Chinese indie band reunites, releases documentary

Penicillin, a Chinese indie rock group, rose to fame last summer after appearing on the popular reality show, The Big Band, produced by major vide-sharing website, iQiyi. Their original hits, including A Rainy Night in Manchester, and their adaptation of Chinese singer-songwriter Pu Shu's song New Boy, won them a large fanbase in the country.

On June 29, the band released their documentary, titled And Then It is Night, which follows the band's week-long tour Taiwan in 2018. Before they gained popularity, they struggled to achieve their musical dreams.

Founded in 2012, the band consists of leading vocalist Zhang Zhexuan, better known as his nickname Xiao Le, bassist Xionghua and drummer Xiaoyang, all in their early 20s. Zhang pursued his studies in the UK in 2014, and the band has reunited after he returned to China a year later. They've started playing in front of fewer than 10 people in a bar, School, hidden in a hutong in Beijing, and now they have a stable fan base with about 100,000 followers on their Sina Weibo account.

"It's a beautiful thing to grow up with your band members. We went through a lot together," Zhang said in the documentary.