Jon Morter who is famously known for starting the facebook campaign, which saw Rage Against the Machine pinched the Christmas number one spot from X Factor winner Joe McElderry's in 2009, is now on a mission to help St Alban's band, The Pocket Gods, secure a number one album by Christmas.

The band, who have been together for almost two decades have already got their previous album into the Guinness Book of World Records. We caught up with frontman Mark Christopher Lee, from Sandridge, who BBC 6 music's Tom Robinson calls a 'wilful maverick', to find out more.

Who are The Pocket Gods?

The Pocket Gods are a indie pop band who have been together since 1998 and were acclaimed by the late Radio 1 DJ and music legend John Peel. I am the frontman and a singer-songwriter of the band and the other main man is Noel Storey from North London. We have drummer Scott Ottaway from Aylesbury, who also plays with 60's legends The Searchers and Simon Herries from Bedford on bass.

Can you tell me about your new album, Shakespeare Verses Streaming?

The album is a follow up to the previous album called 100x30 where we (along with special guests) recorded 100 songs all 30 seconds long all about the music industry. The album was to make a statement about the lack of decent royalties for artists from streaming services such as Spotify.

I also wanted to create a debate about how we as consumers pay for and value music. This current album, which has just sold out on Amazon already and is storming up the charts, is 100 songs all 30 seconds long all about Shakespeare. It's the 400th anniversary of his death this year and thought it would be a great idea to bring his words and wisdom to a different audience who wouldn't necessarily be into him.

How is it different from your previous album?

As above we are still making a statement about the lack of royalties from streaming services and the idea of 30 secs is because Spotify etc pay out a royalty for a streamed track once it hits 30 secs - and then no more - so a 30sec track gets the same amount as a 13 minute track - my point is why write longer songs, why not just adapt your songwriting craft to the streaming generation and write shorted songs - studies have shown that most youth will skip after 30 secs anyway on Youtube and Spotify. Also by putting 100 of them on one album you are potentially increasing the streaming revenue for every album stream.

Why do you think it will go viral on Spotify?

This album has been released through a bigger label (thoroughbred) and a large distributor called Proper it is also getting a lot of press and media attention and we have on board a chap called Jon Morter who famously got Rage Against The Machine to the Christmas number one in a battle with the X Factor - he loves the concept and is doing all the social media for it. So our aim is to have a number one album by Christmas.

How did your album make it into the Guinness Book of World Records?

We didn't set out to get a world record I just thought 100 songs and 100x30 was a good brand/idea and sounds quite impressive. I had an email this Spring from them asking for some photos of the band as the album had set the new world record for the most songs on a digital album - it's coming out in September this year so we're all very excited. I used to read the Guinness Book of World Records when I was a kid and always dreamed of being in it but always thought it would be something like the record for eating the most sausage rolls in an hour or something like that!

How do you write your songs… does it start from a sound or an emotion?

There is no set format,on the new Shakespeare album, my band have recorded some tracks with the actor Rich Ridings, who does the voice of Daddy Pig in the TV show Peppa Pig. He has a great voice and our tracks worked really well together and of course my kids were impressed. They have even contributed to the new album as they have a home education music group called Sharing Group based in St Albans and they recorded a track with their music teacher Joe Suddick called Shakespeare In Time.

Is there a musician who inspired you all to become a musician?

Not really I just wanted to make some sort of positive impact on the world and I have always been a man of big ideas and dreams but most people just want to put their heads down and follow the rules etc but as history has shown you have to stick to your dreams and persevere if you have a vision. I hope this will inspire other people to reach for the stars!

What have you learnt most about being musicians?

As I said perseverance and not giving up. Keep practising your craft and try to think out of the box try and do something new push your limits write your own songs instead of singing Ed Sheeran's latest hit.

When you were starting out what kind of job did you have to do to make ends meet in realising your dream?

We still have day jobs it's difficult for anyone to make a living from music these days - but not impossible.

Can you tell me some background information about yourself – where did you grow up?

I grew up in Huddersfield played in dodgy goth bands including an early version of Goth legends All About Eve then moved to Hatfield where I went to Uni and then ended up in St Albans, which has been my spiritual home ever since really. My plan is to relocate the music industry to St Albans. Tony Wilson (of Factory Records fame - Joy Division, Happy Mondays etc) called St Albans the new Manchester. Indeed it has a great music scene, some great venues and it's own radio station.

Where do you like to “hang out” where you live now and why?

I'm lucky enough to live in a great village - Sandridge which has three great pubs. My favourite two are the Rose and Crown and The Green Man - great friendly locals and I try and schedule as many music business meetings there as I can and people like coming out of London to do this. Also, my wife Claire (also former bass player on maternity leave) and our kids like to go into St Albans town centre and have coffee and cake at Hemingway's.

Who were your music teachers and did they have any influence on your style?

When I left university in 1993 and was unemployed for a while in St Albans I decided to teach myself guitar so I bought a cheap one and spent every day for three months, before I found a job, teaching myself I then had some tools to start writing and singing songs. So anyone can do it it's like everything if you put the hours in you will get somewhere. I did also go to music college when I was younger and studied classical music so I can read and write music, but they didn't inspire me to be creative and expressive.