One Minute Shy started as two brothers from Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Craig and Scott Laffin created a project band named after one of their instrumental compositions, to show their original music as they wrote and recorded it. Not wanting to always be an instrumental band though, they kept their eyes out for a singer and in May of 2016 they found him in powerhouse vocalist Leo Flint. They also brought on board their long time friend and previous band member, Dwayne Benoit, to play rhythm guitar.
How the guys discovered Leo is a really cool story. Fate came knocking on One Minute Shy's door when Craig and Leo seemingly met at random at the gym one day and struck up a conversation about guitar and music. This conversation quickly revealed that One Minute Shy were looking for a vocalist and Leo was a vocalist looking for a band. From the very first meeting and jam together, they realized that Leo would be a great fit.
Over the summer of 2016, the guys set out to record some songs and in September of the same year, they released their first three song EP called Steal The Pain. It was well received and this motivated the band to write and record their first full length album and for the next year and a half they worked hard putting it all together. Everything involved with the whole process from writing, recording, and producing, to artwork and promotion, to the final release of the album in January 2018, was done by One Minute Shy.
One Minute Shy's self-titled debut album has been well received and played all over the world and has also received numerous rave reviews. This motivated the band to start rehearsing for live shows so they could bring their music to more people. Performing live is what One Minute Shy love to do so they set out looking for a 5th member to play bass. They wanted a full time member for recording and for live shows, and they found him in Sam Davies.
Sam lived in the same area as Scott and Craig when they were in high school and at the time, he was in another metal band called Bloodshot. The brothers always thought Sam was a great bass player and had great stage presence. They thought it would be really cool to find someone like that to play bass. Fast forward about 25 years later and Scott and Craig, now having moved away from their hometown, discover that Sam was once again living in the same area of Southern Ontario as them. Not really knowing him all that well, Craig decided to reach out over Facebook to see how he was doing in life, if he still played music, and if he would be interested in coming out for an audition.
After Sam finally remembered who Craig was, he told him that he hadn't been playing very much but music was something that was missing in his life. He came out to meet the brothers and they jammed on some tunes and again it was another great fit. Sam accepted the full time bass position shortly after and has been a valued member since.
After the release of the album in January 2018, the band spent the next six months rehearsing, and then at the end of July of that year, Leo unfortunately couldn’t continue with the band and he left to pursue other interests. So One Minute Shy were now without a front man and the live shows had to be delayed until they could find a replacement.
For the next couple of months they held a few auditions and met some great local musicians, but they weren’t quite the right fit. Discussing this, Scott and Craig both had the thought that maybe their previous vocalist, Josh Cornelius, would be interested in joining again.
15 years before One Minute Shy came about, Scott, Craig, and Dwayne were in another band with Josh who sang and played guitar. That band ended for various reasons and the guys moved on to other things for a while. They kept in touch with Josh here and there over the years on social media but their relationship had largely grown distant. So Craig once again reached out on Facebook with a very similar message to Josh as he did to Sam. Luckily, Josh was interested in coming out to try some vocals and when he came to the first rehearsal, it felt like no time had passed. He once again fit very well with the guys and he officially joined shortly after, bringing with him his signature growl and powerful vocals.
One Minute Shy’s music is a throwback to classic thrash metal with their own modern twist to it. Their songs are full of energetic and catchy riffs mixed with a lot of melody. They make you want to throw your fist in the air and bang your head.
At the onset of 2019, One Minute Shy have a complete line up again and have been forging ahead strongly with live shows and writing and recording new music.
