Country musician Todd Richard is no stranger to keeping his hometown the centre of his music videos. But his most recent video for the single “Live Your Life” is something extra special.
“There’s something special about the song. I truly believe it was in my head for 20 years for a reason,” Richard said. “And now it’s like that video, they complement each other.
“It adds a bit of a story to it, and a bit of humour with the Sasquatch. And the kids, it just grabs your heart a bit.”
Released on June 17, Richard’s video captures some of the key parts of his home in Harrison Hot Springs: the streets of town, the Sasquatch and the kids at Harrison Hot Springs Elementary, where Richard works as part of the maintenance department at SD78.
The video was produced with sponsorship from Tourism Harrison, which is how the iconic Sasquatch first came into the mix.
“Robbie Reyerse (son of the Tourism Harrison executive director), he volunteered to play Sasquatch,” Richard remembered.
“He’s a great big fella, and he’s so good. I mean, he sweated all day in that suit,” he continued. “Kids wanted pictures with him, so he had to keep putting the head on, and that’s when you get really hot.”
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The kids were students at Harrison Hot Springs, who were featured in the video after learning Richard’s song for their World Music Day this May. After learning the words and tune of the song for a month, the entire school went out to Harrison Hot Springs’ beachfront to perform the song.
“In this business, it can be pretty tough, and you get highs and lows,” Richard said. “But when something like that happens … that to me is success right there.”
Because the students had put in so much effort to learn Richard’s song, he wanted to feature them in his music video. Having the kids involved also added to the meaning of the words he had written, Richard said.
“There’s no better message for a young kid to say, ‘live your life, take a few changes, don’t be afraid to try and climb that mountain,’” he said. “It’s pretty cool, pretty neat.”
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“Live Your Life” is Richard’s most recent single, coming out of his album by the same name that was released in April. His next single will likely be released in September, to coincide with Harrison’s annual Bands on the Beach event.
He’s also starting to work on his next video, one to go with the song “Stick on the Ice,” which Richard said “any parent that has a child in hockey will really love.”
“We’re trying to get the Chilliwack Chiefs on board to let us use the Prospera Centre and film the whole thing in their arena,” he said.
“It’s another great song, and the idea for this video, if it comes together, is just going to be amazing.”
grace.kennedy@ahobserver.com
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