spirit of both Ray Davies and Bob Dylan, “'cos when you're laid in bed at night/watching roaches climb the wall/if you call your dad, he could stop it all.”

Year-end top 10 list: Todd Martens

Throughout the week and holiday season, Pop & Hiss will be presenting various top 10 lists from its contributors. What follows are the favorite albums of the year from staffer Todd Martens. 

On May 10, the No. 1 act on this list officially released its new album. Not a day has gone by since when I didn't listen to at least one song from that CD.That made picking a favorite release in 2011 a rather easy task, but what follows are 14 other albums I still can't wait to hear again. There will be no extended essay or grand cultural commentary here, just some artists I hope some may believe are worth exploring.

No. 1. Le Butcherettes, "Sin Sin Sin" (Sargent House): Everything about this album screams now. Based in Los Angeles and formed in Mexico, this band delivers current-events hard rock that defies genre borders, and it's led with fearless bravado by Teri "Gender Bender" Suarez. Whether it's dead authors, poverty or social injustice, Le Butcherettes vamp, rant and howl, a reminder that only rock 'n' roll can have this much fun tackling big ideas. 

No. 2. Van Hunt, "What Were You Hoping For?" (Godless Hotspot/Thirty Tigers): To get inside the mind of Van Hunt is to embark on a musically strange trip. Melodies come with odd twists and turns, almost as if Hunt, a major-label survivor, is taking massive hooks and tossing them into a room full of carnival mirrors. Call it psychedelic soul or modern blues, these are recession-time tales of caution with  gloriously short attention spans. 

No. 3. F-ed Up, “David Comes to Life” (Matador Records): The growled lyrics make a forceful entrance, but once you adjust to the aggression, you'll find this to be one of the more textured hard rock albums in recent memory. Guitars layer melody upon melody, and these 18-tracks loosely stitch together a rock opera about lost love and triumph over tragedy. Don't be scared away by the word "opera." This most definitely is not ready for Broadway.

No. 4. The Roots, "Undun" (Island Def Jam): In a comfortably swift running time of less than 40 minutes, the Roots unravel a mix of gospel, jazz and hip-hop, melding late-career atmospheric ambitions with brevity. Every moment counts on these snapshots of hard living, which are graced with a remorseful undercurrent.

Le Butcherettes let it all out in Chicago

L.A.-based trio Le Butcherettes has had something of a coming out party in Chicago. Though Pop & Hiss was forced to piece together the act's Lollapalooza set via YouTube clips, the excitement and ferocity of the hard rock trio could still be felt through these trusty-ol' tinny desktop speakers at our downtown HQ. 

Teri "Gender Bender" Suaréz was in fine form, and even in the two-and-a-half-minute clip below, she's a force that demands attention. Her voice is a dexterous thing, as she knows how to shade a yell with hints of scorn, sarcasm, slyness or whatever the moment calls for. Her rhythm section does plenty of heavy lifting as well, opening up the floor to let Suaréz bounce, run and level all sorts of abuse on her guitar. Before all is said and done, she punctuates the set to a close with a monstrous howl and topples onto a photographer.

At the start of the below video, you'll notice Suaréz has a little fun with drummer Gabe Serbian. "Puke all the time," she sings as she looks his way. Serbian had reportedly vomited off the stage more than once during the set, and though this clip appears to be vomit-free, Serbian clearly didn't let an upset stomach slow him down.

Perhaps he was suffering exhaustion from the Chicago heat, or maybe he just had marriage jitters? After the Lollapalooza set, Serbian flew back to L.A. to celebrate his union with Dum Dum Girl bassist Bambi Davies. 

Le Butcherettes’ Teri 'Gender Bender' Suaréz dares you

The singer taps her inexhaustible rage onstage. Offstage, she’s reflective as the band’s debut album ‘Sin Sin Sin’ lands Tuesday, with a Bootleg Theater gig following Wednesday.

When Teri Suaréz sings a line like “you take my pretty dress off,” consider it a gauntlet thrown. Not at men, but at any institution or societal norm that would stand in her way. Her 21 years split between Denver and Guadalajara, Mexico, she possesses a voice that needs few instrumental adornments. “Dress Off” is delivered only with a snarl and an intensely aggressive rhythm, and Suaréz’s vocals are full of bravado and cultural confusion.

