Short On Time (BE)

Stéphane Demonty

Based near Liège in Belgium, Short On Time has been active in the music scene for almost 5 years despite many line-up changes. Although it doesn’t seem that much, the band has come a long way since their first shows in 2005 until their actual line up in 2010.

The band started in fall 2004 with Steph (bass, vocals), Steven (drums), Oli (guitar). They immediately started writing and working hard and played their first shows in their hometown and different places in Belgium. Around 2006, Steph took the guitar and his longtime friend, Bruno aka "Burns", joined the band to play bass.

Short On Time continued playing and rehearsing under this 4 people line-up for a while. They played a lot of gigs, festivals and they shared the stage with several famous bands. During this period, they wrote most of the songs of their EP "Whisperings From Outer Space" that was recorded in April 2007. At that time, Burns had to leave the band for job reasons but helped the band recording the vocal parts on the CD.

Short On Time kept rehearsing and playing shows with temporary bassists. Their friend Phil joined the family as a new fulltime singer. It’s under that line-up that SOT had the opportunity to release their EP through the Japanese/European label Bells On Records and had the chance to play in different countries such as Japan, England, Belgium, Germany…

Although they never stopped writing and working, summer 2008 was the very beginning of a new chapter in the band’s history. As they came back from their successful Japan and Euro tours and while their musical and human influences kept changing, the band members started to feel like they truly wanted to make a step further and do something different. Something that was actually in their head for a while. A whole new journey was about to begin, probably the most decisive and active period the band had never been through since their beginning, not only in a musical way but also in a human way. Short On Time parted ways with Phil in January 2009 and saw the come back of their original singer Burns. In a few months they wrote the songs that were going to make their first full length album. Between two recording sessions, they also had the chance to tour Japan for the second time after their first trip in Asia in summer 2008. In January 2010, after long months of work and decisions, the album is finally completed and Short On Time is back, motivated as never before and with a brand new line-up, introducing bass player Samuel Volan and vocalist Julie Carpino as a second singer.

"Sanctuary" is a concept album that features 11 new tracks divided in 3 chapters. It can be considered as the accomplishment of five years of dedication to a common passion and it is probably what reflects the most what the band really is today if we had to define what Short On Time is and is about.

Thanks to our Benelux distributor, Musifacts, both band guitarists became Official Mayones Endorsers ordering three customized Regius guitars. The instruments for Stéphane are Regius 6 PRO and Regius 7 PRO. The six string version was build with an amazing Eye Poplar top on Mahogany body, DiMarzio Evolution pickups, Schaller Floyd Rose bridge, custom inlay around 12th fret of the Ebony fretboard and Ashaam inscription in the truss rod cover.

A slap in the face! That’s the less that I can say about this wonderful instrument. I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed at all, but this goes way beyond everything I could have imagined.

The lute-making is just spotless. The different specs and details I asked for this custom model match perfectly overall. I decided to go with Dimarzios DP 158 and DP 159 pickups which have already made a name for themselves. I used to play with these ones for years. And I must admit that they sound even huger in the Regius, mainly ‘cause of the entire construction and the chosen woods. This guitar has everything a guitarist can expect. It’s versatile as hell, you can play any music style with it. The sound is warm but still incredibly tight, you can easily get screaming harmonics and the sustain is awesome due to the “neck-thru -body” construction. The ebony fretboard makes your playing even more comfortable and faster and the Schaller tremolo allows you dive-bombing and other crazy stuffs without going out of tune. It is insanely stable. And I could go on like that for a while…

The seven string monster features a stunning Spalted Maple top, Mahogany body, Original Floyd Rose 7 bridge, DiMarzio Blaze 7 pickups and Gaia inscription in the truss rod cover.

This piece of Art could easily stand to be called “ Instrument of the Gods”. It’s even one step further than the 6 strings version for one very obvious reason.

First of all, the top wood I had the chance to choose on this custom version is the most original and beautiful I’ve ever seen. But this is just a personal opinion.

The Regius Pro 7M has all the qualities of her little sister, the Regius Pro 6M… and a little bit more. Here, you can also expect : perfect versatily, warmth, precision, screaming harmonics, unbreakable Floyd Rose tremolo, comfortable and fast ebony fretboard…

The 7th string allows you an extended range of things without getting muddy at all. And that’s a big advantage the Mayones Regius Pro 7 has on many other 7 strings guitars. Of course, it depends of the choice of pickups, but the risk of being disappointed in this case is, honnestly, close to absolute zero. This baby can easily handle both fast soloing and clean chords, because individual notes don’t smear together with heavy overdrive, and clean sounds are as pure as crystal.

On this version, I chose Dimarzios DP 700 and DP 702 pickups in which ones the mids are scooped out and both treble and bass are boosted. The hot bass response gives the 7th string a lot of impact, while opening up the midrange keeps it from getting muddy. But as I said it earlier in other terms, you don’t run any risk with Mayones… even with another choice of pickups!! The best way to define this monster in short terms could be : “Expanded guit’ for expanded minds”.

It didn't take long until Stéphane came to decision that two Mayo's are not enugh and bacame the very first offcial user of an eight string Regius model with Kahler Tremolo bridge. This baritone instrument sports standard Regius wood selection with Flamed Maple top in Transparent Dirty Purple Matt finish, two Lundgren M8 humbuckers and Gold hardware.

"The Next Gen just landed…Welcome to the Extended-Range Era! One step further, one step deeper, even stronger… Don’t bother to hide, you won’t avoid the shock wave." - Steph shouted out loud when his new baby arrived. It's just a small excerpt from a long and elaborate review he wrote. If you wish to read it all simply click here.