Canadian singer-songwriter Jeff Fettes, better known as the musical act Riotron, has been making music his whole life.
“I come from a musical family,” Fettes says. “My mom actually toured with a musical group before I was born. She comes from a small town in northern Canada where everyone plays an instrument and sings. So every summer when I went up there, everyone just picked up an instrument and jammed; it was folk music and pop music and jazz music, it was whatever. It became almost a rite of passage for me in the family.”
Fettes started to write his own songs when he was 13, almost by accident.
“As funny as it sounds, I started writing my own songs because I couldn’t properly play the songs I wanted to play,” he says. “I started trying to play those and my attempts would go very wrong, but they still sounded good even though it wasn’t what I was trying to play.”
His music was heavily influenced by the ‘80s — Duran Duran is an all-time favorite — as well as some well-known female popstars.
“There’s something about the community, guys who grow up gay, that we gravitate toward these strong, female divas,” he says. “Madonna was a huge favorite of mine growing up. I still love her song writing … Janet Jackson is a favorite; the list is so long that naming them all would take us down a rabbit hole we might never come back from.”
Fettes is getting a lot of attention for his latest single, “Life Is What We’re Living,” which tells a very personal and uplifting story of one of his friends.
“I’m starting to realize, not deliberately so, that I have certain themes in my work as a songwriter that come across to people as dark, I like the contrast of life and death, and I have a friend named [Chris] Fantini who challenged me, saying he would like to hear something in my voice a little more uplifting,” he says.
Fettes fell out of communication with Fantini for some time and got back in touch with him after hearing that Fantini’s mom had passed away from cancer. Fettes says that when he caught up with his old friend he was inspired by what he saw.
“I was expecting him to be completely devastated because of how close he had been with his mom, the two of them were best friends and they were going to travel together,” Fettes says. “He told me he had been devastated and had a hard time with it but then his mom’s death prompted him to dive into life like he had never done before. He quit his job and changed everything about his life. He moved to Florida and he started traveling.
“He told me that he would imagine what his mom would say if she were with him,” Fettes continued. “He realized he could still do these things with his mom because she is a part of him through his memories and all he knows about her. He had his mom there and he wasn’t sure if it was spiritual or just his imagination, but then he realized it didn’t matter because she was there with him.”
Fettes found the story inspiring and one he wanted to tell through a song.
“I wrote [‘Life Is What We’re Living’] and when it came to the video, I wanted to use it as a metaphor for his journey through the stages of grief and that realization that she will always be there with him, and that he didn’t have to give her up just because she was gone,” Fettes says.
The music video, directed by the acclaimed Alissa Torvinen, for the song tells the story of a man at his mother’s funeral processing her death. As the video continues, the man (played by “Teen Wolf” star Tyler Posey) dances with the spirit of his mother (played by “Back to the Future” star and ‘80s icon Lea Thompson) through the house and is able to say his goodbye by the end. Fettes actually wrote the song and video concept with Posey and Thompson in mind.
“When I wrote a song, I like to write with the concept of the video in mind,” Fettes says. “The characters in music videos don’t really have names because they don’t talk, so to keep the characters straight I ascribe actor’s names to them. When I came up with the concept for the video, I called the characters Lea and Tyler because I’m a huge fan of both of their work. So I wrote a letter to each of them campaigning to get them in the video. Thankfully it worked and they agreed to be in it.”
The concept of the video was something that really appealed to Posey.
“My mother passed away just like my character’s mother,” Posey said in a statement at the time of the video’s release. “She was my best friend, my biggest support system, my good advice, my laughing buddy, my crying shoulder. I really resonate with my character and wanted to bring that storyline to life. Reliving the funeral scene was a heavy moment for me. I haven’t portrayed that in any project. Also l’m a huge fan of Lea’s and was honored to share the set with her.”
Thompson was onboard immediately after hearing Fettes’ song.
“It was so haunting and yet hopeful,” Thompson said in a statement. “And then when I saw Alissa’s work, I was so interested in being a part of this young director’s vision. I have been directing lately and I thought what an exciting scary thing to be a part of — dancing in a music video. It was great fun to explore dance in a way that was so devoid of pressure and so profoundly full of expression.”
The video was released May 6 and amassed nearly 2 million views within its first 10 days.
“I am so proud of this song and video,” Fettes says. “We all worked closely on the video, I was on set the entire time, and they are all amazing.”
“Life Is What We’re Living” is remixed by superstar DJ/producer Mahalo. Fettes says an additional remix by electronic music icon Paul Oakenfold and a behind-the-scenes featurette of the music video are expected later this summer.
