Weird: A fun (yet seriously important) documentary about a band you’ve never heard of
Ever hear of The Pocket Gods? I talk of them often during public speaking events when I touch on the era of streaming. Knowing that the streaming music services don’t pay out until 30 seconds of a song has been heard, The Pocket Gods found a way to game the system by releasing albums of very short songs. Their most recent record, 300×30, features 296 songs, all less than a minute. Clever stuff, really.
There is now a doc on the band that also touches on mental health issues. Frontman Mark Christopher Lee has had his trials with depression and more as the result of being abused as a child. This ultimately resulted in an overdose in early 2019. This doc also serves to bring attention to the high rate of suicide in men in general and musicians in particular.
No wonder Lee describes the film as “Spinal Tap meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
It’s a good 90 minutes of both light and heavy moments. Watch the whole thing free here.
