Teri Gender Bender releases ‘CATSPEAK’ EP
The cheerful and carefree melody of Teri Gender Bender’s new single ‘Nicole Speaks Out’ is contrary to the actual theme of the song. It’s about a daughter speaking up and using her voice “…like a lioness, defying the chaos and madness of the abusive circus that had become her family. In the midst of the cacophony, she stood as a beacon of defiance, an absurdist hero in a world gone mad.” The track addresses abusive relationships, starting with the tragic words, “The stare is made by my father / And he takes it towards my mother / As she looks away.” It’s Teri's way of speaking about internalised family abuse. “It is so sad,” she explains, “when abuse within a family becomes so normalized that even when you are free from it, it still feels as if you have no right to happiness.” “But today,” she muses “I am surrounded by people who respect me and my art. It was not always the case, particularly not when I was young. Maybe,” she adds laughing, “it’s part of life. You always have to fight for your vision, especially when people don’t believe in it.”
‘Nicole Speaks Out’ features on Teri’s new EP ‘CATSPEAK’, out today via Clouds Hill. The first of a pair with ‘OUTSIDERS’ EP on the way in July, all tracks were completely self-written and self-performed by the Mexican multi-instrumentalist. The releases continue an impressive series of EPs that started with the stunning 10-EP ‘COMPLEXIFY’ collection in August 2022 and was followed by a first duo ‘SATURN SEX’ / ‘STATE OF FEAR’ at the tail end of 2022.
Teri has also been releasing a series of electrifying live videos as she prepares to hit the road with The Mars Volta in the US, Mexico, the UK and Europe this May / June.
Teri’s long and ongoing musical friendship with The Mars Volta songwriter Omar Rodríguez-López began years back when “I met him at a gig where the power went out,” she says. “I thought, “the show must go on” and just sang acapella into the room.” Rodríguez-López was impressed with the spontaneity and talent, and in turn impressed upon her how important bass is in a band — and then proceeded to play bass with her band.
The forthcoming EPs were produced by Teri Gender Bender’s musical companion, Jon Debaun. She originally wrote the songs on them when she was 19 years old, but – just like the love she sings about throughout – she lost them… and then found them again! That gives the songs on these releases a whole ton of the frenetic energy of growing-up and an innocence that we all lose when we get older. The lyrics can be dark but they also glow with rediscovered light and love. Teri says “The spirits are drawn to us like moths to a flame, their forms shifting and changing with the flicker of the light. They come to us in the form of cats, creatures of the surreal who exist in the spaces between our waking and dreaming worlds. We are the conduits of their absurdity, the channels through which the feline universe flows and spills into our own.”
Born the daughter of Mexican immigrants, Teresa Suárez Cosío is a singer, guitarist, and keyboard player who founded Le Butcherettes, a garage punk band in Guadalajara who supported bands like Jack White’s The Dead Weather and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. A riot grrrl for the big stage with an exuberant personality, spectacular shows and thoughtful lyrics, Teri's songs are always electric and tempestuous, wrestling fantastic works of art and pop miniatures from the great moments of intensity and quiet pause that life throws at us.
America (supporting The Mars Volta):
13th May - Tempe, Marquee Theatre (US)
14th May - El Paso, Abraham Chavez Theatre (US)
16th May - San Antonio, Tech Port Center & Arena (US)
18th May - New Orleans, Orpheum Theatre (US)
19th May - Houston, 713 Music Hall (US)
24th May - Mexico City, Pepsi Center WTC (MX)
Europe & the UK:
13th June - Paris, La Maroquinerie (FR)
14th June - Antwerp, OLT* (BE)
16th June - Glasgow, Barrowland (UK)*
17th June - Manchester, O2 Apollo Manchester (UK)*
18th June - London, Troxy (UK)*
20th June - Hamburg, Nochtspeicher (DE)
23rd June - Prague, Café v Lese (CZ)
24th June - Berlin, Verti Music Hall (DE)*
25th June - Cologne, Blue Shell (DE)
*opening for The Mars Volta
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