The HU + Blind Channel & Nerv at The Van Buren

In 2019, an NPR story put a spotlight on “a band from Mongolia that blends the screaming guitars of heavy metal and traditional Mongolian guttural singing,” accurately highlighting the cultural importance & unique musical identity of The HU. Founded in 2016 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, The HU blend traditional Mongolian instrumentation & throat singing with Western rock in what they call “Hunnu Rock.” Their debut album, 2019 ‘s The Gereg, debuted at #1 on the World Album and Top New Artist Charts while receiving critical acclaim from the likes of Billboard, GQ, The Guardian, The Independent, Revolver, & Sir Elton John. It saw the band receive Mongolia’s highest state award, The Order of Genghis Khan, by the President of Mongolia. A deluxe version included collaborations with Jacoby Shaddix (Papa Roach) and Lzzy Hale (Halestorm) & caught the attention of Metallica who enlisted them to cover “Through The Never” for their 2021 Metallica Blacklist album. THE HU were also featured performing an original song for EA Games’ Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Their second album, Rumble Of Thunder, was released in 2022 following sold-out tours across the world in North America, Europe, Asia, & Australia including festival appearances at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Download Festival and more. In November 2022, The HU became the first-ever rock/metal band to receive the prestigious UNESCO “Artist of Peace” Designation. A deluxe version of RUMBLE OF THUNDER is due in 2023 via Better Noise Music.

Darkness which envelopes Finland is what fuels Blind Channel. The veritable coal to their roaring furnace of ambition, embracing it is the DNA that runs throughout their music. Balancing their tenacity with sincerity, “It’s this feeling of never being enough is what drives us forward right now,” vocalist Niko Vilhelm says.

When forming back in 2013 in the city of Oulu, way up in the North of Finland, vocalists Niko and Joel Hokka, drummer Tommi Lalli, guitarist Joonas Porko and bass player Olli Matela, plus the later addition of DJ/Percussionist Aleksi Kaunisvesi – knew that it was all about going big or going home. When they were told to sing in their native tongue, they refused. It was simply never an option. The doors that closed only made them want to grab an axe to break through, The Shining style, to properly make themselves known. This is exactly what they did when they found their way onto the largest stage in Europe: Eurovision, after competing in the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), Finland’s annual contest to discover their entry. Winning the spot, by the largest landslide the competition has seen, Blind Channel captured and enamoured the continent with the fiery nu-metal charge of ‘Dark Side’.

Be warned however, Eurovision isn’t the crux of Blind Channel’s story. This stepping stone that saw them take to that hallowed stage, was just that, a gambit towards the bigger picture.

MANAGEMENT Backbone Management antti (at) backbonemanagement (dot) fi

We are Nerv, a 4-piece genre-bending rock band residing in California. The band’s members are originally from all over the US with vocalist Dillon Jones (Sacramento, CA), guitarists Jordan Grokett and Scott Buchanan (Dallas, TX) and drummer Tyler Clark (Atlanta, GA). Nerv burst onto the scene in November 2017 with their heavy hitting debut single ‘Enough’. Then in Spring 2018 the band released their highly successful debut EP ‘Bad Habits’, working with producer Erik Ron (I Prevail, Godsmack, Hollywood Undead). In October of 2022, Nerv released their long-awaited debut full length album, ‘We’re All Patients Here’.