No band on the planet is quite like The HU!
They are a band from Mongolia that blends heavy metal and traditional Mongolian throat singing. Their first two videos (“Yuve Yuve Yu” and “Wolf Totem”) immediately went viral, garnering the band over 18 million views. Their unique approach to music has garnered them fans all over the world and currently sees them touring across America, opening for metal legends Megadeth and Five Finger Death Punch.
This month saw the release of The HU’s new album, Rumble of Thunder, featuring the singles, This is Mongol & Black Thunder.
The band’s name, The HU, is the Mongolian root word for human being. They call their style “Hunnu Rock,” inspired by the Hunnu, an ancient Mongolian empire known as The Huns in western culture. Some of the band’s lyrics include old Mongolian war cries and poetry.
Founded in 2016 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, by their producer Dashka, along with the members Gala, Jaya, Temka, and Enkush. The HU combines Rock Music with traditional Mongolian instrumentation like the Morin Khuur (horsehead fiddle), Tovshuur (Mongolian guitar), Tumur Khuur (jaw harp), guttural throating singing and the bombastic bass and drums of rock. All four members have earned Bachelor’s or higher degrees in music and have several years of touring experience throughout Asia and the Pacific Rim.
Montreal Rocks caught up with frontman Gala over Zoom from his tour bus to talk about the tour and the new record.
How’s the tour with my Five Finger Death Punch and Megadeth going so far?
It’s been great so far, and you know, doing this great tour with legendary bands, it’s been amazing. Cool. The reaction from the audience has just been amazing, and we’re just so grateful for it.
Things seem to be going so well for The HU. When you first started, what were the expectations for this band?
So our band started six years ago, and everything started with our producer Dashka. So basically, he’s the guy who created this rock genre. He worked really hard on it, you know, like how to mix Western music to our traditional music, how to create total new tones. And for all this, we knew that we will be successful. So like, we are really thankful for him.
So what kind of music were you listening to when you were growing up in Mongolia?
So our band member Temka and I, we used to be classmates back in the day. So we started from like, traditional music and classic music because that was our major. And basically like we used to listen to all kinds of genres and specifically we used to like rock music and metal.
You’ve done so well that in 2019 you met the president of Mongolia. That must be a bit of a wild ride.
So yeah, we received the award of the Order of Genghis Khan, the highest that you can get as an artist. And we were so honoured at the time. Cause like, you know, all of the hard work we did so far, recognition from our president and the whole of Mongolia, they all support us, and we are so honoured and so thankful.
I know obviously Mongolian music is very important and is a big part of your sound. Tell me a little bit about the instruments that you use that are traditional Mongolian instruments.
So our traditional music is really unique because it has a totally new tone, which is kind of like similar to the modern guitar tones. So that’s why it’s really easy to find the harmony with our music. And so we play our traditional music such as the fiddle and also a guitar that’s called a Tovshuur and the Tumur Khuur and last we use our throat singing.
So if somebody had never seen The HU live in concert yet, what can they expect when they see you guys live?
So, of course, to our fans, we try to give them this energy and also this power. Everyone has their own soul and mind and their own perspective on the world. So we try to give them this message that empowers them, you know, to help them if they’re going through hard times. So basically, we try to awaken their inner warrior so they can deal with their difficulties and bad life things. They’re really important to us.
“Rumble of Thunder” is out now via Better Noise Music.
