Part of the big fun of this gig is getting to talk to my musical top guns. And it was more than a highlight to finally get to speak with the awesomely talented Bif Naked and one of my personal favourites. With all due respect to Ms. Lavigne, Bif is indeed the Queen of Canadian rock. I've loved Bif for years and along with my daughters have seen her countless times in concert where she fails to disappoint each and every time.

Bif is an inspiration to many. She is an advocate of health and fitness, a vegan who follows a rigid workout schedule, even going so far as to seek out gyms when on the road. She's an avid skateboarder, snowboarder as well as BMXer. She also includes many encouraging messages throughout her record liner notes, website and blogs, as well as guest columns she is beginning to write for several magazines. As well, she is the President of her own record company, Her Royal Majesty's Records, home to 6 or 7 or so other artists.

More than that, you can always count on her for some great music. Each of her five records (seven if you count a greatest hits and a spoken word set) are chock full of hits that bubble over with hooks and attitude. Her last record, 2001's Purge is a masterpiece that sizzles from beginning to end.

Her latest record Superbeautifulmonster, has just been released in the U.S. (hah - us Canucks got it two months earlier) and it shows an almost more (gasp) mature Bif. It's a dark affair that still has the hooks but shows a more melancholy vibe than in the past --- musically, if not lyrically. Her songwriting has gotten more adventurous but the big change here is vocally. She uses her voice in different ways for some songs, as she perhaps gains more confidence in what she can deliver (stuff us fans have known for years).

How excited was I? Interviewing Bif Naked? Be still my heart. OK, enough of my gushing. Let's get to it.

antiMusic: Congratulations, Superbeautifulmonster is a strong record and "Let Down" is an excellent single. I took to Purge like a magnet to steel but it took several spins to get in line with this one. Once I did, I've really liked it. First of all, how is Anna? (Bif has two dogs, Anastasia and Nicholas that have become almost mascots since Bif draws pix of them throughout her record's liner-notes)

Bif: She's doing very well, thank you. She had a ligament surgery about six weeks ago and she's already walking on all four legs again instead of three. She was so amazingly stoic through it all. She was trying to run and….nothing ever seems to bother her. She never complains about pain or anything. She's so inspiring. Anna is very special in that …the universe must think that Anastasia is very strong or they wouldn't keep giving her things that challenge her. And she always meets the challenge. We're very fortunate to have her.

antiMusic: Purge came out in 2001. Why such a long wait?

Bif: It's always the same. I always wait four years between records and I'm sure I'll wait another four before I do another one. We usually tour an album that long and you know, touring is definitely the best part of my job, to be sure. And it just seems like you know, the commitments we have in every territory where the record comes out, entails us being there geographically. And we were just frankly unable to get into the studio until we did. 

antiMusic: Now that the record finished and you've lived with it for a couple of months how are you feeling about it?

Bif: Awesome. It's been such a thrill. I always get excited. It's so fun to play the new songs and I love performing them. I feel like I'm just now trying to find myself as a songwriter. So I'm very proud of the material and I enjoy singing it a lot. 

antiMusic: This record is a much darker affair than Purge, at least musically if not lyrically. One could say Purge was on the dark side also. But from "Abandonment" through to "After A While", the lyrics in general are a bit bleak, with the exception of "Everyday". And there's less little Biff-isms in the liner notes. Things haven't been all great in Bif-world from the sound of it. What's been going on with you?

Bif: There's a bit of self-deprecation going on within the realm of lyrical catharsis. You know, I like trying to master the craft of words. I think a lot of poets, writers and lyricists ultimately need to achieve a black belt in words. And that's my goal ultimately to find new ways to express that same feeling we've all felt, even for a moment, in our lives, whether it's blind love or the most sorrowful despair. Just to find new ways to challenge myself into describing it better or more specifically or more poetically. It never ceases to stimulate me.

antiMusic: Was "Abandonment" directed to anybody in particular?

