It is a testament to the inimitable, indomitable spirit that the sweetly upbeat voice, unrestrained good humour, infectious positivism and joyfulness that warms the spirit of a listener comes from someone who has endured more than her fair share of slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
To call Canadian artistic polymath Bif Naked a survivor, an inspiration, a paragon of fortitude seems to still fall short of describing the way she has plowed through various dramatic, life-altering and often downright scary vicissitudes of fortune.
Badass will have to suffice.
For much of her early career, she was known as a proto-punk goddess, whose repertoire of original music was as revelatory and cathartic as it was engaging. The second album after her 1994 self-titled debut, I Bificus went platinum in Canada in 1998, and was followed by the powerful and compelling Purge, which came out in 2001, and went gold. Between full LPs and EPs, she has released 11 albums, building a fervently loyal legion of fans who hang on every utterance from the ‘Princess of Everything’ as she has been affectionately labelled.
Bif’s portfolio of artistic expression expanded over the past quarter century to incorporate acting, poetry, cartooning, and a best selling autobiography, also called I Bificus, newspaper columns, motivational speaking, health-related information videos and more.
Looking healthier, more youthful and exuding a energy that makes her seem ageless, over her 48 years on planet Earth, Bif has struggled through a litany of relationship ups and downs, including divorce, as well as a very public battle with breast cancer, not to mention bouts of kidney failure, heart surgery and also having to contend with being a woman in the music/entertainment business for a quarter of a century.
Bowed, but never broken, Bif has emerged through all the tumult and trauma [we don’t have enough space to get into her childhood and youth … read her book!!] as a humble, wise, contemplative and sincerely kind and generous human being.
“Having survived cancer more than 10 years ago now, I basically feel invincible all of the time. Honestly, I think that, like everybody else, being able to handle stuff comes with age. I think that by the time we’re adults, each of us has had to experience a lot of different things: heartbreak, tragedy, trauma, who knows? I just realized that my feelings aren’t the worst that have ever been felt and the things that have befallen me are not really that terrible in the big picture of the world,” she said from her home in Toronto, just before setting off on her short Songs & Stories tour of Ontario.
“People have probably heard about a lot of mine, like for example when I was going through my own chemotherapy and having to deal with all the kinds of nutty things that happen with that, whether it’s a simple thing like hair loss to a fear of dying. And I was also going through a divorce. I did not allow myself a second to feel sorry for myself or bemoan my own situation because I met so many women who had come to heal and get better and had to get there on the bus. I thought, oh my God, I can’t complain because I have a little hatchback and I can get to and from appointments on my own. It was just really simple, pragmatic reality checks. I don’t know, it just made me be self-deprecating and minimize my own feelings, but it also gave me a lot of perspective”
Bif’s Songs & Stories Ontario tour began in Ridgeway on Feb. 28 and wraps up March 6 & 7 with back to back shows in Burnstown, at Neat. On March 3 she was in Collingwood, March 4 in Peterborough, and on March 5 she makes her first ever appearance in Napanee, at The Doghouse.
“I am excited to come to Napanee. These are really exciting shows and this year is probably my only chance to do this type of special concerts that I love doing. We do book readings; we do poetry readings and music. They are pretty interactive with the audience. I kind of give the audience carte blanche. They can heckle Snake my husband who plays guitar, or they can ask questions, or they can sing along. We do a lot of storytelling and I find with storytelling there is a lot of sharing that happens, that other people like to chime in,” she said.
“I like to try to meet every single audience member after the show. I will probably be reading from my new book, which is not out yet. We are bringing books and stuff for sale, and I will sign anything that anybody brings. Each night is going to be very special. I drive my husband crazy because the poor guy is just going to sit there and accompany me on guitar and drink wine while I try to embarrass him as much as I possibly can, because it’s fun. I recently threatened that I was going to begin doing interpretive dance on the stage, and that’s his version of hell. And the sad thing for him is that I just might do it. For me, these shows are really more about being present in the moment, being present in the song, and in the performance of each song. I try very hard not to cry when I am singing, but its very hard.
“I dedicate the song Lucky to nurses, for example, and I share stories from a particular chapter in my book about going through cancer and I rarely make it through that song without losing it a bit. Everyone in the room can relate, everyone has a person in their family or knows someone in their immediate circle that is experiencing cancer or who has lost someone to cancer. So, we have those vulnerable, honest, kind of two-way conversations because there is a lot of mutuality in the room, and just the energy – it’s so different from my rock show. The rock show is about sweat and energy and I love to perform and let loose in those settings. But these current shows are real, they feel really good, they feel very beautiful. For me, it’s a pleasure every single night.
