The first time I saw Patrick Melcher, I can’t say I liked him. Part of me felt threatened by him and another part was just being a hater. But after getting to know him we became good friends, even to the point where I invited him to come on tour with me and Steve Caballero.

In 2004 after splitting up with my long time girlfriend, I was left with no real social life. I wanted to start filming again but I didn’t know any photographers or filmers. I asked Transworld and they gave me Seu Trinh’s number. He could tell I was out of the loop and a little socially awkward. Over the next couple of years, Seu would correct me in public situations and teach me the fine etiquette of communicating with people. Besides that, we had a regular schedule of skating and drinking. We would go out almost every night except for Fridays and Saturdays to avoid all the kooks.

We’d usually start our night off with 3 shots of Jaeger, a few screwdrivers and a beer before heading out to the club. Arriving at around 12:30, we’d bypass line as we were regulars. I’ll always remember seeing Patrick Melcher there, dancing like Michael Anthony Hall from “16 Candles” with some young sexy LA wannabe hipster chick. It was annoying. Seu and I owned the night and here’s this metrosexual dude wearing a vest, bracelets and tight fitting clothes, smooth talking the ladies with a huge smile on his face. I’d say to Seu, “Who the fuck is this guy?!” Amused I didn’t know, Seu would chuckle. Not too long later, I randomly ended up skating with his crew a couple of times. Realizing he was a good skater I was impressed. We skated more and more, and I eventually asked him to go tour with me.

On tour Patrick Melcher was full of surprises. He told the camera crew never to film him without a hat on because he was balding. I found that to be such a funny ass diva thing to say that I painted a picture of him wearing all of his hats at once. Anyway, when were were stranded in this random city on tour, we needed somewhere to stay, and fast. He said not to worry about it, “He had a plan”. We took our bags to a random hotel and told the concierge we just checked out. Leaving our bags there we went to the nearest club. Inside, Patrick stood right the middle of the crowded dancefloor, looking around until he locked eyes with a girl. He walked right over to her, grabbed her hand and started dancing immediately. It was pretty impressive! By the end of the night we grabbed our stuff from the hotel and went back to her place to stay the night. The best part was, she even had a hot roommate! It really did all work out, just like he said it would.

Patrick Melcher in Death Skateboards “Better Than Life” (2007):

Words: Danny Gonzalez
Original Illustration: Lauren Kolesinskas
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