INTERVIEW: Bif Naked Triumphs Over Adversity – Again
Bif Naked possesses superhuman optimism to go with her hard-won success.
Like that time she got breast cancer – she was a little young for it when she was diagnosed in 2008 – and thought she might die.
She says, “People were like, oh, the Grim Reaper’s in the air. And I’m like, phh, hey, good-looking corpse! My parents are happy, I got to meet Jay Leno, I’m good. I met Judas Priest, what else is there in life, you know? I was on two SNFU records, I’m good, I’m fine.”
It didn’t turn out that way, obviously. Bif beat the cancer, used the time in recovery to “hit the reset button” from being stupidly busy, literally working herself sick, and was a patient support counsellor. She has since taken training to become a “death doula.” She explains, “It’s the same concept as a birth doula; this is part of your health care team that’s integral to you as a patient, and your family.” In one case, she knew a lady in her 80s suffering from both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and who wanted to apply for MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying), “which is absolutely her right, but her family does not want her to apply for that, so it is tricky. So that’s where a death doula would come in, to be another person in the room, and just listen and sit with the family.”
Meanwhile, life goes on. Live musicians are back in business. Bif Naked plays Friday, July 22 at Taste of Edmonton in Churchill Square, part of a fresh new tour after two years off. There was supposed to have been a new album, but then the pandemic hit, and then George Floyd was murdered in Minnesota, and so Bif, more political and “pissed off” than ever, put her project on hold.
“I was like, yeah, I’m done. I’m not putting a record out. It’s not the time. Nobody needs a Bif Naked record. People need to march, to do other things that are much more important.” There’s a new single now, Rollerdome, with the full release of CHAMPION coming later this year, “hopefully, maybe,” she says.
On the question of whether she’s still “haunted by demons” – based on a backstory that includes being orphaned in India, adopted by Canadian missionaries, bullied in school, and a punk rock lifestyle that led to a drug overdose in Vancouver – she replies, “I don’t feel like I ever had demons to begin with. I’m a silly optimist. Optimism for me was always a coping technique. Being a performer served me very well as a patient. It couldn’t just be me in the chemo ward. It was Bif Naked in the chemo chair with all the other patients. And that was something that really served me well because I never had a moment to feel sorry for myself or feel down. I always had the top hat and cane going. It was like being Bif Naked every day. In hindsight I think that was really helpful.”
But wouldn’t it be exhausting to be “on” all the time?
“I don’t know any different. I think it’s how I came of age in my 20s and 30s. And now as a full grown woman, I get a kick out of everything. I laugh a lot more, and I’m not as serious, and I think that’s also served me very, very well.”
Here we have a woman of contrasts: Angry yet optimistic, totally “punk” yet curiously mainstream (the massive I Love Myself Today could be considered a one-hit wonder if we cared of such things) , and one of the rare cases of a rock star referring to themselves in the third person in a completely unpretentious way. All this on top of a remarkable career that spans six albums and numerous world tours over 28 years. She published an autobiography, I Bificus, in 2016, and has done roles in many movies, music videos and TV shows. Of course it makes sense there will soon be a full-length documentary, from Adam Scorgie’s Score G Production Films, called Bif Naked: One of a Kind, scheduled for release in 2024. They’ve already started filming.
How does she feel about being under the microscope?
“On one hand, there’s part of me, yeah, I kind of feel embarrassed because I feel like my story isn’t more important than anyone else’s story, which is exactly the argument I used to have with my manager Peter (Karroll) about writing a book. I’m glad he kind of pestered me into it. And the director Jennifer (Abbott), she’s a woman, first of all, and the way she sees the world is much in line with my worldview. And so It gave me something really special – and maybe it’ll help someone else in that regard.”
