The music world is contemplating a return to the stage, a year and a half after the pandemic pushed pause on live performance.

As legendary Canadian rock artist Bif Naked relates, performing live is the economic mainstay of a musician鈥檚 livelihood and artistic expression. Digitally streamed concerts have filled the gap somewhat, but it鈥檚 just not the same.

鈥淚 think everybody is [excited at the prospect of returning to a world of regular concerts],鈥� Bif said, taking time out during a Cranbrook sojourn for an interview.

鈥淟ong gone are the days of doing all the things bands did in the 鈥�90s. People receive their music differently. It wasn鈥檛 a revenue source for a long time anyway. But touring was.

鈥淪o now, to re-emerge, for a lot of bands, we are elated to return to the stage. We want to see our familiar faces in every town, our friends and family. And more than anything else, as artists and performers, we鈥檙e desperate to perform, for the sake of performing. Most of us who鈥檝e been in bands since the 鈥�90s, we鈥檙e accustomed to living hand to mouth. I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 necessarily new for musicians to be poor. The pandemic pressed the pause button for a lot of people. But that鈥檚 true of every industry.

鈥淏ut us in rock, we鈥檙e all used to being poor.鈥�

Bif Naked 鈥� aka Beth Torbert 鈥� is one of the top-selling Canadian artists and songwriters, and a popular pop-punk artist with an almost 30-year career in recording and global performance. She launched a career in Punk Rock in Vancouver in the early 鈥�90s, went solo in 1996, and her career has since seen her tour Canada, the U.S., and Europe as a headliner, and appearing on the bill with some of the world鈥檚 top rock acts.

She is a prolific writer and graphic artist, and has also developed a parallel career as an activist and humanitarian, as a long-time champion for women鈥檚 rights and the LGBTQ+ community, and other causes.

A breast-cancer survivor herself, Torbert has lent her voice to raise awareness and treatment issues. She recalls the experience of returning to the stage after her bout with cancer.

鈥淎fter I went through cancer treatment, I felt like I had to re-emerge. I was very self-conscious. I gingerly approached the stage again. Nothing for me was scarier than that. But now I鈥檓 10 years older. And the world is 10 years older.鈥�

Even though 18 months isn鈥檛 a very long time in the scheme of things, the world that performing musicians are re-emerging into feels like a different place. There is a lot of cultural divisiveness, social upheaval, and tumultuous news. It seems these are febrile times.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not revolutionary, but it can be evolutionary,鈥� Bif said. 鈥淎nd I think bands have had to really shift their thinking. It鈥檚 not even a pivot, because there鈥檚 nothing to pivot our thinking to.鈥�

Can Rock music provide a voice to address this new post-pandemic world, like it has in the past?

鈥淎ny music, any art, is a vehicle for any artist to express their take on whatever is going on in their world,鈥� Bif responded. 鈥淔or most of us, it鈥檚 our running commentary on society. Any art that we make is going to be that. Rock is always been a protest music.鈥�

People coming of age in the 鈥�80s and 鈥�90s, Bif says, were lucky to experience Punk Rock music, and the birth of bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden.

鈥淭hey were creating new sounds 鈥� but new ways to say the same things, that generations before them said. Love is cool, loud is good 鈥� those kind of things. But as far as protest music 鈥� Punk Rock, Reggae, Hip Hop, were the anthemic protest music of our lives.

鈥淎nd now, as we are now in a world that is enmeshed in this pandemic apocalypse 鈥� people have been suddenly forced online. If they鈥檙e not bookworms, then online is where they鈥檙e getting a lot of their new discoveries, things that have broadened their lives, broadened their worlds. The internet is so vast that with freedom of speech comes freedom of ideas that we don鈥檛 agree with. That has brought a lot of people into the world and discovering they have a voice, where before they didn鈥檛 know, or didn鈥檛 participate. There are a lot of opinions.

鈥淭here are a lot of us 鈥榖ookworms鈥� that become disheartened by what we see people sharing on the internet. It can seem very callous.鈥�

What鈥檚 also happening at the same time as the pandemic, Bif says, has been the enormous repercussions of climate change becoming apparent 鈥� 鈥渨e鈥檙e starting to see an acceleration of horrific results.鈥�

鈥淚n a post-pandemic world, which we have not yet reached, we鈥檙e going to talk about the people who are vaccinated versus the unvaccinated. People who like science versus people who do not agree with the science. This has always existed. Separation of church and state. People have always argued about vaccinating their children, have always argued about climate change.鈥�

Bif Naked is pictured in acoustic performance with Stephen Allen. (Photo submitted)

As for her own performing future, and recent past, Bif Naked and her band have been hanging fire for almost two years.

They had a tour booked with rock bands Buckcherry and Age of Days. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had that booked for two years, and they postponed it twice. Rumour has it that it鈥檚 happening this October, thankfully.鈥�

Even the release of Bif鈥檚 latest studio album 鈥� which would be her sixth 鈥� has been delayed, not for just pandemic reasons, but also because of her perspective on the larger issues that were shaking up things in 2020.

鈥淲e made a record 鈥� called 鈥楥hampion.鈥� We鈥檙e very proud of the songs, the mixes, and everything was in place. We put our first single out in 2020. That was a big undertaking, did a video, and were quite prepared to release another single that May, then another one in August, and then release the record.

鈥淏ut with everything that was happening, and especially last summer, I felt nobody needed a Bif Naked record at that moment. What we needed was to talk about race, and about equity and about the world we live in and how we needed to fix it, and change it. My parents were civil rights activists with Dr. Martin Luther King, and I thought, 鈥榳here we are, after so many years, we cannot let the work that they started be in vain. I thought, my record means nothing this year. Let鈥檚 wait.鈥�

鈥淎nd so we waited, and we were going to do a streaming show for October, but it鈥檚 just not the same. It just didn鈥檛 seem right. We released another single (I Broke Into Your Car) 鈥� and so here we are, a year later. I still haven鈥檛 released Champion, because I don鈥檛 believe it鈥檚 important enough. I think there are other things, in the news feeds, that are much more important.

鈥淚鈥檓 not going to perish emotionally waiting to release a record. I haven鈥檛 done a studio record in over a decade. I haven鈥檛 wanted to. Hopefully the timing will be right this fall, and we鈥檒l be able to release it. But it depends on the rest of the world.鈥�

Left to right: Ferdy Belland, bass player for Bif Naked鈥檚 band; Bif Naked, holding Ace; Stephen Allen, guitarist with the band (and Bif Naked鈥檚 husband). In Huckleberry Books, Cranbrook. (Barry Coulter photo)