Canadian alt-rocker Bif Naked is having an album release party at Casino Rama on Sept. 7, celebrating her first new release in 15 years ahead of her concert in Muskoka next February.
Beth Nicole Torbert is a singer and multi-talented artist best known by her stage name Bif Naked. Her music is a blend of rock, punk and EDM. Despite growing up in Manitoba, she struggled to get a recording contract in Canada early on, so she established herself in the US and the UK first. Her 1998 album I, Bificus went platinum in Canada and changed the course of her career. To celebrate the album’s 25th anniversary, she’s releasing an expanded edition alongside her new release, Champion.
“The first single from this album actually came out in 2020, and the record was supposed to be coming out around the same time, but the pandemic changed everything and set it back,” Bif said. “I’m glad that it did because it enabled us to keep writing and tinkering and changing things, and now it’s a very different record.”
The album release party will also feature Everclear and Sister Hazel. Bif said she’s a fan of both artists, so she and her band are excited to head to Orillia for the show.
Champion features a mix of hard rock and punk sound, dramatic emotional songs, and a few dance remixes. She’s proud of the record they put together. She hopes her fans will like the development in her writing and her sound, especially since so many of them have grown older alongside her.
“I’ve always been very, very fortunate to make really eclectic records and for that to be accepted as the norm for me as an artist and as a performer,” she said. “This album is no different. It’s very stylistically all over the map.”
Bif’s life has also been all over the map. She was born in India to a Canadian girl and a British boy, both boarding school students. Missionaries adopted her and moved her to North America. She lived in Kentucky and several other places before ending up in Manitoba.
Bif has a few Canadian shows coming up, including one in Muskoka. She will bring her genre-bending sound to the Algonquin Theatre in Huntsville at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 28. She and her band are excited to be playing shows at all, but she particularly loves coming to Northern Ontario.
“I fully believe there’s no place that’s more beautiful, and I’ve been all over Canada,” Bif said. “There’s a lot of tours that don’t come to every area, they stay in the GTA, so it becomes really magical when we get up there, and it’s really fun to meet all the fans.”
Her fans will also get the chance to know her better through an upcoming documentary “Bif Naked: One of a Kind”. The film is currently in editing and slated for release next spring.
Along with adoption, Bif has faced breast cancer, kidney failure, drug problems and divorce, so the documentary will be an intimate look at Bif’s life from her origins in India to her current creative endeavours. The content comes from multiple years of filming on three or four continents.
“My birth mom’s never been interviewed before, so this will be the first time she’s been able to tell her entire story and her story from India onwards, and that’s something that’s just very special,” Bif said. “I’m so happy that they were able to capture her truth for the first time.”
Bif can’t wait for the documentary to come out. Her history with adoption has led her to a chosen family, and her fans often feel like part of that family. She’s made lifelong connections nearing friendships with them after being in the business for so long, so she can’t wait for those people to see the film and hear her new album.
Despite her past hardships, she feels lucky in life. She’s been a performance artist from the age of 18, and since then, she’s also become an actress, an author, a poet, an activist and more. Between her film, the expanded anniversary album and her new release, everything feels “very magical and very full circle” for Bif right now.
I, Bificus catapulted her into music success, and while it’s a pivotal record for her, she’s even more excited for her future.
“It’s always going to be really special, but, creatively, I feel like my future is still unfolding in many ways,” Bif said. “I feel like the best is yet to come.”
To get tickets to Bif’s upcoming shows, visit Casino Rama and the Algonquin Theatre online. Follow Bif Naked’s website, Facebook and Instagram for updates.
