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Detours are an acoustic rock pop trio based in the Saddleworth area near Manchester, in the North West of England, UK. The group was formed at the close of 2001 when Ez Jon Erikson, his brother Sam Johnson, and their friend Julian Flindle got together to plan an acoustic party performance of some songs from Sam and Ju's former group Diversion Ends. As a tip of the hat to their former band, they chose the name Detours (not to be confused with The Detours). The guys enjoyed the gig so much, and received such an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the audience, that they decided to continue to play together. They decided to continue with these songs out of respect to Diversion Ends as they are the songs that brought them together, but from then on any songs added to their repertoire would be their own, or specific cover versions for particular live events. Detours have no particular political theory or ideology, but write from observations of the human condition. Their songs are influenced by life's many experiences, its highs and lows, its joy and challenges. They are songs of situations, analysis, questions, opinions, friendship, hope, unity, fear, successes and failures, love found and lost. Songs that everyone can relate to. They believe that the spirit of rock music is democratic, its pain redeemable, and its joy communal. Since they founded, Detours have performed at small theatres, cafés and bars around the Manchester area, highlights include performances at the prestigious Saddleworth Festival Of Arts 2003, Manchester's Night and Day Café, Ashton's Witchwood, the Rock For Tsunami, Rock For Malawi & Saddleworth Unplugged festivals to name only a few. They have collaborated with the very talented, young singer/songwriter Kristyna Myles on 'The Bells Of St Mary EP' (Kristyna won BBC Radio 5 Live's 2005 Busk Idol and has since gone on to appear on 'Songs Of Praise', UKTV's 'Wogan: Now and Then', and record and tour with multi platinum selling Chris De Burgh), and they have supported Mesh-29 (who enjoyed Top 40 Chart success in Summer 2007). Detours perform as an acoustic act in concert, which captures an urgency and immediacy, comprising of harmonised vocals, acoustic guitars, trumpet, harmonica, and minimal percussion. Their studio recordings bring in fuller arrangements, with the inclusion at times of drums, bass, electric guitars, piano, accordion, keyboards, hammond organ, mandolin, dobro, steel guitar, ukelele, banjulele, balalaika, cello, violin, saxophone, and even washboard and didgeridoo, yet they always remain true to their acoustic roots. To date, with the assistance of their multi-talented producer/session musician/sound engineer Paul Adshead, Detours have recorded four albums together, Debut, No Evil, A Dark Storm, and Sense Of Purpose. They have also recorded two EPs, Snowballed The Christmas EP, and The Bells Of St Mary EP (with Kristyna Myles and Morgan). With solo work to add to this catalogue, this is quite an extensive body of work! All of these recordings are currently available on CD from their concerts and online from Detours Music Store through Paypal, for which an account is not required, and are gradually being released as digital downloads on iTunes and TuneTribe. An independent band, Detours handle all their booking, management and recordings under Detours Music, an independent record label which Ez set up out of frustration with the in-house politics that occurred with record labels that Detours previously negotiated signing with. The band now feel they have their artistic freedom rather than the restrictions that would otherwise be placed on them. In 2006 Julian retired from live performances due to work and personal commitments, although is still involved with Detours in the studio. However, for live performances, Sam and Ez now perform as a duo with occasional special guests to celebrate the music of Detours. Although they are not actively seeking an immediate replacement for Ju, should they meet the right lead guitarist who shares their vision, they will contemplate collaborating with him or her. In January 2007 disaster struck Detours when a van crashed into Sam Johnson's own stationary van as he was loading it. Sam was lucky to survive the accident, but the impact severely damaged the ligaments in his knees, for which he is awaiting surgery, and left him with facial and head injuries and badly bruised vocal chords. He was unable to sing from January until Summer 2007, when he was given the all clear to slowly build his voice back up. As 2007 draws to a close, Detours digital releases continue on iTunes and Tunetribe, a promo video for 'Snowballed' is nearing completion, and Sam and Ez look forward to their comeback concert at Playhouse 2 Theatre supporting Kristyna Myles and The Truetones.