“It’s a threat,” she said during a recent conversation. “I dare you to come here and make me yours. That’s not just directed toward a man. It’s directed toward anyone. I’m not trying to be sexy. It’s a dare -- I dare you to try and screw with what I hold dear. So take my dress off.”

Suaréz is a literature fiend and left her philosophy studies for rock ’n’ roll. Le Butcherettes may have been born in Mexico, but the band is schooled in punk rock traditions. The act’s debut, “Sin Sin Sin,” will be issued Tuesday by local label Sargent House — and celebrated with a release show at the Bootleg Theater on Wednesday. With a rep for hectic live shows that border on performance art -- Suaréz accessorizes with fake blood and views the whole venue as an extension of the stage -- Le Butcherettes have already earned themselves a major support system.

“Sin Sin Sin” was championed by and recorded with Omar Rodriguez Lopez, an experimental artist known for his work in At the Drive-In and the Mars Volta. He connected Suaréz with drummer Gabe Serbian, who’s performed with the wide-ranging underground punk of San Diego’s the Locust, and last year Le Butcherettes signed a booking deal with William Morris Endeavor. A national tour supporting the Deftones will follow.

Talking last week in the courtyard of downtown’s recently opened museum devoted to the Mexican American experience, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Suaréz was the shy alter ego of her stage persona, whom she refers to as Teri Gender Bender. Suaréz apologized regularly for losing her train of thought, even wondering aloud if she has autism. Meet her on the street, and one would never guess Suaréz is the writer of sharp and primal bursts of melodic noise, songs that share an equal frustration and fascination with American culture, and occasionally feel like the opening shots of a class war.

SXSW 2011: The artists, quotes and fights that made an impression

With 2,000 bands and more than 13,000 paid registrants -- and seemingly twice as many partiers -- the annual South by Southwest festival and conference shouldn't be expected to provide one overall theme for the current state of the music business. The Austin, Texas, tradition turned 25 this year, and the scope of the event makes it difficult to discern just who is hosting it. SXSW today belongs as much to the organizers as it does to the corporate brands that piggyback onto it. Yet SXSW still excels when it comes to capturing the varying industry personalities.

At a Friday afternoon music biz panel, Barsuk Records chief Josh Rosenfeld told a lighthearted tale of industry frustration: The members of one of his label's acts told him they were open to licensing their music. Yet it came with conditions. "They had some very strict parameters," said Rosenfeld, whose label is best known for working with the likes of Death Cab for Cutie and Rilo Kiley. "They would only license to Yo-Yos or Pop Rocks."

It wasn't a joke, as months later one of the band members called Rosenfeld to complain about their lack of endorsements. If there were any such limitations among the SXSW acts, it would have been impossible to tell. The festival closed with an unofficial party hosted by online video site Vevo, in which Kanye West, Jay-Z and pals performed till 4 a.m., while an off-site Fiat-sponsored "Fader Fort" hosted the likes of electronic balladeer James Blake and L.A. hip-hop wunderkinds Odd Future.

Throughout the festival, many were asked to survey the landscape. "I do think there will be changing notions as to what it means to break an artist," said Dorothy Hui, a former executive with Wind-Up and Universal and a vice president at the recently launched label services group TinyOgre Entertainment. The shift, she said, is moving away from SoundScan sales numbers as an indicator of success. An endorsement or some well-placed licensing, Hui said, isn't reflected in the latest pop charts.

SXSW 2011: The Strokes cause gridlock, Austra makes an entrance and Le Butcherettes go on the attack

 

Midway through a 90-minute set to open the third night of showcases at the South by Southwest festival and conference, Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas took a pause between songs. For a band with meticulous determination, even a brief between-song hesitation feels suddenly off-script. The singer, performing to an Austin, Texas, crowd that was estimated by SXSW organizers to top 10,000, looked down at the setlist and said, "Just checking off the list."  

