Did you know that Brendon Gibbons can play the piano? He simply calls it ‘a hobby.’ If you go to 8:40 of his fairly new video, above, you can hear the surfer play Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by Smashing Pumpkins.
There’s probably a lot more that we don’t know about the ridiculously talented freesurfer. Like, where he’s been surfing and hanging during lockdown. I picked his brain a bit.
Where have you spent your time during the global pandemic?
I’ve been in Orange County, California for the lockdown, and surfing in Huntington, Newport and San Clemente. It has been consistent and mainly fun, with plenty of waves.
From all accounts, there have been some good surf days during the Lockdown in California.
Yep. There was a solid little south swell that hit California last month. Lowers was pumping. The waves were consistent, the conditions were glassy, and it was exceptionally crowded.
Low flying. © Van Gysen
The Lockdown has treated surfers the world over very differently. For some, it has been incredibly stifling, while for others, there have been some special moments.
Well, I’ve been able to surf every day over the past few months. I consider that special.
A freesurfer, you need to travel to keep the dream alive, to keep surfing and filming. Has that been tough?
I started working on a few video projects at the beginning of this year. My workflow hasn’t stopped, thanks to being able to get in the water around Orange County. Even though I’ve been able to work domestically, it does feel odd knowing that I can’t travel abroad.
On another note, how important is the whole social media thing, especially for freesurfers? Does it need to be consistently flooded with content, or is it better to bank the best clips, for a decent length edit?
I like to quietly collect clips, and then release them as movies. It’s an alternative approach (kinda old school), and it has worked incredibly well.
West coast pensive © Van Gysen
Are you going to be able to get everything done you need to in 2020 because of the way the world is still fairly shut down?
Well, I still aim to finish all of the video projects that I started working on at the beginning of this year, over the next few months. If deadlines are pushed back into 2021 due to travel restrictions, I’ll continue to work on them in the new year until I’m satisfied with the final product.
What about the state of surfing? It seems everything is changing, and that competitive surfing will never be the same.
I think this break in the action will have a positive effect on surfing in general. Hopefully, if everything returns to normal, we’ll all have a renewed sense of gratitude towards surfing and the lifestyle associated with it.
Follow Brendon on Instagram here and watch for new releases here.
