INTERVIEW: The Hu trailblazes through the global metal scene
Photo: The Hu’s new digital EP is Echos of Thunder. Photo courtesy of Hiroshi / Provided by SRO PR with permission.
There are many positive developments on the modern metal scene these past few years. New bands are gaining dedicated followings and selling out theaters, ballrooms and even arenas. One of the best success stories from the past decade is The Hu, a Mongolian metal band that fuses traditional sounds, heavy throat singing, ancestral instruments and ear-splitting riffs to create a wholly original display of sonic power.
The band consists of four core members who often go by single names: Gala, Enkush, Jaya and Temka. Recently Jaya, who plays the jaw harp and tsuur (a Mongolian flute), spoke with Hollywood Soapbox while the band was touring Europe. The topic of conversation was the new digital EP Echos of Thunder, which features “unreleased feature” versions of songs from The Hu’s Rumble of Thunder album. On the recording is “This Is Mongol (Warrior Souls),” featuring William DuVall and Trevor McNevan. The new version of this beloved song is called the “Teerawk Remix.” Other tunes include “Triangle” featuring ROME and “Bii Biyelgee” featuring Tyler Glenn of Neon Trees. The EP throws in the original takes on these songs as well.
“It’s not so much looking back,” Jaya said in a recent Zoom interview. “We just almost released the second album barely, so it’s not old yet. It’s more of us trying to deliver a new image, a new look for these songs to a different audience. It’s kind of like we’re trying to have a different audience listen to these songs, so that’s essentially what we did. We made the songs with these artists.”
Jaya said that “This Is Mongol (Warrior Souls)” is one of his favorite songs on Rumble of Thunder and now Echos of Thunder. He said the tune is the epitome of the Mongolian metal style that the band is trying to create.
“We overall love the song ourselves,” Jaya said via a translator. “The philosophy behind the song is obviously to declare the Mongols are here, so diplomatically our ancestors have a history in this world. In the modern world, we wanted to diplomatically show to the world that Mongols are here. That’s why the song is called ‘This Is Mongol.’ It’s a very upbeat, very nice song, and after the release of the first album, we wanted to come up with the idea of how do we say that The Hu is coming, and then we will be here. We wanted to show that. It started as a very different song when we first started recording and then eventually evolved into a basically simple and very direct song.”
Jaya added: “We are here to stay, and we will be here to show you a good time. That’s the philosophy behind it, and that’s why we have a very different version with the western artists like Willy DuVall and eventually Trevor McNevan. I hope you enjoy these new versions as much as I do. Our producer also loves this song as well.”
Jaya said that The Hu is essentially a band that acts as a cultural ambassador for the music of Mongolia, but at the same time, they are most interested in creating “good music.” If the crowd at a live show is not enjoying themselves, there’s a problem, so The Hu are all about having a fun time and banging some heads.
“Through that music, we want to share our history,” he said. “Through that music, we want to share our culture. I think we have a philosophy that the traditional music is much needed, and these instruments were given [to us] from our ancestors. They are very much needed in our music industry. That’s why we bring our music instruments and mix them with the western instruments. Then we also want to share the legacy of our ancestors.”
Jaya, who also throat sings for the band, said that Mongolians have a different perspective on life, and he wants the world to learn about this perspective.
“People seem to love it because at our shows, without understanding the language in that exact time, they seem to all know in their souls what we are singing about,” he said. “That’s the beauty of our ancestral music and the beauty of our language. It just shows how accepting the western music community is, and they are open to this new music genre. So we’re very happy about that overall, and, yeah, we are also cultural ambassadors, too.”
The Hu is currently taking a break from touring the world, but there’s no doubt that the band will be back soon. They are in demand and making waves on the metal scene. For example, they opened for the legendary Iron Maiden on a U.S. tour last year, so who knows what might be next.
“It’s all good,” Jaya said. “We love it. We love the demand. We’ve been working since we were teenagers, but most importantly with The Hu band and Hu music, we’ve been working nonstop since 2016. It’s been almost a decade of this life. … We all have families. We have kids. They are very much supportive, but most time when we’re on a tour or a recording session, we see them less and less. But most of the time they are very, very supportive. They understand the vision that we have, and they know that we are making history by coming from Mongolia and into the western music scene. They understand the demand, but sometimes it can be challenging at times when there’s a new childbirth and so on and so forth. Our families have been very much supportive, but we’re true to what we do. We very much see ourselves as trailblazers, and we will continue doing so.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Hu’s new digital EP is called Echos of Thunder. Click here for more information.