Passion has never been the Strokes' strong suit. Tension, however, the band can master, Strokes songs aren't written to be tinkered with in a live setting. They are pieces of work, expertly crafted arrangements in which a note shall never be out of place. The no-frills band can be surprisingly commanding in a major, non-club setting. Casablancas isn't one for movement, but he holds on to the microphone stand as if it's the only thing that can save his life, and his backing band stays close, teasing to go off the rails but never actually doing so.

It's been five years between Strokes albums, and when the band locks in and takes aim, it's riveting. The multi-tiered aggression of "New York City Cops" and the anxious groove of "You Only Live Once" are enough to illustrate why the band is adored. A new album, "Angles," arrives Tuesday, and there's no telling how big the Strokes could be if they hadn't have taken a lengthy hiatus.

Make no mistake, the Strokes have headliner status. Fans began lining up at noon for Thursday's outdoor free show, and traffic snarled to a halt anywhere near the Austin park in which the band performed. With such a large crowd swamping Austin's bridges near the stage's riverfront locale, SXSW organizers had a brief panic. Gates opened at 5 p.m. for the 8 p.m. show, and three songs into the band's set, the crowd was still slowly piling in. On a whole, however, the crowd appeared to be well-behaved and a crisis was avoided. 

With a festival-like atmosphere, the band unveiled five tracks from "Angles" during its 19-song set, tentatively spacing them apart. Single "Under Cover of Darkness" went over strongly, thanks to its criss-crossing guitar build and shout-along chorus. Others, however, felt like they were taking just a slight dip into the experimental pool. "Life is Simple in the Moonlight" was a curious mix of styles, with guitar handiwork that felt more Steely Dan than rock 'n' roll. Yet moments like new cut "Taken for a Fool," which plays out like a study in momentum, already seem perfectly familiar. 

An industry- and media-centered event such as SXSW could have been the prime opportunity for the band to play "Angles" from start to finish. Instead, the band offered up a set that could easily be the same one it performs at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival next month. It was the move of a band carefully reasserting itself rather than attempting to seize the moment.

Other nights from Day 3 of SXSW:

 

72 Hours: Le Butcherettes and Devotchka among the weekend's top gigs

72 Hours apologizes for missing its deadline.

Friday

Medeski Martin and Wood @ the El Rey. Now heading into their 20th year, the category-busting jazz trio of keyboardist John Medeski, drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood show no sign of slowing down. After experimenting with the recording process with the self-released, three-album "Radiolarians" set, which was workshopped on tour, the band has cooked up 20 new tracks to be released digitally at the end of the month. Whatever those tracks have in store, expect them (and this show) to be filled with high-flying improvisations, head-bobbing jazz and something completely their own that's only grown sharper two decades in. El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd. Tickets are $28, not including surcharges. -- Chris Barton

Marshall Crenshaw @ McCabes. Crenshaw has two gigs Friday, but tickets remain only for the 10 p.m. show, and late planners now have their date. Quietly, for more than 25 years Crenshaw has become a more than reliable source for sturdy and dependable Midwestern power pop. His more recent work may strike a quieter tone than his lush and excitable rock of the '80s, but Crenshaw's words have always been built for introspecton. McCabes, 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. Tickets are $25. -- Todd Martens

Mike Watt and Le Butcherettes @ the Echo. It might be blasmphemous in this town to write about the support act rather than garage rock legend Mike Watt, but let's face it: Watt's a regular, and we are, to be sure, lucky to have him. But perhaps just as exciting is the opportunity to catch Mexican punk rockers Le Butcherettes before everyone falls in love with the act at the South by Southwest conference and festival in Austin, Texas, next week. There's some performance art in a Le Butcherettes gig, but leader Teri Gender Bender doesn't need many, if any, adornments. She has a striking snarl, one that lashes its way around the rhythm like a whip in "Dress Off" and one that reaches spine-wringing heights in "Bang." Don't be alarmed Americans, it's only U.S. foreign policy she's giving a lashing when she shouts, "You love me / You love me / And now you want to kill me." The Echo, 1822 Sunset Blvd. Tickets are $12 at the door. -- TM