The Pocket Gods frontman survives suicide attempt to release 'My Next High'

Pocket Gods’ frontman Mark Christopher Lee survives a recent suicide attempt to release a new single My Next High to raise awareness of mental health issues and the high rates of suicide in men in particular - suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50.



Lee took an overdose on Friday 4th January 2019 and was subsequently sectioned by the police and taken to a mental hospital. He’d been suffering with severe PTSD brought on by childhood abuse and ran away one night after his wife found out that he was in debt. He grabbed a packet of co-codamol and went wandering in the Hertfordshire countryside in the dark. A police helicopter found him waiving his suicide note he’d written as he had changed his mind and was wanting to be found. The ambulance came and took him to A&E where tests confirmed the overdose but luckily no damage was done. Because he’d written a note, even though he’d changed his mind, he had to be sectioned and sent to a mental hospital to be seen by a doctor. He describes what it was like:

“It was like prison but the police had to wait while a 30 foot wall/gate was lowered so that their car could drive in. I was then frisked and searched when I was take into a kind of cell which was an all white room with bright white lights all bare apart from a blue crash mat. I was locked in by 2 massive doors which had about 5 separate locks on - there was nothing in the room not even any bedding and they insisted on taking my shoes (as I guess people could try and kill themselves with the laces). My phone was taken off me so I couldn’t call my wife to tell her what was happening I literally had no rights. I was left there on my own in solitary confinement for around 19 hours. I couldn’t sleep as the other patients who were obviously very unwell were always attacking each other or the staff or kicking in their doors - the noise was unbearable and brutal. I couldn’t believe I was here. I took responsibility for what I’d done and realized it was a mistake but this place was driving me insane. I had nothing to do just pace up and down like traumatized Zoo animal bored and going mad. I only just kept my sanity and was praying to be let out. Apparently they had 24 hours since I was sectioned to get me seen by a doctor and they only just made that deadline as they couldn’t find a doctor to come. Luckily I kept it together just enough to convince the doctor I was sane enough to be sent home. I just really want to share this experience and help other with mental health problems and also question why society in 2019 is still treating patients with mental health issues like the Victorian times. It was brutal in there and I felt sorry for those what were left inside.”

The Pocket Gods release this single - My Next High - on Friday 1st February on Nub Music via The Orchard on all platforms worldwide.

The band were originally discovered by the late John Peel and have gained a cult following for their series of 100X30 albums of 100 songs all 30 seconds long which made it into the Guinness Book Of Records for most songs on an album.