Pat Steiner is on the come up. He dropped a serious part in Static III that caused a lot of people to take notice and is currently working on an upcoming Traffic video. Keir recently got some Q & A with Pat that gives some good insight into his life and times. Check it out below.

Keir: Hey Pat, so for people not familiar, what’s your basic info?

Pat: I'm from Lakeland, Florida.  I basically still live in Florida but I'm constantly moving around though, so you can find me anywhere up and down the East Coast. I skate for Traffic Skateboards, Vans, Hi-Fi Wheels and Skate Park of Tampa.

Keir: How did you get into skating?

Pat: I remember in middle school before class seeing this kid do a kickflip.  That was pretty much it. Right when I saw that, I knew I wanted to do that.  So then my parents bought me a shitty Variflex, and I skated that thing forever just doing ollies on little cracks and what not.  Then finally I moved on up to a used Tim Gavin Girl board from a friend, never looked back since.

Keir: Where was the first spot you learned to skate at? 

Pat: That would probably be this skate park in Lakeland that was horrible, but it was near my parent’s house so they thought I was safe. We would get dropped off there and then leave and skate all over downtown Lakeland. There was this one spot called "train station" and it was two benches that had good ground and they grinded and slided really good. That was pretty much my spot, I was there day and night. From there it was getting rides to Tampa, and just skating everything and anything we could find.

Keir: What was the first large city you ever skated in out of Florida?

Pat: Boston and New York were the first two. When I was 18 I bought a one way ticket to Boston to meet my friend, and we drove from Boston all the way back down to Florida hitting all the east coast cities. I just remember being so in awe of the buildings and people. There's just energy 24 hours all day, there's always something going on. I remember just skating through the streets in between cars and realizing we could go anywhere we wanted.

Keir: What was the first skate video you ever saw?

Pat: I had a blank VHS tape with like 4 videos recorded on it. It had a misspelled label that read "Skateing," I got it from my friends older cousin who used to skate. Believe it or not these are the videos on it, and I still remember the order: Virtual Reality, New World Order, Snuff, and 20Shot Sequence. I had that tape and also 4-Wheel Drive and a 411 #16 with the Tampa contest where Penny and Andy Roy were killing it. I remember just watching those videos all day every day. I really liked Rick Howard's part in Virtual Reality, it seemed like he was just having a lot of fun like doing nollie flips in the street in front of cars and the nollie early grab 360 thing at the end of his part. Then I basically just emulated 20 Shot Sequence Gino, Dill, and Keenan and add in a little Reynolds from 4-wheel drive. It's funny that I liked all those dudes just cause they were the first video parts I had ever seen. I would have liked any skate video you put in front of me at the time, but somehow I got lucky and watched some of the best videos first. 

Keir: Who was the first amazing skater you ever saw shred in person? 

Pat: I think going to the Skatepark of Tampa for the first time, I was always skating in Lakeland and there's not a whole lot out there. So in Tampa it was on another level. I remember watching Jeff Lenoce, Chris Williams, Billy Rohan, Ed and Matt Selego, Corey Hainline, Allen Russel this dude Sloane that used to work there was always killing it. I just remember speed was the big difference, these guys were going so fast and grinding farther. I just left thinking, “wow I skate really slow,” after that day I would always take a few extra pushes.

Keir: How did you meet Josh Stewart?

Pat: I would always skate in Tampa with Steve Brandi, I think through him  I met Josh. We became good friends and would just go and play skate all the time. He's super competitive so I let him win a bunch, or I just suck at switch 3 flips. The first trip we went on together was probably Miami. We were at that kinked manual pad, and I was filming Josh cause he was obviously killing it. I was filming long lens rolling, so I would jump on my board roll and look through the viewfinder.  One time I jumped on the board and immediately hit a pebble and literally threw his camera 12-15 feet. By the way this was a brand new VX-1000 he got the week prior! He looked like a combination of seeing a ghost and crying like a baby. He was just laying on his back turning the camera on and off, and taking the battery out at the same time. Magically it turned back on and he filmed all of Static 3 with it, and it's still kicking today. Oh and I can tell you Josh used to be a child actor on a Nickelodeon show called Fifteen.

Keir: How did you meet Ricky Oyola? 

Pat: Josh randomly hit me up one day and told me Ricky had just called him and wanted me to ride for his new company. I didn't even know he had his own company yet or anything. Then days later Ricky just called me and sent me some Traffic boards and from there it turned into me just being on the team.  I still had never met him, and then there was this trip where we were going to drive from Philly to Canada. So he flew me up to Philly, picked me up and took me to his house. I go in and his son Owen is just naked, the only thing covering him up is his toy electric guitar which he's just jamming on. 

Keir: Can you talk a bit about skating in different cities on the east coast, which cities did you like?

Pat: Let's see Philly is just crazy, you'll be driving around and it's a total ghost town just deserted. Then you pull your boards out and skate some porch and all the neighbors come out yelling. It's like seriously you live here?  Then you show up to another spot and you can't skate it cause 4 wheelers are flying around everywhere. Every time I go to D.C. I enjoy it, but never get to spend as much time as I want there. New York is the best by far it's so huge, its endless possibilities every day you could walk down a different street or alley. I also like not being in a car, you're constantly moving. You're on your board at all times. 

Keir: When did you find out you were getting a part in Static 3, what was it like making your part?

Pat: I didn't even know Josh at the time, but I sent footage for Static 2. He then Myspaced me and told me he liked the footage and wanted to know if I was interested in doing a whole part. Working on that part was so fun.  Josh somehow had us staying in a Real World house in London, so that was a highlight. The road trips were good cause everyone was on the same page when it came to spots, and what cities we wanted to skate in. I guess at the premiere there were a lot of technical difficulties. I wouldn't know though cause I was nervous, so I wanted to ease the tension. That turned into basically almost blackout drunk. The next day someone came up to me and was like "What's up with almost half the video playing in black and white" I had no idea what they were talking about, I was so drunk I didn't even notice.

Keir: Where would you like to travel to go skating?

Pat: Anywhere outside of the US pretty much. Berlin, Moscow, Dubai, Paris. I really like skating new spots and seeing new cities. Plus being away from America is always good.

Keir: What’s next for you, what are you working on in skating?

Pat: I'm filming for the next Traffic video, which is going to have full parts from a few of the AM’s. Other than that just trying to travel around and skate new shit on a budget.

Keir: Outside of skating what do you like to do? 

Pat: Chill with my girl, listen to music, sometimes try to play music but that never works out. Other than that riding my bike around, most likely you'll just find me at some bar drinking and playing pool.

Keir: Thanks?  

Pat: Will Campbell, Josh Stewart, Ricky Oyola, Ryan Clements and everyone at the Skatepark of Tampa, all my Locash homies and anyone who's ever sent me free product, or let me sleep on their floor, thanks.