22 Jan 2021

"The Cat's Out The Bag" - Premium In San Jose

A New Dawn for Premium

Photos by Kevin Connors / Words by Joey Cobbs

Where to even start with all this? For those of you that know about Premium and what it once was, you know about the days of Josh Harrington, Garrett Reynolds and JJ Palmere… For those of you that don’t know….well just know this, Premium’s team shook the streets when they came to town. And while Premium always stayed in the game and had amazing riders on their team, their prominence in the sport faded and they became a brand that existed, but that was about it for a while.

And then along came 2020, a complete blindside to the globe. And for the months that we were on communal we looked inward on Premium and focused in on where we want to be and what we want to do in BMX. And as a result, we zeroed in on where we came from and how most of us started riding freestyle, in the streets. And so, we got with the team guys and talked about adding a couple new faces to the team, putting out heads together on some team projects and started working on a new product line designed by street riders for street riders.

Mike’s trick selection is one that’s still amazes me. Pegs to over tuck in honor of the familiar grey skies.

"We looked inward on Premium and focused in on where we want to be and what we want to do in BMX." - Joey Cobbs

In November of 2020 we added Colin Varanyak through the release of his highly talked about bus stop ad. And in aiming to keep the hype high, we wanted to do something equally exciting in December to announce the next two riders to the team. Seeing as we had a new squad developing and we hadn’t been on a team trip in over three years, it only seemed logical to pack up the crew and hit the road. And due to the sketch travel conditions at the moment we literally kept it to the streets and found somewhere within driving distance of San Diego that also had some untapped street gems … so San Jose here we come!

After losing a battle at the same spot, Colin was quick to turn the energy back up and snag this pegs to whip just in time for the night to set in.

At this point the cat is out of the bag, and so we can proudly say that Markell Jones and Matt Closson are now part of the Premium Family. Some of the guys had been on trips together, but the group as a whole had never even ridden together let alone traveled, ate, slept, AND THEN rode together… finding good spots was honestly the least of our worries, did we even like each other?

Markell, kicking it smooth and clean as always.

This infamous San Jose spot, seemed to be a bust every time we tried, with the last day feeling right and the sun out. Closson, Colin and Chad all managed to get a piece of San Jose history.

"In the end the crew laid down 6+ minutes of next level street riding to announce our new team to BMX." - Joey Cobbs

And that is what is so fucking badass about BMX. We didn’t just add Colin, Markell and Matt to the team without talking to them first, talking to their homies, and seeing if we were all about the same shit or not. We did all that, and so did they, we want to put something together with Premium that we can all be proud of and hyped on. And so when it all seemed to line up right, we celebrated by heading out on a filming trip. And because these guys were all vouched for by the best riders in BMX and some of the best people on earth, we got along as if we had known each other for years and been on a dozen trips before. Safe to say we will be on a dozen more, this crew is tight. In addition to Colin, Matt and Markell, we had Premium alums, Chad Kerley, Mike Gray and Blake Peters roll with and round out the crew.

Colin ensuring the trip was wrapped up right, with a proper back pegs to full cab to end the last day.

Chad seemed to go from total chill mode to "the suns out lets get it" with this 180 bar.

Classic Chad Kerley setup, handled like a professional.

Blake unfortunately got hurt part way through the trip but still was able to stack a few before getting injured. The rest of the crew just went nuts for the four days we were in San Jose and the level of riding just seemed to build upon itself each day of the trip. A four-day trip ended almost as soon as it started, and in the end the crew laid down 6+ minutes of next level street riding to announce our new team to BMX and start things off with a few bangers from San Jose.