Episode 38 of 50 Shades Of Slaids is a little different. On this episode we catch up with The Hu vocalist Temka to talk all things their third album “Hun” (pronounced hoon/khun) which was released Friday July 24 via Better Noise Music.
The record having heard it prior to the interview is simply incredible. It shows an evolution for the band in writing and their approach to song writing. This third chapter of the band steps outside of it’s usual boundaries making it a deep listen. It’s appeal will keep exixting fans very happy and I am certain it will also win them a whole new fan base. This time there is no audio or video as this interview had a translator.
For continuity we took the conversation and went a little old school by transcribing it. So sit back, grab a drink and enjoy the conversation.
Slaids : Welcome to Australia & The Rockpit Temka.
Temka : Thank you so much for having me today, we are very excited to be releasing our third album “Hun”. It has many great songs and we hope our Australian fans and listeners are as excited as we are.
Slaids : What a great record “Hun” is, I have been blessed to be able to hear it ahead of release. “Hun” really is a growth and evolution for the band, the growth from records to record has been great to be a part of. With two singles out already ‘Lost Soul’ and ‘Grey Hun’ it set the expectation and anticipation really high for the rest of the record. It’s been four years since the last album and this one has been a while in the making, what took so long? Was it a matter of simply refining what you had idea wise?
Temka : First of all, many apologies for taking so long. I know that our fans have been waiting for our new album to drop, but nonetheless it is here and it’s going to be released on this Friday , July 24. On our albums, our writing process we tend to just stick by our concept. We figure out a concept on top of coming up with the compositions and lyrics. We try to offer a perspective from our unique way of living and because of that we tend to go over the songs one too many times to perfect it. That has been why it’s taken so long. One of the longest songs on the album ‘The Universe’ which is an eight-minute song. We really tried to shorten it in a way that still captures all the essence we wanted to put in the song. Sometimes it takes a lot of takes to make it correct conceptually, composition wise, lyrically and riff wise. We try to make songs that will last for generations.
Slaids : I’m glad you mentioned ‘The Universe’, the song really does deserve the eight minutes forty-three seconds that it is. It’s an incredibly epic and powerful song that captivated me and brought my imagination to life through the journey of the song.
Temka : Thank you so much. ‘The Universe’ could have been so much longer than that too but we ended up having that ultimate conversation that eight minutes is what we had to aim for. There were a couple of attempts to make it shorter as we wanted to see what the shorter versions would be like, We didn’t like them at all because they didn’t capture the essence of the things we wanted to sing about so we kept it at eight minutes. ‘The Universe’ has three parts to it and that is why it was important to us to include all three parts in the one song.
Slaids : You did a wonderful job on getting that all into eight minutes. I have to say that the songs that immediately grabbed me taking awa the singles were ‘Shadow’ and ‘Horseman’. I love the gritty riff in ‘Shadow’, the groove in that song is amazing. ‘Horseman’ with it’s gallop just captures the essence, message and story of the song. For me they are two of the finest and most instant grab me moments of the record.
Temka : Thank you so much for saying that. I think ‘Shadow’ and ‘Horeman’ are both very unique songs, but ‘Shadow’ is more of a western take, with western riffs and influences through the song. When we played Edfest on July 11 with Iron Maiden we played both of those songs live and the feedback was similar to yours. When we performed them live, especially ‘Shadow’ was absolutely crazy. We followed it with ‘Horseman’ and you nailed it when you said the horse galloping sound and rhythm. We also think that the horse galloping sound has been used for so many different songs we wanted to approach it in a different light where we used the horsehead fiddle and put that galloping sound into it. With the ‘Horseman’ riff and rhythm itself we tried to make it something distinct and different from what you would find generally from different artists. We really tried to put that Mongolian spirit into that song.
Slaids : The latest sing from the album ‘Grey Hun’, what an incredible song. The band has taken on singing in English on it. How did you find adapting a story that would have been told in your natural language into the English language? Is singing in English something that the band is looking to doing more of or is singing in Mongolian still the prime focus for the band?
Temka : Overall we prefer to sing in Mongolian and that’s the preference for us. It is crucial for us to sing in Mongolian not only because of the uniqueness of the language but it is very fitting to sing in Mongolian as it matches the throat singing and it is important for all of us to stay true to our roots. The second part of ‘Grey Hun’ we sang in English because we wanted to understand the message directly instead of going through translation. We wanted people to directly understand what we were singing and the message behind the song. We could sing in English if we wanted to, but we feel it could be such a mess and singing in Mongolian is essential to who we are and pays respect to our Mongolian language.
Slaids : That all makes perfect sense and heritage is essential to what the band has created. I personally though that it was a nice touch and also possibly a challenge for the band as the Mongolian language is rhythmically very different to English.
Temka : Thank you very much for bringing that up.
Slaids : 2026 has been quite a year so far for the band and is shaping up to continue to be massive for the band. Earlier this year the band paired themselves with Apocalyptica for an American tour, one that I would have loved to have seen. What an amazing combination of sounds and energies between the two bands. How was that tour and was that run one of your touring highlights so far?
Temka : I Agree with you completely. Artistically both us and Apocalyptica have similarities in the way both bands play with bowed instruments. When we play the horsehead fiddle and they play the cello it feels like we have this matching energy. We pretty much understand how to play each other’s songs so it felt very personal. On a personal level they were such great people to be touring with and that helps out a lot. We matched really well artistically, the energy was similar but at the same time they are very humble and grounded people. We would love to think that we are the same, you could feel that energy and it made us great partners on tour. The feedback from the fans was fantastic for those shows.
Slaids : On the back of the album you have European and American tours that start in early August and takes the band through to November. While looking at these dates I see that there is nothing scheduled beyond November 1st; does that mean that we might get to see The Hu back in Australia before the end of 2026?
Temka : I can’t say when exactly when we are coming as it is still in the works, but I can tell you were are coming to Australia in 2027. That much you can be sure of. We are planning a tour of Asia and Australia and then after that there will be another run in the US, but most of all the exciting part is that we will be doing a proper tour of Australia. We are really excited to be seeing our Australian fans once again.
Slaids : Temka congratulations to you and the band on the incredible “Hun” album, it’s out Friday July 24 via Better Noise Music. It’s available on CD & Vinyl via your website and of course Better Noise Music. Thank you again for your time Temka and to you Solonda, it’s been an absolute pleasure. I’m sure you will win a whole new legion of fans with the album as well as keep your loyal fanbase happy.
Temka : Thank you so much for your time and interesting questions. See you all in 2027.
