The pair first met in Southampton in 1993. An 11-track mixtape of new songs called Soundtrack is due this summer, and an album proper not long after. Now Devereux and Hill - both family men in their 40s - say they are ready, as Hill puts it, “to do it properly, and really enjoy it, this time”. The likes of Ed Sheeran and Disclosure have been celebrating the Dodgers’ return, with Sheeran telling them that Craig David’s Fill Me In, which Hill produced, was his favourite song to do as a busker. And there is a buzz of excitement online, not from nostalgic old fans but from a young generation who see UK garage as unfinished business. In six months, Original Dodger – as they must now call themselves – cooked up at least two albums’ worth of material, featuring names such as Shakka, Nadia Rose, P Money and Big Narstie.
Photograph: Sal Idriss/Redferns We never wanted to make high art, just create some good vibes and make a living Mark HillĪll of which has led to a rich productive streak. “We just met thinking we might put out a statement, or maybe do a DJ gig or two, to set the record straight.” Devereux and Hill, both still working DJ-producers, say this was making it difficult for them to get bookings. Worse, the new “Artful Dodger” had been answering interview questions as if they had made the original records. But they were aggrieved that promoters had been advertising the new duo using photos of them. Devereux and Hill were partly to blame: in 2002, and under somewhat unclear circumstances, they had signed the name away. Instead, they were simply convening to vent their frustration that a completely separate duo were touring the DJ circuit under the name Artful Dodger. They certainly hadn’t intended to cause such a reaction. Then last summer, when a selfie of the pair together emerged from their personal Facebook pages, they were staggered that people still cared enough to make it go viral. Indeed, for the entirety of their 18-month flash of mega-success as figureheads of the UK garage movement, they never got used to it. When their 1999 Artful Dodger track Re-Rewind with Craig David took them from “struggling to pay the rent” to “doing Top of the Pops every other week” it caught them completely off-guard. Pete Devereux and Mark Hill seem to be perpetually surprised by their popularity.
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