Music INSIGHT
BEYOND B
ELIEF:
OUN COUNTY’S
IS CALH
IDDEN ROCK GEM
H
by Benjamin Nunnally
I
t’s only after From Outside Beyond brings their song Disaster Area to a crushing finish that they reveal
it’s a reference to a band in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the Douglas Adams book series about a
motley crew of misfits traveling the galaxy. In the book, a band called Disaster Area is one of the most
successful bands in the universe — and the loudest. When they play, fans listen from specialized bunkers
about 37 miles away from the stage, where “the sound balance is best.” The band members play their
instruments remotely from a spaceship, usually a planet or two away from the show.
“We were reading the book at the same time,” says
guitarist and singer Dave Bates, speaking of himself
and bassist Jared Wesley Warren. “We started discussing what those guys would sound like.”
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The resulting instrumental, featuring Bates’ heavy
riffing, drummer John Ford’s pounding percussion
and Warren’s virtuosic, finger-picked bass, is dangerously loud and high-energy, sounding at times
reminiscent of Rush, King Crimson and Dream The-
February 2014
INSIGHT