The Concise Official Detour History

In the Beginning...
Funnily enough the whole Detour thing started literally by accident. The founder, David "Dizzy" Holmes has been a record collector since the age of about 14. An avid scooter rider by the time he was 17 and the founder member and Number one of the Midhurst Detour Scooter Club. The Scooter Club became one of the biggest in the South of England with over 30 members during it’s hey day. In 1984 his life was to take a massive turnaround. On his way to the last national Scooter Rally of the year in Skegness, torrential driving rain ran freely from the farmers field adjacent to the motorway causing a flood across the road. Being the first in the line on his recently customised Amandos 225, Dizzy was the first to hit the flood, aquaplaned across it and collided with the crash barrier. He left Odstock Hospital 18 months later with a broken back and bound to a wheelchair.

The Mail Order
So what do you do in a situation like that? You don’t just think "Oh I think I’ll start a record company" do you? Dizzy’s actual trade is as a toolmaker, an occupation that obviously he couldn’t return to. Record Collecting became even more of an obsession than it had been previously, buying in records for himself, buying in better grade copies, multiple copies and finally a complete collection that contained a lot of items that were of no use to him at all. One advert in Scootering Magazine sold the majority of them and before long he had a regular customer list of 20 people receiving hand written 2 page lists headed "Records For Sale".

The Label
That first single "Finished Forever/In the Night" now fetches as much as £55.00 plus at auction. In 1992 Dizzy was sent a demo tape by the Margate based, Jam influenced band, The Persuaders. By the end of that year Detour Records was planning it’s first release which hit the streets in January 1993. 300 copies in wrap-around sleeves sold so well that it became clear even at that early stage that there was a potential market for Mod influenced music. Despite the '79 revival and the survival of an underground Mod scene during the Mid-80s there was obviously still a very strong Mod Movement in the early 90s, albit more underground that ever. That first single "Finished Forever/In the Night" now fetches as much as £55.00 plus at auction.

But it all got a little out of hand
By the end of 1993 it became apparent that the work involved in running a Mail Order Company and a record label was a little more than one person could cope with. Voluntary help from mum with post runs and trips to the bank were incredibly helpful but as the business grew so did the amount of paper work. Not being one for paperwork, Dizzy’s Detour Records became the original "paperless office" - his rationale being: Read it, Deal with it, Bin It! Fine until something went wrong and there was nothing to say what happened. It wasn’t until 1993 that the Distribution companies began to take the label seriously so following trips to London to do the tour of the record shops it was a case of relying on a good memory knowing who had what.

And here’s where Tania appears! She’d been a friend of Dizzy’s since 1981 having known him some three years prior to his accident. A Mod/Scooterist also from Midhurst she ran a secretarial business from her home. Initially being taken on as the “hired help” it soon became apparent that the time needed to help Dizzy amounted to more than just the odd few hours typing and if Detour Records was to become a proper success they’d both have to give it everything. Tania gave up her business and became a partner in Detour Records, computer equipment and business knowledge meant that she could take over the day to day running and leave Dizzy to get on with what he was best at - buying and selling records. At this point both Dizzy and Tania were married (to other people) but as a result of the amount of time that the two of them spent together it came as no surprise really that they would eventually get together properly. Dizzy’s wife left him and Tania took her two small children and walked out on her husband. Although not moving in together straight away they bought a place together in August 1995 and in June of ‘96 got engaged.

Sooner or later someone had to take things seriously
Although the Label and the Mail Order Company were doing well, things were becoming confusing. Proper contracts were now being issued to the bands which meant that royalties could also now be paid. This in itself meant complications in the book keeping in that selling wholesale to distribution companies and retail to the public made royalty calculation a little tricky. It was decided that the label would break away and have it’s own set of books, a far cry from the paperless office that Dizzy had originally created. At the beginning of 1995 the Detour label achieved it’s own independence, becoming a Limited Company and making Dizzy and Tania directors! With both companies now being able to support themselves and the extra work created by doing things properly, the Mail Order Company took on it’s first member of staff. Jim Oliver (fondly becoming known as Jimmer), initially worked part time, a couple of hours a day, three days a week.

