The HU

“We are trying to create paths for Mongolian artists,” begins Galbadrakh Tsendbaatar – otherwise known as Gala, band leader of The HU. “We’re singing about our culture and we use Mongolian instruments. We’re very proud of those ancient instruments while mixing them into western culture, and proud of the fact that we’re making universal music. We hope to have even more people around the world become interested in Mongolian language and culture, and that’s why we do what we do.”

If you hadn’t already gathered from those words alone, The HU are a fantastically unique force of nature. A musical sensation formed in 2016 in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar, the quartet are the pioneers of the genre Hunnu Rock, with almost 900 million global streams to their name – and counting. 2019’s debut album The Gereg put them on the map: not just in their home country, where they were the first group ever to be awarded the prestigious Chinggis Khaan Order, but even a galaxy far, far away, contributing an original song to the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order soundtrack. Two years later, their name sat alongside the likes of Elton John, St. Vincent and Ghost on the epic tracklist to The Metallica Blacklist record, performing a distinct, formidable cover of ‘Through The Never’ at the personal request of the metal legends. And 2022 follow-up album Rumble Of Thunder took The HU to iconic stages such as England’s Glastonbury Festival, and into North American arenas supporting Iron Maiden. Not bad going for a band whose songs are entirely – and very deliberately – in their native tongue.

“The lyrics are all Mongolian, and that is a really important aspect of band,” smiles Gala – who is also the group’s throat singer and morin khuur (horsehead fiddle) player. “If you learn the language and translate our lyrics, you’ll understand the context even more – the background of why we chose these words. Hopefully we will encourage people to speak more Mongolian and become interested Mongolian culture. It’s a very rich culture and it needs to be represented.”

Already nearly a decade into their remarkable career, the laser-focus of The HU – who were founded by producer Dashka, and are completed by members Jaya (tumur hhuur, tsuur, throat singing), Enkush (morin khuur, throat singing) and Temka (tovshuur, backing vocals) – is clear for all to see. Their captivating first two records made good on the band’s promise of sharing their beautiful heritage, and now, as they gear up for the release of their highly-anticipated third album in 2025, they are using these jaw-dropping experiences as positive fuel to take things even further.

What’s equally as important is how they are backed, whole-heartedly, by a dedicated fanbase who come from all walks of life. Take The HU’s 2019 set at Rock im Park in Nürnberg, Germany, for example, where the band performed now-setlist staples such as ‘Wolf Totem’, ‘Yuve Yuve Yu’ and ‘Black Thunder’. There were 60,000 devotees gathered to witness this phenomenon and sing their hearts out. And it was the very first thing in the morning.

“We didn’t expect anyone to be there,” reflects Gala. “But there were so many people who showed up, and we’ll never forget that. It reminds us how accepted we are, and how people seek unique music that is authentic and truthful. It made us feel like what we do matters, and we have our own voice in terms of representing the culture. We love the art that we’re bringing out, and that’s the image that we always think about.”

Playing gigantic shows such as Rock im Park has been a vital way to spread their message to the masses. But touring has also been an undeniably fun experience, with Gala cheekily owning up to being the main practical joker in The HU, forever entertaining his bandmates and everyone around him. “Mongolians are so fun in that way – we’re very sarcastic and love making jokes,” he grins. “On our bus there are so many instances of doing practical jokes and making fun of each other!” As such, the quartet have forged unbreakable bonds while out on the road. You might even call it love…

“We have been on planes and buses for thousands of miles together,” chuckles Gala. “We all understand that struggle and share that happiness. And you’ll feel that through our third album – you’ll get a sense of this closeness because we know each other; we know the ups and downs of each other’s characters, and we understand and accept it.”

As Gala reveals, it’s fed into new music. Knuckling down to work at their second home of Nature Sound Studio in Ulaanbaatar – a place so familiar and comfortable to The HU at this point that “sometimes we take off our shoes, it’s that level of freedom”, grins Gala – the band have been pushing their limits, describing this latest work as an “enriched” take on Hunnu Rock. Not only sonically, but also on a lyrical level, tackling topics not heard anywhere else in their discography.

“There are several different songs where we sing about someone’s soul and the darkness within it – and the goodness in it, too,” shares Gala. “There is a song about a fatherly figure, which we have never done before. You think about women and moms, but we never verbally spoke about this fatherly figure. While we were making it we were crying and all really feeling it. There were moments we were crying in the studio, but at the same time we feel fierce. We feel sadness and we feel that hollowness sometimes, but we also feel the strength in a human’s heart. Some of our fans say that our songs can transcend into their soul and they feel it – and we feel the same way.”

The ever-loyal followers of The HU won’t be disappointed. Gala praises their fans for being “the best”, but he also stresses the band felt “no pressure” from them going into album three, because the most important thing is and always has been the music.

“We took our time to do this right, and I’m so glad that we’re almost ready to release what we have worked on these past few years,” he says. “Now, we are also focusing on the performances and working out a brand-new setlist. We want to play bigger venues so we can do extensive production, and bring in some amazing elements of our culture, and play these ideas to our fans. And, as well as our third album, we have some amazing ideas for another album already!”

Without getting too ahead of themselves, up first The HU have plotted a busy summer in Europe on their Incarnation tour, with slots at legendary festivals such as France’s Hellfest, Germany’s Graspop Metal Meeting and Denmark’s Roskilde. Beyond that, they hope to return to North America, and “tour around the world” to celebrate a whole new era of the band. Gala can’t help but excitedly look to their future, even predicting that the next 10 years will be “an adventure”.

And, like any grand journey, it’ll take on many different forms. Gala sees a parallel in this idea of “adventure” and the music The HU make, and how he doesn’t want to “put a limit on the versatility of the Hunnu Rock genre – from hip-hop to heavy metal, we have the range to do that”. He’s just as aspirational when it comes to potential collaborators down the line, too. Having previously worked with everyone from System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian and Alice In Chains’ William DuVall to pop-rock singer-songwriter Laura Pergolizzi (aka LP), they’ve learned a lot from the artists they’ve been lucky enough to work with. But perhaps most important of all was their contribution to The Metallica Blacklist in 2021, which further reinforced their dream of wanting to collaborate with Metallica on an original song one day. 

“Metallica are always top of our list,” says Gala. “Their music would work so well with our traditional music, and you can hear that on ‘Through The Never’. I think we would complement them on the already-amazing songs they create, and we hope that in the future our paths will cross again, and we’ll be able to work with them in one shape or form.”

Based on how the first chapter of their story has gone so far, quite literally anything is possible. From Mongolia’s bustling capital city to Mexico, Malaysia and beyond, Hunnu Rock has already seen them take over the world. Now, it’s about cementing The HU’s place in music forever.

“As well as always staying true to ourselves, the most important thing for us is longevity,” concludes Gala. “That has been the case since the beginning of the band. We don’t just want a song that will be in the charts for a week and then drop off. We want to create something that will last for decades.”