Bif: I wrote that song with a guy by the name of Jimmy Allen who is in a band called Puddle of Mudd. We went to a seedy hotel in West Hollywood and had met up there specifically for the purpose of writing together. I was a fan of his work and he of mine. And I had never met him before. Within 15 minutes of shaking hands and exchanging our pleasantries, we started writing "Abandonment". It was interesting and I think he and I, separately in our lives, had been through throat-choking heartache. And that song was the first out of four that we wrote. And it came very easily.

antiMusic: Is there a theme to the record? I read that you wrote over 75 songs so why did you settle on these 13?

Bif: These were the most positive. (laughs) It was hard. I couldn't be a big part of the decision-making process because ultimately I was attached to all the songs. My only big thing was I had to have "After Awhile" as the last song. I had to have "Henry" somewhere on the record. And I had to have "Ladybug Waltz" on the record. And beside those simple hopes, I guess, I really didn't have any preferences, one way or the other. Each song is like a baby that you care for and nurture and you're attached to them all equally.

antiMusic: The cover of "Nothing Else Matters" is excellent. What was it about that song that made you want to cover it.

Bif: I'm a girl. And to me that song is a love song. Ultimately, it's just one of the world's greatest love songs. They've always been one of my favourite bands and I've always wanted to perform that song. Always. So the timing was correct and Dave Fortman wanted to produce that song. And I wanted to sing it. And all the planets just all lined up at the right time.

antiMusic: Musically, things are a bit more rock in places than in the past. "After A While" and "The Question Song" have the guitars cranked up in parts. You had "Leader" on Purge but the music is less bubbly than in the past. Was that just owing to the somber directions of the lyrics or did you just want more guitar on this one?

Bif: Well you know, it just seemed to be the way everyone was going with our writing. I just think that the time signature on "After Awhile" for example was the influence of Scotty my drummer. And I hope that we're all evolving as better songwriters and I hope that I'm evolving as a better singer. I was really happy with the way it turned out and that it's a little more guitar-heavy as it is. And those songs are really quite exciting to perform, particularly "The Question Song". We performed "After Awhile" for the first time in Kitchener last week. And that song is really quite dramatic. It lends itself to a lot of theatrics. And proper placement in the set is really quite integral when you're trying to put in all the repertoire from the past as well. So it's a tricky one to place in the set, I've discovered. "Abandonment" as well. It's kind of stark in its feeling really and I'm finding it really tricky to place them in the set correctly….so they'll have a connection with audience. It's more about the feeling than it is about the music. 

antiMusic: You wanna know my favourite part of the record? I've got two. The end of "Henry". The "I guess this is goodbye" part. You almost sound disconnected from your Bifness if you know what I mean. Not that there's anything wrong with your Bifness, obviously. It's just there's a you I've never heard on record before. You also have a different vocal on the chorus of "After A While" which is really appealing as well. To me, both really stand out. It's more like Beth than Bif maybe. Were you conscious of each of these or do you just think I'm out to lunch?

Bif: Oh cool. Yeah I think so. I notice that my voice is changing. I'm in my mid '30s now and my voice has definitely changed. It's lower and I have this occasional, should I allow it to surface, this resonance of a vibrato, which is not as quick as my previous delivery, vocally. It's really interesting…the physiology of the vocal chords and how everything is changing. I'm really embracing it. I really like it. I have a lot of fun singing. I really do. And I like the dramatics of the chorus particularly in "After Awhile" and after performing it live again, it seems like there's this really Diamanda Galas wannabe sort of vibrato. I'm having fun with it.

antiMusic: Do you try different approaches on a song, vocally or do you deliver it the way you hear it in your head?

Bif: No, ultimately I'm at the mercy of a producer. "Spaceman", for example, was written on acoustic guitar and it was a ballad. It was Glenn Rosenstein who produced I Bificus who made it into the song that it is. I would never have foreseen that song having so much programming and the ability to remix it just amazes it. But ultimately, every song is written on acoustic guitar with vocal. And sometimes it changes in tempo. But "Henry" is one of those songs that stayed true to its original intention and I call it a mountain song. 

antiMusic: It seems to me to be one of the least personal songs. 

