| Hang on the Box | |
| Origin: | China |
| Genre: | Punk rock |
| Years Active: | 1998–present |
| Label: | Sister Benten |
| Current Members: | Wang Yue Yilina Li Yan Fan Shenjing |
Hang on the Box (known also as HOTB) is a punk band based in Beijing. They were China's first all-female punk band. The band usually sings about sex and relationship issues in a forward political manner. Their record label is Sister Benten Online, based in Japan. The band consists of the following line-up: Wang Yue, known as Gia Wang, on vocals, Yilina playing bass, Li Yan Fan playing guitar, and Shenjing on drums.
At Hang on the Box's first performance at Beijing's Scream Club in 1998, their songs did not have lyrics and only high-pitched screeching accompanied their power chords.[1] They were featured on the cover the local edition of Newsweek six months later.[2]
Their music could be described as cheerful and hilarious, deadly serious, and personally political. Most of the questionable content involved comes in the form of native Chinese speakers using English commonplace epithets.
Gia Wang has said that in the early days it was hard for the band to play in China and they were not welcomed by the Chinese market so without signing to a Japanese label she would have been unable to continue her music career.[3]