Featured Band: Sunday 19 November 2006The Pocket Gods are the brainchild of singer songwriter Mark C Lee, who plays and sings all the tracks along with help from other guest musicians in his groovy kitchen situated in the Vale of Nub Country - otherwise known as somewhere near St Albans!  | | The Pocket Gods: Mark and Annie |
They had a track played on the Huw Stephens show on Radio One on 10 May 2006 and have just released a CD called "Sandringtonsput". They describe their music as "Alternative indie pop toons" and their influences as "Psychedelia – Beatles, Punk and Country". How would you describe your style of music?Mark: Jombaltastic alternative indie pop toons What would you say are your musical influences?Mark: Psychedelia – Beatles, Punk, Country (Gram Parsons), John Peel, The Ramones. How did the band form?Mark: I had been doing The Pocket Gods on my own since 1999 – but then got together with Annie and Claire last year – and have never looked back since. What bands had you been in previously?Mark: I originally played in an Anglo-Belgium pop band The High Ones and also played bass briefly for indie faves The Jesus and Mary Chain. This is Annie and Claire’s first band! What’s your favourite song on your current album and why? Mark: Jombal Party – it’s a fun song. It started off with a killer riff which I wrote and then the girls wrote the lyrics after going to a jumble sale in our village. The jumble sale was mental, it was like Vietnam bodies everywhere fighting for the “jombal”. They where taking no prisoners – it scarred us! We went to the pub afterwards and wrote the lyrics. What type of gig do you most like to play and why?Mark: One where there’s actually people there and ideally with a fridge full of beer backstage .... or vodka on tap for the girls! What’s your most memorable gig and why?Mark: Playing in Leeds to one man and his dog – the dog was the more intelligent of the two! What’s your fan base like? What group of people would you say you appealed to most?Mark: Students, Goths, arty types, punks and well all sorts - we like people who are different. What’s the weirdest thing a fan has ever done / sent to you?Mark: I had a female stalker in Belgium who used to send me graphic love letters, invited herself to my cousin's wedding and followed me around the streets of Antwerp on her recumbent bicycle. Name one unusual fact about you.Mark: We like going out around our village at night strategically placing fruit – nicely decorated by ourselves. If you could record a collaboration with ANYONE - who would it be and why?Mark: Probably Phil Spector as long as he doesn’t pull out a gun on us in the studio – which he did to John Lennon and Leonard Cohen. What’s the band’s ultimate ambition or what’s your dream?Mark: Be Toppermost of the poppermost Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?!Mark: Well, we have our first proper release out at the end of November. It’s a song on an indie Xmas compilation. Our track “jombal bells” has been chosen as the opening track. Other bands on the album include NME faves the Bobby Mghee’s and the Dawn of the Replicants. | 