The lead-off single for her forthcoming new album Champion is entitled ‘Jim’ [Editor’s note: it has absolutely nothing to do with the author of this article … whew!] and is a raw, plaintive, soul searing story of treachery and deception.
“It’s a song about betrayal. Basically, it’s a letter to your Judas. For me I think the thing about songwriting and poetry and writing fiction for example, you can basically pepper everything you’re doing with all of those feelings and all of those things you have experienced and witnessed over a lifetime, and I think that holds true for everyone. And part of creating is also using your imagination, so this song has both elements. At the same time, many of those scars that we all carry around with us are never really healed, ever. And then when things happen in our present, we’re definitely affected, because they really can trigger feelings from the past for us,” she said.
“And with the song Jim, both my husband and myself and also Doug Fury, when the three of us were writing this song, all three of us had betrayals that were recent in our lives, whether it was a friendship or an estranged family member; of course it can be heartbreak currently happening or drawing from heartbreak that happened in the past. Man, human beings are so bloody complicated, but it means there’s a wealth of writing fodder that each if has for years.”
While many in the music industry are saying the death of the album is all but certain, Bif said she still wanted to create and release a comprehensive collection of music that represented a point in time. Champion will be released later this year, but she is doing so in a calculated manner to take advantage of the streaming trend.
“This is the thing, for the last couple of years, we have put out a song here and there, but I really wasn’t motivated to do a full studio album either. Things aren’t the same, and as much as we were kind of lamenting how to make CDs, should we make anything anymore actually? People won’t pay for it, and nobody has a CD player anymore, unless you have a little old car like I do. Honestly, I wonder what happens to these CDs, what will become of them? All the changes in the way people listen to music, it’s a lot to take in for so many of us artists who have been doing things a certain way for 20 or 30 years,” Bif said.
“I always say to my peers that it’s actually good for everyone, because you make art not for any other reason than to put it out. You are making art for your own artistic masturbation, honestly. Because it’s not a revenue source for most people anymore. And, really, are there any radio stations that will actually play it. It’s hard to say. Are there rock radio stations left in the world that aren’t just playing classic stuff like CCR? At the end of the day, it actually doesn’t matter. All that really matters is that we can get a place to play. At the end of the day, that’s where I get off. And putting music out is really making and producing the vehicle to perform those songs, which is the tour.
“With Champion, I wanted everything in a very particular order. I have three songs that need to come first and be heard in order and because of how people consume music now on Spotify and all those other places, I can’t be confident that they will listen to the first three songs that I put on an album. So, I am going to release three singles: Jim was the first one, and then I have another one coming soon and when I release the third one, that’s when I will put the full record out.”
Creative expression as catharsis is something Bif believes in, but her broad and expansive definition of what she deems ‘creative’ may surprise some.
“For example, my mother was never a working artist, but when she was stressed out, she would bake and there’s an art in that – it is a very creative art – her medium would be flour and baking soda. I think a lot of people can relate to that. I believe there’s an artistry and catharsis in just about anything we’re deliberately doing. Everything can be creative, even if you’re cleaning the house, even if you’re cleaning the toilets. It is cathartic to be organized and to be active and mindfully doing something. We use that time to go through our thoughts, like furiously brushing our teeth as we think about something. There are just so many different avenues for our creativity and our feelings,” she said.
On top of everything else, Bif is also now a bona fide medicinal cannabis entrepreneur, having founded MonaLisa Healing, described in her promotional material as “a premium, organic, all-hemp CBD online boutique” available to clients at present in Canada and the U.S. with markets opening in the U.K., Europe, Australia and New Zealand soon.
“There were some girls I met during my cancer treatment that were obviously using cannabis to help mitigate their side effects from chemotherapy and radiation. So, even me as kind of a straight-edged girl, I always had a lot of respect for anybody on the front lines of cannabis activism, because it should have always been legal. But that’s okay, at least it is now, even if it’s the government has been a little clumsy with it,” she said.
“The good news is that it is available to patients, and particularly to senior citizens who probably can relieve a lot of their different aches and pains and anxieties from these products. And CBD oils and tinctures are a health supplement, which is still a grey area as far as the government is concerned. I can wax on about how lazy they are and how it should have all been dealt with last year. Basically, I couldn’t find a product on the market that I would feel okay recommending to my mother who broke her hip last year, or to my sister who has a bad knee. She also has a special needs daughter, so she doesn’t want to get high, or intoxicated using these products. As I couldn’t find anything that I could guarantee, we just kind of had to make something.”
For more information on Jim, Champion, the Songs & Stories Tour and more, visit http://www.bifnaked.com.
For more information on Bif’s CBD company, visit www.monalisahealing.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for 30 years. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hai0zxSC9-M
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