In 1995 the label released it’s number one best seller of all time - The Clique (of course) with their first (and sadly last) album - The Self Preservation Society, including the infamous “Italian Job” chant, that in 1997 was used on Channel Four’s The Big Breakfast. The album sold over 5,000 copies and at one point led the band to showcase for Bjorks label "One Little Indian". Probably the most exciting and maybe one of the most disappointing moments in the Detour history. The A&R guy was convinced, the showcases went ahead, we all went down the pup on the expense account and the re-release of the album was being discussed, unfortunately OLI ran into financial difficulties, sacking members of staff that included our A&R guy! The resulting disappointment eventuated in the break up of the Clique with their final farewell single due out this year (1998). The Clique’s career was such a promising one, which was why their break up came as such bad news for everyone that knew and loved them including Mark Lamarr who snapped up the chance to have them on "live in session" on Radio one whilst doing a stand in stint for Mark Radcliffe’s evening show and who has written the sleeve notes for the farewell single. Even after more than a year we still get enquiries wanting to know more about the Clique from people who have just discovered them, spin off bands include Knave and Quant, two great new bands that deserve checking out.

1995 also saw the hiring of the mail order’s second member of staff, Fiona Evans joined the team on a part time basis to help with the clerical side of things, freeing Tania up to start another arm to the Detour empire with a publishing company who’s initial aim was to publish all the tracks released on the label, thus earning the Detour bands a little extra and giving the promotional side of the label a little extra incentive. The Publishing company was aptly named Tandiz Music, (Tan(ia) and Diz(zy)) and later went onto to publish obscure tracks for release on various compilation albums which in some cases earned songwriters their first royalty in almost twenty years.

At the beginning of 1996 Jim and Fiona were given full time jobs and Detour Records created it’s first payroll. The Mod scene kicked off big time in Japan with the majority of the early catalogue being licenced for two Japanese only CD releases. Unfortunately during this year things got a little too good and both the mail order and the label had to register for VAT, a nightmare that bestowed itself on Tania, however, the introduction of a credit card facility did enable the turnover to increase and following the arrival of an Internet site (three cheers for Lisa), both the Mail Order Company and the Label were able to reach a whole new market of people and for the first time really break America.

By the end of 1996 we were saying goodbye to Fiona who left us for pastures new, however, that paved the way for Chris Sheppherd, who joined us at the beginning of 1997. Chris was able to take on a little more responsibility than Fiona had done although by the end of 1997 it was to turn out that Chris wasn’t cut out for the job after all. The Bin Liner label was launched mid-way through the year doing for Punk Rock what Detour had achieved for Mod and by September both labels had outgrown their UK distribution company, handing the reins over to Plastic Head Music in Oxon as the exclusive UK distributor. Dizzy’s mum still does the post run and the banking, still on a voluntary basis and with Aimee Dadswell joining the team in January of this year we are back at full strength.

Our two bulldogs, Amber and Doza have become our in-house mascots hoping that the luck they’ll bring us in 1998 will bring about a good year for the Detour Crew. With it being five years this year since Detour Records released it’s first ever single it’s nice to be able to look back over that time as see how things have grown from one man's hobby to the successful business we have here today.

Happy Birthday Detour Records: Celebrating Five Years of the Detour Label (1993 - 1998)
Detour Records is now run from an office in Dizzy and Tania’s house where they live with the bulldogs and Tania’s two children Katie (9) and Jason (8). With records stored in every room including Kitchen cupboards and the kids wardrobes, a specially built storeroom has been erected into the loft space to help give them enough room to actually live. Dizzy’s private collection still grows steadily and his wants list can be obtained should anyone feel they can help find those last remaining rarities.