WE ARE THE FREAKS WHO BELIEVE
A CONVERSATION WITH BIF NAKED
Beth Torbert, known as Bif Naked, has always marched to the beat of her own drum and has been a fiercely independent artist, even when she was signed to a major label. She made her recording debut in 1994 with the independently released Bif Naked. It wasnβt long before the major labels recognized her talent and was quickly sought after.Β She eventually signed to Aquarius records in Canada and Lava records (distributed through Atlantic Records) in the U.S. and released her major label debut, I Bificus in 1998. The album went platinum in Canada and earned her a lot of fans south of the border.
From there, Bif Naked became one of the biggest stars who ended up in the top 150 best selling Canadian artists of all time. From 1998 to 2016, several albums with all of them being huge sellers and all of them made their way into the charts. Her 2012 album, Bif Naked Forever (Acoustic Hits And Other Delights), seemed to be her final album. She seemed to be focusing on acting, and she wrote her memoirs, I, Bif, a bestseller published in 2016.
She also had some serious health concerns including surviving breast cancer. But she never stopped playing music, and she is back with her first album in many years. The album, Champion, sums up Bif Naked in one word. Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with her (via Zoom) about her new album.
It has been a while since the last Bif Naked album but has been worth the wait. Champion is a brilliant album that has been preceded by a few singles. We talked about her putting the album together. βWe put out βJimβ as the first single in 2020. We were planning on putting out an album and that year was going to be a big year. We were going to put out βBroke Into Your Carβ and put out βRollerdomeβ and everything was going to go in that order. It was going to be the first year at CMW (Canadian Music Week), where I was going to have my own curated night.β
CHAMPION ALBUM REVIEW
Things changed, and the album was put on hold for a few years. Now, it seems like ten years ago, so weird and it is such a weird thing to think about because it seems like such a long time ago, in our history personally. I just didnβt feel like putting a record out. It didnβt seem like the right, like a terrible thing to do. It seemed like a trivial thing to do at an important time in the world.β
βSo, in 2022 we started tinkering with the album by then and I separated from my husband, and we started rewriting songs. We brought in Dave Martone, who is a writer in Vancouver. And then pulled in Adam Percy, who worked on I Bificus, if you can imagine. He did remixes, and it was oh my gosh!β
Bif has always been one to use her art for her own expression of what was happening in her own life. The same can be said for many of the songs on Champion. βThe song I had written with Martone, called βNever No Neverβ, and Adam did this remix, and for me it was the most cathartic and dark little βgirl with a dragon tattooβ song that could never have happened. But then the record took on a completely new and different feel. Suddenly it became this very cathartic, different record. Doug [Fury who produced the album] and I and my manager were, βwait a minute, this record is a completely different record than what we had when we startedβ. It just became this completely different body of work, and I am so happy that we waited, because it is a completely different record. And for me personally, it is so special. It came out at the right time, they say timing is everything, this could not be more true.β
For Bif Naked, the album has a special meaning, one that she has tried to put across since she started. With Champion, the message is clear. Said Bif, βit is an album of hope.β It is an album of hope with a great many different songs on it, including the remixes she talked about earlier by Percy.
βI couldnβt be happier with them myself. But that is a testament to Adam. When we did stuff in the past, I was always very flattered if someone wanted to do a remix. You know, like βSpacemanβ and βLuckyβ and βI Love Myself To Deathβ are remixes that have been done. I am always flattered, and I think it is cool. I mean, I am a kid from the 1990s. I love all kinds of music,β she laughed. βWith Adam thoughtfully remixing, he is such a talented guy and I just love what he did. There are about six or seven mixes, and they are all so different. Adam is just so talented; he is a composer.β
PHOTO CREDIT: KAROLINA TUREK
As a composer, Bif has her own style of writing and her own distinct way to collaborate with another writer. βWith βChampionβ it was just a riff. Doug had a riff and a chorus and the whole idea of the chorus lyric. You know, I am still self conscious when it comes to lyrics. I like to be able to be by myself, sometimes, to write lyrics. When I was a young vocalist, I hated writing in the round with the guys. I hated it and I hated writing at band rehearsals. They would say, βstand there and sing something to thisβ and I would hate that process. I always felt embarrassed. I wanted to go home with the riff and bring back something written down. I find I am still that same person. I like to come with something I worked out and then I will sing it in the studio. But for this record, we really did try and tackle it a little more together. Writing with Peter (Karroll) has always been the same. For example βSpacemanβ, there was stuff I was writing, and he said, βthatβs terribleβ, and I would say βyou canβt tell me thatβ, and he said, βI donβt care, it is horrible what you just wrote.β And then I would write something else. I like writing words by myself, away from the judgment of the boys.
For me personally, when I want to be inspiredβ¦when things are hard in the world, I look to artists, the same way I look to any other community leader. But I donβt necessarily look for inspirational songs. When I need to regulate my emotions or find inspiration, I want to calm down. I listen to the old standards, something to help me rise up. I will listen to gospel music, classical Indian music. I am going to regulate my system and then listen to Bob Marley. Things that help me motivate.
βAs a Canadian middle-aged white lady, what is my role? How can I be of assistance? What is my role in the world? I am an artist, a recording artist, how can I be a helpful person in general. And the world keeps being this terribly dynamic place where we can really come together to support one another but also other communities. I have discovered where I can be most helpful. And I discovered that as a breast cancer patient. What voices donβt get a lot of attention. Who needs my voice? Well, health care does, disability, poverty does. They donβt have enough voices. Other issues have enough voices, and I can chime in to the things I am passionate about. But there are a lot of things that donβt have enough people and I home in on those. I like to give my voice to the underdog, more than the popular causes and sometimes that is not popular.β
βI try to be fair to everybody and I know for sure there is not enough awareness for disability, poverty, and a lot of human rights and different issues going on in Canada right now, such as corrections. I really try. And animals too, very small animals donβt get enough attention.
But as artists we are lucky because we get handed the microphone. But I also like to make flyers, and I have to figure out a way to make flyers that is not making litter.
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Main Photo Credit: Coco and Kensington Photography
