It’s been nearly 20 years since Bif Naked released her first self-titled album, evolving immensely in that time.
The Canadian singer-songwriter, actress and motivational speaker will be traveling to Prince Rupert to put on an acoustic performance with Jacen Ekstrom at the Lester Centre of the Arts. The show isn’t part of a tour, but instead a special performance set up specifically for Prince Rupert.
Bif performed a set at the anti-Northern Gateway rally hosted by the Hartley Bay First Nation in 2012, where she promised to return to Prince Rupert.
“We’re very grateful to be coming back to the community of Prince Rupert. We believe it’s a very scared land. It’s our esteemed honour to come and perform. We hope everyone has a really good time,” Bif Naked told to The Northern View.
Bif made the switch from electric-high energy shows to acoustic performances approximately five years ago, after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
“When I was still recovering from breast cancer treatment I just didn’t enjoy doing the rock shows,” the multi-platinum singer said.
“The culture had changed, everyone seemed to be watching the concert through their iPhones... I felt like I had lost something special that I liked about my audience.”
Bif said she began to appreciate performing at smaller venues instead of the large shows she was accustomed to.
“[People] weren’t there to see the dancing cancer monkey; I felt more connected to them. I encouraged people to come on the stage with us and share their story,” she said.
Bif noticed her fans changed as well.
“There were cancer patients that came to the shows, people with disabilities that needed extra seating... It became more important to me than the drunken rocker crowd. It seemed more honouring for them, and more self-honouring for me,” she said.
“I appreciate my background. I have had a long, long career and I love mosh-pits, but after breast cancer I couldn’t take one more guy yelling ‘show us your [breasts]’,” Bif said.
In Prince Rupert, Bif and her band will be performing songs from her latest record, Bif Naked Forever; Acoustic Hits and Other Delights, which was released in December. The album contains new songs like So Happy I Could Die, and old classics recorded acoustically like Spaceman, Lucky and Moment of Weakness.
“The reason we did the record was because we played so many acoustic shows people kept asking for those songs, so finally we sat down and recorded them,” Bif said, adding the transition was easy because she had always written her songs acoustically.
Fans can expected to continue hearing new material from the Juno-winning artist in the future, with Bif currently working on an array of new material.
“One record is more acoustic folk, we’re doing a death metal record, and a record I already have waiting to be released is a dance-house record,” she said.
“I put dance and rap songs on my very first record, and all the records that followed were a real hodgepodge of musical genres. I’ve been really lucky to be able to kind of seamlessly flip back and forth,” said Bif.
Bif Naked will perform at the Lester Centre of the Arts in Prince Rupert on Saturday, April 27 with the performance starting at 8 p.m. Prince Rupert’s Assault with a Plastic Weapon and Josh Comeau will open the show.
Tickets are available at Cooks Jewellers in Prince Rupert, or through the Facebook page Bif Naked “Live and Acoustic”.