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Delay of the Land

Written by Matt Mumau

The local quartet Two Hour Delay has brought their clever reinterpretation of classic styles through the downtown circuit, having recently hit the Bull and Bear Pub, 125 E. Water St., on Nov. 7, as well as the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, 246 W. Willow St., on Nov. 19. They’re not quite a copy of Johnny Cash, a country musician covered in Delay’s set, nor fully in the camp of the jam band style, emulated in the group’s original tunes; instead, the foursome swims inside of a dynamic that subtly defies many of the cliches into which many working, Salt City bands have a tendency to fall.

The band has been developing a set of handcrafted originals and off-the-beaten-path covers since its formation in 2007. The quartet performed two similar sets at the aforementioned venues, but demonstrated that oh-so-important band skill in adapting to the types of patrons in attendance. Bull and Bear’s younger, party-hardy crowd made for a more extrinsically exciting canvas for Two Hour Delay’s experimentation, but the band had little trouble appealing to a midweek after-dinnertime crowd at the Dino.

Tim Burns: Frontman of Two Hour Delay pours out his country soul during a recent Bull and Bear Pub gig.MATT MUMAU PHOTO

The putty that held the band together through both gigs was Bob Gaus, Delay’s Telecaster-strapped lead guitarist. At the Dinosaur, Gaus reached into a bag of stylistic tricks that borrowed from Jerry Garcia’s tonal sprints, especially evident during a cover of “Turn On Your Love Light,” written by Daedric Malone and Joseph Wade Scott in the early 1960s but made famous during the Grateful Dead’s late 1960s freak-outs.

Gaus goes beyond jammy improv, however, by borrowing from the pedal steel styles of contemporary country musicians and more traditional bluegrass ax men. That special ability shined in a rendition of “Folsom Prison Blues,” which the band drops into a barely audible break section that climaxes back into Gaus’ skillful, slip-sliding riff work.

If Gaus provided the glue, the heart of the band came from the original vocals of frontman Tim Burns, who plays acoustic guitar in addition to his lyrical duties. His “Left Brain, Right Brain,” a two-step linguistic spin on the tale of employed-by-day musicians, especially clicks in a chorus that leans more toward Two Hour Delay’s country fixation, but mingles with a more sophisticated harmony than that found in the average twanger.

Other self-made tunes performed during both sets included “Seed” and “Hold Me Close My Love.” The tracks were fermented by just-enough togetherness in the bass lines of Tom Mattern and the energetic, bordering-on-spasmodic kit work of drummer Brian Welch, the latter a major contributor to the band’s bittersweet vocal harmonies.

Didn’t-see-it-coming covers of The Beatles’ “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” and Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff” (made especially interesting with a funky, octaver effect on Gaus’ solos) provided the proper amount of crowd-pleasing obligations toward the Syracuse bar crowd. But rather than simply mark time with radio staples, Two Hour Delay rearranges its cover tunes to fit the character of its original motivations. The process of writing original music and rearranging classic B-sides has resulted in a sonic smelting process that has forged the band’s endearing, signature sound.

You’ll have several chances to check out the band as the winter makes warm, pub interiors feel a bit cozier. Check them out at Stonecutters at Belhurst Castle, Route 145, Geneva, on Saturday, Dec. 6, 7 p.m.; the Syracuse University Sheraton, 801 University Ave., on Friday, Dec. 12, 5 p.m.; a Bull and Bear show on Saturday, Dec. 13, 10 p.m.; and Shifty’s, 1401 Burnet Ave., on Friday, Dec. 19, 9 p.m. Visit the band’s Myspace.com page, www.myspace.com/2hrdelay, for more information, or check the Syracuse New Times’ Club Date listings for future gigs.

—Matt Mumau