Bif: Yeah, because I don't have a baby. Nor do I know anybody called Henry.

antiMusic: I was wondering if it was a fictional thing about Rollins?

Bif: It doesn't hurt that the name sings well. And it's a widely known fact that I'm a big fan of Hank. You know, it's a strange song. Again, I don't know why most of the stuff I do is so autobiographical. That song for me, came out of left field in the imagination department. I wrote it standing up in my kitchen one morning, making coffee. Something about…you fail somebody. You feel like you fail them. And that's kind of where the whole song grew around the first line. It's just weird how it goes. And since then…cause I wrote it a couple of years ago, I've probably written a dozen of my songs that are in the same vein. Not lyrically per se but definitely….I call them campfire songs. And it's just…there's something really soothing and organic about singing 'em. You just want to sing them all the time.

antiMusic: You and Peter Karroll have had a long business relationship. What is it about him that works so well with you both as a manager and then as a songwriter/producer?

Bif: I don't know, to be honest with you. It just always was. Besides John Zazula, his partner since '94, Peter is the only manager I've ever know. He started managing me when I was about 22 years old. He started writing for I Bificus with me, pretty much out of desperation, because all the people I was co-writing with, we weren't coming up with stuff that anybody liked, quite honestly.…except for me. Because he is a musician in his own right, as well. So he just picked up a guitar and we just started jamming. We wrote "Spaceman", "Moment of Weakness" and forget which other one it was, but it was all in a day. In one afternoon. Actually it was in a span of about an hour and a half. And it was like, "Hey, this works." It just works. It's like family. We all kind of live in a compound near each other and he and his wife, and her parents, his new daughter and his two grown daughters, and me and my dog and their dogs. It's going to make a great Behind The Music one day. It's a little convoluted and sick (laughs) but it works.

antiMusic: You've also worked with (guitarist) Doug Fury for awhile now. What does Doug bring to the table that keeps him in the Bif camp?

Bif: Yeah, a long time. Everything. He is just an inspiring musician. He really is. And he and I both have the same taste in music and we both seem to go through our phases at the same time. He's really got a knack for interesting little runs and he and Peter work well together too. It's a really good solid relationship. Plus we've been in the trenches together everyday. We've lived together on a tour bus. We've suffered together. We've experienced violence on the road together. We've thrown up together. Slept together. Eaten food together. And somehow all of those things forever connect us.

antiMusic: You've always made a point of trying to align yourself with positive people, touring-wise such as Andrew W.K. What was it like doing your Canadian tour with Billy Idol? Did you get on personally?

Bif: He was awesome. He was great. He was very, very gregarious. And his whole crew. Very friendly and courteous. He's the consummate professional. And he really is at the top of his game. He must have done a two hour show every night. And he's in the best shape of his life. And it was just a really wonderful experience for us all. I'd love to do it again. It was so fast though. Canada has such few cities so it's always a really fast tour. 

antiMusic: You've always expressed a fondness for the heavier side of metal bands like Lamb of God and Corrosion of Conformity. Given that you've said when you write, a lot of your stuff comes out like Black Metal, would you ever consider trying a record in that genre? I mean, you weren't afraid to put out spoken word stuff, which is decidedly different.

Bif: Yeah, I love those bands. And I definitely would love to do something like that. Only I wouldn't sing. Because I'd want to play the bass. I can't play the bass very well but the thing about black metal and death metal is, and Doug and Scotty have me trained to just do the whole note, which I can accomplish within the parameters of Scotty's meter. And so we always have a running joke that in the death metal band, I'm going to wear the Mexican wrestling mask and a bikini and just go out and play the whole notes on the bass, strung really low like Toby from Salvador Dream used to do. It would be great. Hopefully, I'd hit all the correct notes and they'd have some other guy like Paul from the Ripcordz, or someone with this really good throaty voice. Eventually, we'll develop this metal supergroup. It'll be our very own version of Probot. 

antiMusic: Man, I'd love to hear that.

