The HU, courtesy. Performance photos and portrait: Adam Pardee/STAFF.

SAN FRANCISCO — Chances are, if you’ve never heard The HU, you’ve never heard anything like their music.

The HU performs at Outside Lands in San Francisco on Oct. 29, 2021. Adam Pardee/STAFF.

The band hails from Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia and celebrates Mongolian culture through its flavor of rock. The HU has named it hunnu rock, after the Hunnu empire that existed from roughly 200 BCE until the mid-400s CE. It combines hard rock and heavy metal with Mongolian throat singing and traditional Mongolian instruments like the tovshuur, a three-stringed guitar; the morin khuur, a two-string bowed instrument; and the tsuur, a type of wind instrument.

All that said, no description can replace hearing The HU, as many did for the first time during its Outside Lands set in October.

“We got so many Twitter mentions, so many people saying, ‘this is my new favorite band’ and stuff,” singer Jaya Galsanjamts told us through a translator after the show. “This is awesome. All we feel is love and support.”

The HU’s profile in the United States is on the rise thanks to festival appearances such as that one, though the reception at Outside Lands stood out in part because of the other bands playing that day.

The HU performs at Outside Lands in San Francisco on Oct. 29, 2021.

“For the last song, we even saw a mosh pit in front of us,” said Gala Tsendbaatar, singer and morin khuur player.

Galsanjamts added, “There’s always a mosh pit when we play rock festivals, but we don’t know what’s going to happen at pop festivals. So when they started the mosh pit it was great.”

Also adding to the band’s U.S. profile since its 2019 debut album, The Gereg, has been collaborations with American artists, notably Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale on “Song of Women,” and an appearance covering “Through the Never” on the tribute album The Metallica Blacklist.

For now, The HU is back in Mongolia, finishing up its second album, which is on track for a release sometime in 2022. But the members aren’t stopping there.

The HU performs at Outside Lands in San Francisco on Oct. 29, 2021.

“Before we started this tour, we recorded our second album, so when we go back we’re going to jump into our third,” tovshuur player Temka Naranbaatar said. “They’re mixing and mastering the second, so we’ll start work on the next one.”

But for now, to all their new fans from their festival appearances or collaborations or just word of mouth, or for their future fans at their upcoming Coachella appearances, they have a message for you.

“To all our new fans, welcome to the HU family,” Tsendbaatar said. “We will never disappoint you. Our music will bring confidence and energy, so let’s have fun together.”

The HU photographed at Outside Lands in San Francisco on Oct. 30, 2021. Adam Pardee/STAFF.

Follow editor Daniel J. Willis at Twitter.com/BayAreaData.