The Pocket Gods are a British indie pop band from St Albans founded in 1998 by lead songwriter Mark Christopher Lee (sometimes known as M.C. Lee). The band have changed lineups over the years and released over 25 albums.
On the Watford Observer published on 2nd May 2013, Mark Christopher Lee described how his band got discovered by John Peel: [1]
"I sent him a song I’d recorded which I thought he might like. “It was called Ballad of the Peshwari Naan and was written about my local Asian restaurant in Huddersfield. Two years later, I got an answerphone message from him. I played it back and thought it was a wind-up but he called back several times, including once when I was in St Albans on market day – I had to go into Woolworths and buy a pen so I could take his address down so I could send him some more songs!”
Sadly, Peel died a month or so afterwards, but The Pocket Gods were still featured quite a lot on his successor Huw Stephens' show on BBC Radio One and on Dandelion Radio. The band also got a mention on Margrave Of The Marshes, where they were listed as demos that Peel did not manage to hear, which according to Mark Christopher Lee was not true.
(Note from songwriter Mark Lee: "This is Mark Lee the point is Peel had obviously already written this chapter for Margrave before he contacted me on several occasions by phone. The first time was on the way back from a gig The Pocket Gods were doing at Joseph's Well in Leeds where he left an answer phone message which I kept for a while and played it to loads of people (I thought it was a wind up at first!) he then called back when I was in St Albans with Nigel Parrington from The Low Countries. He said he really liked our track Ballad Of The Peshwari Naan and could we send him some material. I didn't have a pen on me, so I had to go into Woolworths to buy one! Anyway, he gave me his home address in Suffolk and I sent him some CD's. He then went away to South America and the rest is tragic history. Some people unfortunately think that I have been making this up but I haven't and have many witnesses who hear the answer phone messages and also Nigel from The Low Countries who witnessed the Woolworths call. Thanks Mark.")
