The original Gary Shane and the Detour, a hit band of the 1980s, performs together for the first time in two decades this week. From left: Colin Bodge, bass; Gary Shane, guitar; Carl Bergman, drums and Ron 'Ronno' Erickson, guitar. (Courtesy photo)

Forever on their way ... again
By J. C. Lockwood
Friday, October 21, 2005

http://www.townonline.com/lynnfield/artsLifestyle/view.bg?articleid=352536

It's time to update the biography of Gary Shane and the Detour as the 1980s power pop band steps into the spotlight again in a full-fledged reunion - the first time the quartet has together in public in more than two decades.

     The band, fronted by Ipswich rocker Gary Shane, enjoyed considerable success back in the days of skinny ties and the so-called new wave with hits, "Deadline," "Forever on Your Way," "Can't Unwind" and others. Their single "Johnny's Coaltrain," an homage to the saxophone colossus, was a monster hit for local stations WBCN and WAAF and still holds the record for repeated airplay by a local band.

     Then, at the height of their success, the band split up. The reason for the break is still a source of contention, and an issue the musicians prefer to sidestep for now.

     There was an attempt to rekindle the magic - a 1991 recording session at Sunridge Studios in Hampton Falls, N.H., where the band recorded 10 tunes. Only one - "This Love Will Never Die" - ever saw the light of day. "This Love" eventually made it onto Shane's "In Perspective" collection three years later.

      The Detour project stalled until last year, when Shane, a stalwart of the local music scene for years, and original Detour drummer Carl Bergman, revived the band bringing in a new guitarist and bassist. Original members Ron "Ronno" Erickson and Colin Bodge lived in Los Angeles and were not involved with the "new" Detour, which recorded an album and performed a score of gigs before being set aside.

     But now the band, forever on its way to a reunion that never seemed to materialize, is back "in a big bay way," thanks to a series of events nobody had planned for.

     The reunion was prompted by a conversation between Erickson and Shane during the summer, after Dave Gee, former manager of the late, great Bunratty's laid-out his plans for an uber-reunion of scenesters from back in the day: a day-long concert honoring all those that made the Allston club one of the cornerstones of the Boston rock scene for many years.

"We thought it would be a perfect opportunity to re-connect with the Boston rock community again," said Erickson .

      Making the tentative reunion even more tantalizing for Erickson and Bodge, the left coast contingent to the band, was producer/musician David Minehan, late of the band The Neighborhoods and owner of the premier Boston recording complex, Woolly Mammoth Studios, contacted the Detour offering his services as producer of the reunited band. His offer closed the deal and the wheels to reunite the original Detour were put in motion.

      "This will be the first time the original members have gigged as the Detour since that time," says Shane. "We're all very excited at the prospect."

        The band will be at Wooley Mammoth studios with David Minehan, on Nov. 3 and 4. Shane and Erickson have been collaborating electronically, sharing files over the Internet, and have found the musical backbone an album of new tunes.

     They will perform at Collins Club in Peabody on Nov. 5 and do a live shot WMWM, the Salem State College radio station, at 11 a.m. the next day. Then the band will do the Bunrattys reunion, playing a short set as part of the benefit for the Jimmy Fund and the Able Harris foundation

     Could it be the start of something a little more substantial?
     Possibly.

     "Over the years we've always planned on this day coming," says Shane, "but, for whatever reason, it never came. Hope we can keep it going, but it's hard to say. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens."