Las Fokin Biches Bring Mexican Punk, Noise and Sisterhood to Derby’s Victoria Inn

Las Fokin Biches brought a blast of Mexican punk rock to Derby’s Victoria Inn on 20 August 2026, joined by Nottinghamshire newcomers Aurastruck for a night of noise, energy, female voices and punk rock solidarity.

There are gigs where you know exactly what you are getting, and then there are nights where a band turns up from the other side of the world, dressed in blood-stained aprons, proceeds to melt your face for an hour and leaves your ears ringing on the way home.

This was definitely the latter.

Put on by Alpha Pro Creative and Fuzz Music Services, the night brought Mexico’s Las Fokin Biches to the Victoria Inn as part of their UK tour, with support from all-female Nottinghamshire punk and gothic rock band Aurastruck. It was a night of female bands making some serious noise, but there was also a sense of community running through the whole thing that made it feel like much more than another punk show.

Aurastruck Make Their Live Debut

Opening a show for an international touring band would be a pretty big deal for any new group. Doing it at your first ever gig is another thing entirely.

Aurastruck describe themselves as a punk and gothic rock band from Nottinghamshire, bringing queer and female voices to the scene, and their debut at the Vic gave us our first proper look at what they can do.

There was plenty of energy coming off the stage, with a dark post-punk and gothic atmosphere running underneath loud punk riffs, crashing drums and the kind of rawness you would expect from a band taking its first steps into the live scene.

And honestly, what a first gig to have.

There will obviously be plenty of room for Aurastruck to develop as they play more shows, but the foundations are already there. They looked like they were enjoying themselves, they had the energy to match the occasion and they certainly weren’t afraid of making some noise.

A great opener, and one we’ll be looking forward to seeing again.

Then came Las Fokin Biches.

Las Fokin Biches Arrive in Derby

Formed in Mexico, Las Fokin Biches emerged from a conservative environment that helped shape the band’s fiercely independent identity. Their music tackles subjects including female empowerment, abuse of power, gender violence and feminicide, while the band themselves have taken that message to audiences across Mexico and Europe.

They have played everywhere from conventional music venues to orphanages and prisons, constantly looking to take their music and message to different people.

On this particular Thursday night, that meant the Victoria Inn in Derby.

Walking onto the stage wearing blood-stained aprons, there wasn’t much of a settling-in period.

They just exploded.

Heavy, hard and fast, Las Fokin Biches immediately filled the Vic with raw punk rock, feedback, pounding drums and guttural screams and roars from the lead vocalist.

The second song was dedicated to all the girls. A song about girls taking over the world was followed almost immediately by another blast of furious punk.

It was fucking loud, fast and infectious.

I couldn’t understand most of the lyrics.

I loved it anyway.

Punk Rock, Mexican Magic and an ‘Amarre’

Things briefly took a different direction when the band introduced us to the idea of an amarre, which they explained as a Mexican spell intended to make somebody fall in love with you.

Apparently, listening to the next song could have the same effect.

So, take care.

The opening had a distinctly Mexican feel and sounded like something that could have wandered out of a Mexican western. There was almost a From Dusk Till Dawn atmosphere to it, particularly after the absolute punk assault that had come before.

The vocals became sultry rather than screamed, enticing the Victoria Inn audience into falling in love with the band.

And by the end of the night, I think the spell had probably worked.

It wasn’t long before we were back into the noise. Loud punk rock, flashes of lead guitar, squealing feedback and those enormous roared vocals once again filling the room.

But between all that aggression were some genuinely touching moments.

‘Be True to Yourself’

At one point, the vocalist spoke about her own beginnings in music and how her parents had not supported what she wanted to do.

She explained that she had written a song many years ago about the importance of staying true to yourself. Even when people don’t support you, even when you aren’t following the path expected of you, you have to keep going and do what you actually want to do.

She then turned her attention to Aurastruck.

They might have support around them now, she told them, and that was an amazing thing to have, but they should always remember to keep doing what they want to do and remain true to themselves.

Coming from a band that had travelled from Mexico to play a small venue in Derby, it carried some weight.

Then it was straight back into another run of fast-paced punk rock.

Derby Learns Some Spanish

There was another important cultural exchange to come.

Apparently, we say “lovely” a lot in Derby.

Las Fokin Biches had noticed.

The vocalist told us how much she loved both the amount we said it and the way we pronounced it, before deciding it was only fair that Derby learned a bit of Spanish in return.

The crowd were taught the words needed to join in with the next song, and it turned out the Vic was full of pretty quick learners.

Within minutes, everyone was shouting along.

Lovely.

Las Fokin Biches and Aurastruck Share the Stage

One of the best moments of the night came when Las Fokin Biches dedicated a song to Aurastruck and female artists everywhere.

The vocalist spoke about the sacrifices women can have to make to build a life in rock music. Touring means hard work, leaving family behind and sometimes being thousands of miles away when you desperately want to be at home.

She revealed that her mother had recently undergone surgery for cancer while she was on the other side of the world touring.

Once again, she addressed Aurastruck and their first-ever show, telling them to keep going.

Then Las Fokin Biches invited them back onto the stage.

Aurastruck didn’t need asking twice.

The Nottinghamshire band were dancing, moshing and singing along with Las Fokin Biches, clearly loving every second of being back up there. For a band playing its first gig, sharing the stage with an international touring punk band while being publicly encouraged to keep making music isn’t a bad way to start.

It captured what the whole night had increasingly become about: women supporting women, punk as community and established musicians encouraging the next band coming through.

‘Fokin Biches, Pinches Perras’

Of course, there was still plenty of time for Las Fokin Biches to absolutely tear the place apart.

And just in case anyone left the Victoria Inn without remembering their name, they had a solution.

“Fokin Biches, Pinches Perras.”

The gloriously simple refrain of “Perras” gave the Derby crowd another opportunity to join in, and this was probably my favourite track of the night.

Raw energy. Hard punk. Fast, heavy and ridiculously easy to scream along with once you knew the words.

The band told us that if we’d had a bad day, this was the opportunity to get everything out and scream with them.

So we did.

Banging tune.

By the end of the final song, the vocalist had seemingly put absolutely everything she had left into the performance. She collapsed into a heap on the stage and stayed there.

Job done.

Another Brilliant International Booking for Derby

This was an amazing night at the Victoria Inn and another reminder of what Derby’s independent promoters are bringing into the city.

It is easy to talk about supporting grassroots music purely in terms of attending local bands, but nights like this show how important the people booking the gigs are too. Promoters such as Gez and Alpha Pro are finding genuinely interesting touring artists, bringing them to Derby and, crucially, putting younger and emerging local bands alongside them.

Aurastruck didn’t just get their first gig.

They got to support a punk band from Mexico, watch them tear apart the Victoria Inn and then get invited back onto the stage to perform alongside them.

That’s the sort of experience a new band remembers.

For the rest of us, we got an international punk band in one of Derby’s grassroots venues, a little Spanish lesson, an introduction to Mexican love spells and one hell of a lot of noise.

Go and look up Las Fokin Biches on Spotify or Apple Music and get “Perras” into your playlist.

And hopefully this won’t be the last time the Biches make the journey from Mexico to Derby.

Because after that amarre, we’re pretty sure the Victoria Inn has fallen in love.

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