In the opening scenes of Choice Glance, we journey through the high desert in an old van with two fellows widely recognized for their distinctive styles: Al Knost and Mikey February. Rather than being a coastal cruise, the desert road eventually transitions to the Palm Springs Surf Club.
The music kicks in and the surfing begins, what unfolds is a creation uniquely assembled by one of the the most enduring stylists of our time.
It doesn’t take long for anything featuring such names to gain traction on the Internet but rather than instantly turn it around, I rang Al for a conversation to learn a little bit more about how it all came to be.
SURFER: Hey Al, thanks so much for taking the time to chat. I must say I was surprised to see the film start in Palm Springs, how did that happen?
Al Knost: What I thought would be interesting about doing it there was that it’s kind of a unique situation where you get to really to try the same thing over and over again. Another reason is the angles you’re able to get in a pool versus the ocean where it can be hard to link up because there’s so much water moving around.
Because when you’re surfing with your buddies and you’re taking a pounding in the lineup, but you get all these choice glances that are going by if you’re duck diving under him or you’re really low as you paddle by going up the face of the wave. With the small area of the pool, Jimmy Wilson was able to really find unique angles that you wouldn’t normally get to see that often in the ocean.
SURFER: The overall feel of the film was very unique, reminded me of Greenough’s Inner Most Limits of Pure Fun.
AK: Yeah, totally. That film was definitely was a big inspiration for the pool part. You know, just, looking out and looking into the desert light is so much different. The light in Palm Springs is so good. Yeah, that was kind of throwing paint at the wall to see what stuck. It was exciting and fun to do and Mikey’s such a great surfer and so open to anything. We had fun.
SURFER: When did you and Mikey first get connected?
AK: It’s been a while. I think the first time we did a trip together was for the last movie I did and we went to Indo together. I think when he was just starting to kind of trip out on some other boards and was kind of like, maybe entertaining the idea of not doing contest surfing.
And I think that trip was around the time you could just see how his style was changing and how well he was riding the bonzers…I guess at that point in time we’re both riding bonzers and kind of digging it. He rides his CI Fish in the pool part but he’s on some of the BMT twinzer designs I’ve been working on. I made him a few, 6’6 and 6’9. I usually ride a 6’9. But on that whole trip he was on a 7’4, something usually used for really small and flat waves and he was just foiling on it.
SURFER: You did all the music too yeah, does that ever get hard?
AK: Well, it’s actually nice because if one thing feels stuck, I just work on the other. Sometimes the music is flowing and the surfing isn’t. I went between the two throughout the process of making of the film and try and let it come out naturally.
SURFER: Anything else you’d like to say?
AK: Yeah, I want to thank all of the filmers who worked on this–we had a lot of long, hot days in the sun and they made it all happen.
Related: Mikey February Harmonizes with Mythical Mexican Pointbreak (Watch)