Unto Others: Change A Name, Change The Game
In 2020, Gabriel Franco hit an obstacle that very few bands have to face – his gothic rock outfit IDLE HANDS were using a name that had been trademarked back in 2014, thus forcing his hand and a change in name. For a group that had seen their stock rise exponentially over the course of the previous year-and-a-half thanks to the behemothic debut record Mana, this would not be an easy thing to change.
“At first we tried all the IDLE HANDS monikers,” he explains. “There was IDLE HANDS PDX, HIS IDLE HANDS, MY IDLES HANDS, you know? I also tried changing the spelling of it, but nobody was gonna have that. I also have a few wacky ideas like STEREO OPTICON and ONE WINGED ANGEL but I was shot down on both of those and a lot more – A FOOL’S HOPE was another. I went through a whole list of names over the course of about six months; it was a long and arduous process.”
Mercifully though, he finally struck gold with UNTO OTHERS. “When I came up with it, I thought ‘you know, this has the darkness and gothic nature that still applies to our music and I don’t have to change much about what we do to fit the name’. As for the message behind it, it’s a little play on the ‘golden rule’ of ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you, except ours is a little more cynical; it’s ‘do unto others as they would do unto you’. It’s what the modern, capitalistic world is, so it’s definitely more of a vengeful idea.”
Name issues sorted, the next challenge was to write something that came close to following up the success and quality of Mana. Like many others, the COVID-19 pandemic added an extra complication, but perhaps not in the way that other bands found it. “There was a paradoxical pressure on the new album,” reveals Gabe, “because COVID-19 meant I had so much time on my hands that it became a cure. At first it’s a blessing, but pressure actually makes you work, so whilst there was massive pressure on me to make a good album, there was no pressure to do it in any sort of timeframe and that was the shittiest – you’re making an album in the dark with no clear plan of how or when it’s coming out or what you’re gonna do when it’s released, so that was certainly disheartening.”
As discouraging as this was, the end product is sumptuous; given all that UNTO OTHERS had been through, entitling their sophomore record Strength made perfect sense and it’s both the logical and natural step up from Mana. Spearheaded by the brooding When Will God’s Work Be Done, the industrial tinge of Heroin and the raw power of Destiny, it isn’t as immediate as its predecessor, but the payoff is much more rewarding. There was never any new plan going forward to writing it though. “I never make a conscious decision or plan of what I want a record to sound like,” explains Gabriel. “I think that’s a fool’s game because you can only make plans based off what you know. The true magic of music comes when you stumble upon something that you didn’t know you had, and that can only come from sitting back, playing guitar and surprising yourself.”
At the time of recording, UNTO OTHERS had just stepped back on stage at Psycho Las Vegas, their first show for nearly two years and the impact was something that Gabriel hadn’t been expecting. “It was off the hook, man, just so many people singing along and I was blown away by it. I also didn’t realise how cathartic it was until we’d finished; I’d felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I did not think that it would matter as much as it did, but I understood just how much not playing shows had taken bits of my sanity over the last year, so now I need to keep doing it! Also, watching CANNIBAL CORPSE playing as I was swimming out on the beach was awesome too!”
Although UK dates will have to wait a bit longer – the proposed tour opening for BEHEMOTH and ARCH ENEMY was postponed for twelve months – UNTO OTHERS will be looking at taking zero prisoners when they hit the road properly in support of Strength. Considering how brilliant the album is, and how beloved they are as an outfit already, those shows are going to be nothing short of spectacular. How long is it going to be before UNTO OTHERS worm their way into your life and become your new favourite band? Consider the title of the eighth song on Strength as your answer – Just A Matter Of Time.
Strength is out now via Roadrunner Records.
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