Bif: Cool. I'll keep you posted.

antiMusic: Speaking of the spoken word thing. What made you start doing that? I guess the first was "The Gross, Gross Man". What gave you the confidence to do a whole record (which I loved, by the way)? We've always really enjoyed those parts of your earlier records. 

Bif: I just always did the performances here on the West coast when they were popular. And they always had open mike nights. And I often would go. Especially when I was a drinker. We would all go down and have a couple of cold beers and get on the mike. I would always end up reading poetry and getting chastised for it so I had to make it a little more social. It was very leftist stuff really. And it was very enjoyable. It was a great outlet for writing. For essays and poetry and what not. I kept getting fan requests for it. Which is why I made the spoken record at all. And it's so funny when I re-listen to that thing, which is few and far between because I find it a little painful now. Because it was ten years ago and I assure you Morley, my attitude is a little different now about a lot of issues. I had just gotten off the bottle and I was rather obsessed about it. It makes me laugh when I hear it now. And how many things I would do differently. I consider it rather unprofessional. Because ultimately my manager just let me walk around with a DAT recorder. I handed it in and we just put it out, just like that. There was nobody who Bad Cop'd to me. To this day, I don't think my manager has listened to the whole thing. And there's so many f*** ups in it. I f***ed up so many things on my enunciation on a couple of things which are quite grating when I hear them know. And there's one point where I started laughing when I was mimicking Eddie Murphy. I started laughing in the middle of my soliloquy, if you will. I would never do such a thing today. I find it really amateurish but it makes me laugh a lot though. 

antiMusic: So you're not storing up the pieces for a future project?

Bif: No. I haven't for a while. But I have so many scrapbooks of essays and misery writing and rants and whatnot. I keep thinking…eventually…we must have 250 of scrapbooks and sketchbooks all full of weird things. Eventually we'll get a publisher on board and put it out. I just don't know when I'll ever get organized. 

antiMusic: How did Her Royal Majesty's Records come about? That's an ambitious project for someone so young. 

Bif: It was out of desperation. Really and truly. And once again I have to credit Peter because I would never have had the kind of foresight at that age in my life. It was '94 when we formed it. And it was primarily because the first label that put my record out, Plum Records folded within three months of my release and the distributor A&M Records didn't pick it up. They passed. So we were just f***ed with this product and no vehicle. So we formed a company and couldn't get much of a bit going in Canada. So we licensed it overseas and just went to Europe. That's where the work was. I figured if it could work for Annihilator and bands like this, I'm perfectly happy having a blossoming career in Europe and coming home and being a normal human being. I really never thought about it either way. Then Aquarius picked up my record in '96 and finally put that out. 

antiMusic: Considering you're known as the extreme opposite of a couch potato, what is an average day like in the life of Bif Naked?

Bif: My alarm goes off at 5:30. And I wake up and I take my time. If I don't wake up at 5:30, I can't take my time. So I go down and make a pot of coffee. Really strong. It's like mud. Then I get myself together. Have a protein shake. Feed my dogs. We go out the door. I usually stop in at the office. Then I go to the gym. I run errands on the way home from the gym, back to the office. I do some stuff…whatever is required on any given day, whether it be radio station ID voice-overs or doing interviews or signing posters. Then I take my dogs to a park in the afternoon. Then we go home about 4:00. I have a one-bowl series that I've been practicing for a long time. Which is to eat out of the same bowl every day. Whatever it is. And I eat once a day usually when the sun goes down. And I've done it for years. It doesn't change. Even on tour. At night I like to be in bed by 10, cuz I get up so early. 

antiMusic: You are such a proponent of fitness. Do you also still keep up with your martial arts training?

Bif: I don't have time for a class structure sort of training. I think we will again as a family and an organization look into it when we have time. But currently with the travel schedule, there doesn't seem to be the time. 

antiMusic: You've appeared in a few films like Lunch With Charles. Any plans or desire to do that in the future.

