Canadian punk-rock icon Bif Naked’s new self-titled documentary covers all the trials and tribulations from her life, from finding her birth mother to her struggles with cancer. To lighten the mood, The Scene also chatted with Naked about some of the sillier things in life.
Who’s your favourite music artist right now?
“Oh my gosh, that’s such a big question. I have more than one, that’s the problem, because I love music so much. My favourite genre is obviously classical Indian music. [It’s] very dear to my heart. I listen to it every single day. My favourite artist growing up and forever is Anoushka Shankar.
“My goddaughter, Napoleon, is 21 years old. Her favourite artist in the entire world is Tate McRae. Tate McRae is such a talented girl. She’s such a good dancer. If you haven’t yet, you have to listen.
“And then finally, I’m gonna tell you – Hot Water Music. The guy’s got it, just such a classic voice.”
Are there any instruments that you can’t play, but you would love to learn?
“Guitar is one of them. I do not play guitar. I’ve never played guitar. I can play bass on one string, and that’s about it. I play very lousy piano. Percussion instruments I can play, but shitty. And my parents gave me a harmonium when I was like four, which I still have, and I can play shitty. That’s about it. I don’t really play any musical instruments, which is why I’ve always co-written music with other people. But I would love to be able to play a drum kit.”
What’s the most unusual place you’ve written a song or part of a song?
“The back of a tour bus, definitely. On scraps of paper or envelopes. We definitely ripped open envelopes and then wrote on the inside when we had nothing else. And written in eyeliner.”
What’s the most trouble you’ve ever gotten into?
“Oh boy. I’ve been in lots of trouble… When I was six, my little friend and I almost burned down the green belt at the back of our houses. We were playing with matches, but we luckily had a trash can lid, and once the fire started, we put the trash can lid on it and stood on it. And my mom yelled at us out the back window, ‘Are you girls starting a fire?’ It was smouldering, and we said ‘No, there’s no fire here!’
“I’m sure, if the climate had been what it is today, I’m sure we would have been responsible for something very terrible happening.”
What’s your favourite tattoo?
“My favourite tattoo used to be one on my arm that says ‘Survivor,’ and then two years ago, I got my tattoo on my collarbone that says ‘grace.’ And that one right now is my favourite, I love it.”
Do you have any useless talents?
“I’m a know-it-all. I love the Merck manual, I love dictionaries, and I love reading thesauruses and all this stuff. I earned the nickname Biff Clavin after Cliff Clavin from Cheers. Because I always say ‘It’s a little-known fact,’ and then I pontificate about bullshit information that may or may not even be accurate, but I think it is.”
What’s your favourite “little-known fact?”
“Anything about dog defecation and what it means. Anything about dog bowel movements. I will know what the sign is.”
Get tickets to Bif Naked, premiering at the Calgary International Film Festival at ciffcalgary.ca. Read the full story about the film here.
