February 2020, Mongolian rock band The HU, embarked on a tour starting in the UK, that then took them to Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia. Halfway through their tour in Australia The HU find themselves having to cancel their remaining dates due to government crowd restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The band, as well as thousands of Brit’s are currently stuck in Australia, not being able to leave due to grounded airlines and border closures. Jaya recently told Billboard that the band were visiting “a friend with a nice studio”. He continued to tell Billboard “We’re recording a lot so we can use the time wisely.”
Last month RAMzine caught up with Temka and Enkush before their set at The Chaulk in Brighton (UK). They told us “We feel amazing and we’re so happy to be here, it’s our second time in the UK”. The first time that the majority of UK fans got to see the band live was at last year’s Download Festival. Enkush told us “We grew up hearing about Download Festival and we always dreamed of going there and seeing the bands who are playing there. When we got there and performed for ourselves it was an amazing experience. There are so many great bands, the energy, the fiery energy is just unforgettable!”. The HU were due to play Download Australia in March, but the festival along with the UK’s Download Festival will not be going ahead this year due to COVID-19. The UK’s Download Festival will now be taking place between 4th – 6th June 2021.
The HU have risen to fame over the past year with their unique sound of Mongolian Rock or as they call it “Hunno Rock”. Temka clarified “There are so many bands and artists practicing so many genres of music, for us we came up with a new style, we wanted to bring something new to this music world.” Still, Enkush told us that his favourite bands growing up were “Metallica, Pantera, Lamb Of God and SlipKnot.” Temka jumped in to say “All of us have so many different interests in music, like some of us are more into guitar music, rock and personally I have always loved British Rock. When getting here the thing that most amazed me was the audiences, how the crowd reacts to good music, it’s amazing.”
HU means is a word for ‘Human’ in Mongolian, the band are all about being in touch with human nature and bringing out people’s inner warrior, Enkush told us “Through our music, we want to inspire all the people and there is a message, loving and protecting this earth, nature, and also we want to wake inner warriors for everybody. So that you get strong and able to face and overcome your obstacles, problems and whatever you’re facing in this life.”
The HU are one of the most genuine bands around and the message that they share is pure of heart. The term ‘rock and roll’ in relation to behaviour seemed lost on them however Tempka did tell us their craziest memory to date saying “We just had our North American tour and we’ve been to so many places and seen so many things, but some things do stick out as ‘crazy’ – we were in Las Vegas we went to this 51 story building and did a zip line, that was a crazy experience for us!”
We ended the interview asking Tempka and Enkush about what the hardest thing is that they’ve ever had to face as a band. They told us “There are always things that we have to face, nothing is easy, for example when we were working on our first album, recording songs, like it’s a process it’s hard and there were times when we had to record one song multiple times, and also when we are on the tour, there’s eight guys spending months together, and being as one family and understanding each other and being one band is something that we have worked on and we’re doing really good.”
At the time of publishing The HU remain to be stuck in Australia, however, they have been keeping busy. Recently they went live on Instagram with Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach. We hope that they are able to return home to Mongolia with their families soon.
The HU have been nominated for the Best International Breakthrough Band at the Heavy Music Awards 2020. Read here about the new nominations deadline.