Bif: I would love to. But the right script hasn't come along. After Lunch With Charles, I did a movie called The Crossing and the reason I took that role was I got to do some fighting in the movie and some weapons training. I played a drag king. I was padded up for the role. I just wanted it for my reel because it would look different. I like playing really specific characters. I'm not really interested in doing the usual; playing the junkie, the stripper, the rock singer. That's mostly the scripts that will come across the desk. And I'm just looking for something to make me leave me touring for a couple of months. 

antiMusic: You've seen Britt (Black, who played guitar on Bif's last tour and co-founder of LiveOnRelease) grow up before your very eyes. Obviously, there was LiveOnRelease but how weird is it to see her out on her own with this new record and band? 

Bif: It's amazing. I'm so proud of that kid. I think she's just starting to…again…my first record sounds like a different person to me in a lot of ways. I don't know how Brittan feels about her record. I feel fiercely protective of it. I'm very proud of her. But I also know she has that natural talent. Her voice is very interesting to me. She's got a real lilt to her vocal delivery that can't be learned. And it can't be suggested or imitated. It's something God gave her and it really freaked me out the first time I heard her sing. I just thought, "Wow, where is that voice from?" And it made me feel very happy because I just thought, you know, that's something that's unique to only her. And it's that uniqueness that makes people have that longevity in their career and that uniqueness develops the loyalty of fans. I think she's so awesome. I just love watching her play. And I love her songs. They make me cry. 

antiMusic: You did a short stint as a guest DJ at a Vancouver radio station (CFOX) last year. What did you get from that experience?

Bif: I loved it. It was so fun. That came about because I was at home. They asked me and I'm friends with all the people down there. I've known them for a long time. It wasn't a big stretch for me to wake up at 3:30 in the morning and be in there for 5. It fit in naturally and was really fun. Not a lot of money. But I never shut up. So the idea of going on the radio and talking…for a job, to me that would be the ideal job. 

antiMusic: Hey, how happy are you that opening game of the NHL is in two days and are you going to get to go to any Canuck games before you leave for the US? 

Bif: Oh man. I can't even tell you how excited I am. Because of the schedule I probably won't get to go to a game for a while. But I can't believe it's back. It's surreal to me. 

antiMusic: Maybe it'll be a Canuck-Sens Stanley Cup final this year. 

Bif: From your mouth to God's ear. And don't get me wrong. I love players more than teams. I've always said Mario Lemieux is a f***ing saint. He so loved the game that he bought his team to save the team. And I thought, what a noble, noble thing to do. A lot of the guys are like that for me. I like goons…..a lot. It's going to be an exciting year. 

antiMusic: It'll be even better for you West Coast people now that you've got Bertuzzi back.

Bif: Poor bastard. You know, I know his wife. They're good people. And it's just such a crushing shame. It's a very difficult thing. My prayers go out to Steve Moore but it's f***ing HOCKEY. f*** off. I want to see a hockey fight. I mean what do you expect? It's just unfortunate. 

antiMusic: I've seen several columns by you in different magazines lately. Is this a new sideline: Bif Naked columnist?

Bif: From your mouth to God's ear once again. I get asked to do that and I'm always happy to oblige when I'm asked. 

antiMusic: What are the plans for the rest of 2005 and 2006 for you?

Bif: Just touring. We're on tour which starts in a couple of weeks and goes until the end of December. Then Superbeautifulmonster is coming out in Europe and then Japan in the new year. Hopefully we'll be able to go and support the record by going and touring over there. 

antiMusic: Any thought to a DVD in the near future?

Bif: I'm putting it in the suggestion box as we speak. (laughs) 

antiMusic: That would be so great (laughs).

Bif: (laughs) I would love to. On the Billy tour, we had a film crew with us 24-7 and we shot a lot of stuff. So hopefully we'll be able to find a place for it and put something out later. 

antiMusic: Well, I want this phone call to go on all day but you're a busy girl, so thanks so much for doing this.

Bif: Thank you for taking the time, Morley. I appreciate you doing it. 

antiMusic and Morley Seaver thanks the awesome Bif Naked for this interview. We wish her all the best with the new record and tour.

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