Bif Naked deserves a reward and that’s exactly how she feels about her upcoming tour.
The rocker, who’s known for her megahit Spaceman, announced the news to her fans on George Stroumboulopoulos’s syndicated radio program, The Strombo Show.
During a phone interview from her home in Vancouver a couple of weeks ago, Naked said she decided to be upfront about the diagnosis because rumours were starting to spread and because “it’s not in my nature to hide stuff from my fans.”
“They knew in 1994 that I was going to talk about being sexually abused and that I terminated a pregnancy when I was a teenager that was on I Bificus,” she said. “For me and for the fans who have known me a long time, it was no big deal. For the public, it was surprising because it was a surprising diagnosis. It’s not something you attribute to someone who’s into vegan eating and a healthy lifestyle.”
After releasing Superbeautifulmonster in 2005 http://ift.tt/XkQpGD , Naked said she had planned to release a new CD in 2009 cancer or no cancer.
Appropriately entitled The Promise, the disc dropped May 5, and a tour, which includes a stop at the Moose and Goose in Thorold Saturday, is underway. The first single released off the disc is entitled Sick.
“I wanted to put out a record this year no matter what. This was my time. No way would I let anything, not cancer, get me off the path because that would be more defeating than being sick,” she said.
Naked, who last played in St. Catharines in September 2005 during the Niagara Wine Festival, said having a new record out and being able to tour is very gratifying.
“I can’t even describe it to you. I’ve been just great,” she enthused. “It’s like a reward after climbing Mount Everest.”
Naked, whose birth name is Beth Torbert, was adopted by American missionaries in India and raised in Kentucky and Winnipeg. Her first CD, Bif Naked, debuted on her own indie label, Her Royal Majesty’s Records, which was followed by Okenspay Ordway fake u boat uk , a spoken word album, in 1997.
Her third disc, I Bificus, sold more than 100,000 copies, while her 2001 release fake u boat uk , Purge, was certified gold and spun the hits I Love Myself Today and Tango Shoes. She also landed a Juno Award nomination that year for rock album of the year.
Naked, who is among the most polite and honest entertainers in Canada, said despite making a promise to herself, her producer and manager to get her new record out on time, it wasn’t something she really should have taken on while undergoing chemotherapy.
“I will go to the cancer agency and they look at me and say, f you! Don’t run around saying you made a record when I can’t get out of bed,” she said. “And I say to them, Don’t kid yourself. I was bald Fake Tag Heuer Watches UK on Hot Sale , sick, my lymph glands were swollen up. They like giving me s about it. I’d better not get sick again or people will expect me to keep on trucking and I might only feel like going to bed.
“Some days, I could only sing for an hour. It was a long process and that was different from every other record.”
The Promise was produced and mixed by Jason Darr the songs Sick, Bluejay and You’ll Never Know were mixed by Mike Fraser. Darr also contributed on some of the songs.
“Working with Jason was new and exciting for me. I never worked with him before and I have a huge respect for him,” Naked said. “I never thought I would work so seamlessly with someone else. This album was such a challenge, I’m so grateful I did the record with him. I want him to do my next record, too.”
Despite having written most of the songs on the album last year, Naked said most of what she writes is based on the universal themes of love and loss.
“The challenge is finding new ways to use language to describe the same thing that is ultimately heartache,” she said.
As someone who doesn’t shy away from discussing personal struggles http://ift.tt/1tK8gkB , Naked has a lot to say about her breast cancer journey and, because of that, she’s become a sort of spokeswoman about the disease.
“In the job I have, no matter what I’m talking about, it’s like being a spokesperson, whether people like what I’m saying or not,” she said. “I believe there is no such thing about anything being taboo. We need to open our dialogue in our culture. We like to think we are evolved and non misogynistic and it’s not true.
“I have a job that encourages me to have a big mouth,” she added, laughing.
Naked said after completing chemotherapy she also recently had both a hysterectomy and ovariectomy and getting used to her post operative body (“the scars are cool”), she hopes this completes her health battle.
“I’ve never lived in fear of my mortality and I never will. But do I fear doing chemo again? I think that’s a realistic fear of any patient. As soon as you’re out of treatment, you get a headache and you thin k it’s a brain tumour,” she said.
“I don’t like my short hair and I feel like I’ve lost a bit of my identity and that’s been interesting. It’s a new experience for me and a real challenge. And I think that’s a great challenge to have.”
“It’s definitely a reward. I couldn’t have asked for a better reward,” she said.
“I’m happy there have been enough people hammering radio stations to play the song. That makes me excited. It’s a whole lot of fun right now, a lot of fun.”
