Victoria Purcell of RAMzine interviews Jaya (full name Nyamjantsan Galsanjamts) of Mongolian rock band The Hu at Download Festival. The band is excited to be back after four years and performing on the big stage. Jaya talks about their new track ‘Black Thunder’ featuring Sirj from System Of A Down and DL from Bad Wolves as well as plans to release a deluxe version of Rumble of Thunder soon.
RAMzine: I’m at Download Festival with Jaya (tumur khuur, tsuur, vocals) of The Hu, how are you today?
Jaya: It is always nice to be here and Download festival is one of the main festivals we attended in our first ever world tour. This time we are coming back to the main stage with all these talented artists and feeling amazing.
RAMzine: What was the Download crowd like?
Performing at the main stage of the Download was one of our highlights of the 2023 World Tour. The atmosphere in which we were welcomed was so beautiful, especially the chanting of our name even before we came out on the stage. We were welcomed by the loud chanting and had a nonstop energetic performance during the whole set. Chanting always awakens something in us and the people who were there especially knew how to do it.
RAMzine: Yeah, the atmosphere here today is really great. I have to say your new track ‘Black Thunder’ is incredible. I love it, and it features Serj Tankian from System Of A Down and DL from Bad Wolves…
When we started touring 4 years ago, interviewers would always ask us who our dream collaboration would be and we would always say Metallica, Slipknot and System of A Down. Serj from System of A Down has an amazing signature technique and unique voice which complimented the song so much and the fact that DL sang in English has helped us to elaborate our message more clearly and reach to wider audiences – to those who prefer songs that are sung in English.
RAMzine: I was going to ask about Thunder as your Deluxe album is called Rumble of Thunder. What does thunder symbolise for the band?
Any natural phenomenon can be intimidating and powerful, and in Mongolia, thunder represents the strength that can not be overlooked or overpowered. For The Hu, it means the same thing, we wanted our second album to have the same effect and power as the thunder.
In our perspective, the first album was made to introduce the Hunnu Rock genre to the world and the sophomore album is to reinforce the idea in great force. Calling the album a powerful phenomenon brings in the characterization of power and strength to the idea.
RAMzine: I love your ‘Sad But True’ cover or I like to call it ‘Sad But Hu’. Are there any more plans for future covers?
*Grins and nods in appreciation of the pun*
There is a high chance we do covers of the artists we admire. In the music world, The Hu brings in new type of music but covering the legendary songs from the amazing artists who spent their whole lives perfecting their crafts is not only a tribute to them but also our way of showing support to their legacy.
Of course, it is always fun to interpret world-known songs with our traditional instruments and throat singing. We add in our own little something. I would love to cover for AC/DC and Panthera and surprise everyone with what we can do. I always think that there are so many songs that we can do a cover for.
RAMzine: That sounds great, are you writing new material at the moment?
The first half of our 2023 was spent on focusing on our third album, so far we have worked on several different songs. When we go back home for a month after this European leg, we hope to record and edit what our producer prepared for us.
Speaking of new material, make sure to check out the work we did with the Star Wars Jedi, Galactic Skylanes album features the 4 songs we did for the series and it is streamable everywhere.
Our amazing fans who support and stream our music at all times,I appreciate you all so much and wouldn’t be standing here with your overwhelming support.
RAMzine: And I know that you’re touring the UK at the moment right now. What can fans expect of those shows? And are there any future plans to come back to the UK?
We will always come to the UK, our fans here have much “rock spirit” and always surprise us with their enthusiasm. If you look at our itinerary for this tour specially, we are spending almost a full week here in the UK out of 7 weeks we are touring across Europe. You can safely assume we love our fans here as much as they love us so coming back here always makes us happy at every occasion.
The shows we are doing in the country consist of new songs that will rock your world. Come and have a crazy Mongolian metal night with us! Have to say, it is nothing like you have ever experienced in your life.
RAMzine: Yeah, I mean, Glastonbury is such a big one. That’s probably the biggest festival in Europe. And I know you’re going to be playing on the West Holts Stage where they have all sorts of different genres. But I think you’re going to be really well received. So are you excited for Glastonbury? Is that a big one for you guys?
Definitely agree with you, it is one of the biggest festivals in the world. For The Hu, the tour itself has been very successful so I don’t have a doubt in my mind that we will be well received. After all, Glastonbury is the greatest and oldest festival of Europe so we will be bringing in our “A” game. We have been so excited about all the festivals we have been performing and having rock n roll nights almost every night.
I believe our set of the Glastonbury will be livestreamed and posted on social media channels so make sure to do a shoutout and share your thoughts as usual.
RAMzine: Sounds good! And lastly, if you could share one message with your fans, what would you say in the technical village?
Since we are here today at Download festival, I want to give a shout out to the organisers of the festival and all the festival attendees for creating this crazy cool energy around us. Four years ago when we just started touring, we performed on Dog Tooth stage in one of the mornings and that was the biggest audience we had at the time. I remember there were so many people who chanted our name before coming out onto the stage and that made us panic backstage because we didn’t expect that AT ALL!
Today we felt like that feeling quadrupled and the only difference was we didn’t panic but got inspired and embraced that love even more. Thanks to everyone including you who came to the festival and we feel your love so much on these festival dates!
I love that! Thank you very much for speaking to me today.
Thank you.
 of Mongolian rock band The Hu at Download Festival. The band is excited to be....){kind=link}