Bif Naked, Juno Award-winning, multi-platinum record selling Canadian singer-songwriter, actress and motivational speaker. Interview July 26, 2013
Bif Naked Interview
– What’s going on in the world of Bif Naked these days?
This year has found me enmeshed in finishing my memoirs for Harper Collins as well as traveling and doing concerts, both acoustic and rock shows. I also volunteer with women in my hometown of Vancouver BC. This is the first year I have also made a home base overseas in France.
– You are keeping busy with touring certainly for Canada?
I enjoy being able to tour throughout Canada and have enjoyed this country and the beloved audiences here since 1990. I have been on tour a very long time, indeed.
– Must be a great feeling seeing the fans when you go to new communities like Lockeport, Nova Scotia?
I love the Maritimes so very much and communities like Lockeport hold a very special place in our hearts. People are lovely and the land is magical.
– Would you say touring now is more relaxed and easier to do?
Touring is very different for me, now that I had turned 40. I worry much less about what people think about my appearance, and I believe I feel more comfortable and I stopped judging myself so harshly. For many years I had so much anxiety and self doubt that I would battle eating disorders and as a result depression even though I would wear such a mask of optimism. I would pour my secret sorrows out into my song lyrics and the performance. Now I am just more easy going and laugh a lot more.
– What equipment are you currently endorsing, etc.
I promote many organizations and companies because I like them, but have never had an endorsement. I would like to get an endorsement. LOL!
– Without Social Media could bands today manage to survive?
Absolutely bands could survive without social media because we all did it before. We toured and wrote letters to our friends in the upcoming show towns to go put posters up and they did. We didn’t have fax machines or computers or cell phones or anything, and used to pull our van over on the side of the highway to use the pay phone to do press interviews. The articles would come out in the local magazines and newspapers and the kids would find out about shows. It’s what we all did, and it worked out just fine. We always just hoped for the best, and the best always happened.
– What were your earliest influences in life?
I would have to say my earliest influences in life were my parents. They put me into ballet lessons when I was three and piano lessons when I was four. I was in all the performing arts festivals in my town and discovered “readers theatre” and “spoken poetry” and, eventually, “French Spoken Poetry” and the adjudicators always encouraged me and thanked my parents. My parents are still my biggest supporters, no matter what I do.
– What would be some of your main influences today?
Today I am influenced by just about everyone I meet, from old punks to yoga teachers to community activists and advocates to other cancer patients. People always amaze me. Musicians and athletes and scholars. Everyone.
– What could we find interesting in your music collection at home?
I have tastes that range from classical Persian music to hip hop to Norwegian Death Metal. I love music and I love all forms and all genres of music, almost equally. Currently I am obsessed with an artist called “Grimes” from Canada. I am a huge fan.
– Could you describe what goes on in a day in your life as a musician on tour?
Generally if we are on a bus, I get up around seven am (even if the show went until 1 or 2) and the band sleeps until afternoon. I believe this is because I go to bed right after each show, and the boys like to stay up a little later than me. I have been a straight edge for a couple decades. I like to have a coffee, though, in the morning on the bus when everyone is sleeping and collect my thoughts for the day ahead. I like to go for a walk by myself in every city we play in, and get some pictures. Before digital cameras I used to buy those little disposable cameras because I had an expensive camera stolen when I was young, I vowed to never be attached to the camera or the pictures ever again and I never was. I have about eight or nine thousand 4×6 photographs from touring that I have kept since around 1989. I guess I will make a book from them. I don’t generally eat out but like to eat my vegetables and fruits on the Tourbus so I take most of my meals there, in between our soundcheck and the show. Sow time is always a very exciting time on the Tourbus and the band gets ready together and we listen to some Slipknot or Mastodon or even Skeletonwitch. It is extremely enjoyable to live this life and it is the only thing I have ever done.
– Where do you see music going in 100 years from now?
I believe people will always enjoy listening to music as long as they can in life. Music really makes people feel things or experience memories or dreaming. Music becomes a soundtrack to our lives regardless of whether or not it is a good or bad event. Music can inspire and inform us as any art form can. Music and art is infinite.
Extra questions with Bif Naked
Life without music would be: QUIET
Favorite movie: “Babe: Pig In The City”
Favorite Sport: MMA
Favorite food: ZUCCHINI
Favorite drink: CAFFEINE-FREE COFFEE very very sweet
Favorite Saying: “It’s a Free Country”
Favorite Car: Porsche hybrid
Favorite Book: “The Verbally Abusive Relationship” by Patricia Evans
Favorite Band: Lamb of God
Star Wars or Star Trek: Star Trek
PC or Mac: macaroni
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Comments
One response to “Bif Naked Interview 2013”
Thanks for the great interview. Loved Bif Naked from the first time I heard her. My daughter took me to a concert in Vancouver and I’ve never been the same since, LOL. Rock on, Bif! You’re loved and appreciated.