Re Re-winding a career

MARK Hill sits fidgeting in an expensive-looking chair.

Reaching forward he takes a calming sip of tea from the stylish black mug lying next to him on a table.

"We almost had it," he jokingly moans, pulling his legs forward into his arms. "The fact is we would have had the Christmas and millennium number one if it hadn't been for Cliff Richard.

"If we're both alive for the next millennium then there's gonna be a showdown," he promises.

Artful Dodger's seminal dance floor classic had already been a huge hit on the underground music scene. When Rewind was finally unleashed upon the charts at the tail-end of 1999 though, it sent a seismic shock wave through the industry that changed the face of British music for the next three years.

"It was insane," says Mark, looking decidedly more relaxed after venting his anger about Cliff.

"I remember driving back home to Wales to see my parents and as I drove through Bath heard Pete Tong play Rewind on Radio One. I had only just learnt to drive and I nearly crashed my car at the roundabout.

"I ended up pulling up on to a grass verge and just listening to it and being totally blown away. It was amazing hearing it as part of a radio show and just blew my mind. From that point onwards everything just went mad."

Up until then garage was just a subterranean music scene waiting to break into the mainstream - Artful Dodger proved to be the Trojan horse that would break down the door.

Yet despite their huge success, the duo's career was fraught with difficulties and conflict that would eventually prove their downfall.

Mark, from Cwmbran in South Wales, arrived in Southampton in 1995 as a fresh-faced teenager, studying music at the city's university. After two years of mind-numbing lessons in classical music, he finally realised the degree wasn't for him and decided to set up a recording studio with one of his mates.

"We were located just off Canute Road," he remembers. "There were some steps going down the back and we had this little studio down there

"There just weren't enough bands around who had the money or wanted to record, so it was a bit of a disaster from a business point of view.

"Because we had so much space and time in the studio and we were twiddling our thumbs we decided to start making music ourselves."

Mark, then met Peter Devereux and thanks to their abiding love of bass-line and speed garage, formed Artful Dodger. In 1998 they met the, then unknown Craig David. Mark and David struck an instant friendship.

"We were doing bootlegs at the time and using other people's vocals so I asked Craig to come down and do some singing for us," remembers Mark.

"We got together and worked on a couple of tracks in the studio. Everything we did up until the point of finishing Craig's first album was done there.

"Because Craig had helped us with Rewind, I offered to write some tracks for him for a solo deal that was coming off. We put together a five-track demo for his manager to take and show the industry and the rest is history."

Craig was snapped up by record label Wildstar, and Mark produced his massively successful debut album Born To Do It.

"A lot of the songs were the original demos that we recorded in our little, dingy studio on an eight-track.

"I think that gave the album a much rawer feel. It was harder to recapture that same sound with the follow-up because we had all the equipment in place then. That's probably why Born To Do It sounded so fresh, because it hadn't been put through a big, flash studio and still had that street vibe.

"I loved the fact that we were underdogs and we took a tiny recording studio in Southampton and made these tracks that went on to sell millions. Born to Do It alone sold something like eight million copies. We had seven singles from the Artful Dodger album and I think the majority of them were top ten," says Mark proudly.

Yet life wasn't as contented for Mark as many might have believed. His relationship with Craig's record company was complicated at best and Artful Dodger's shelf life was nearing its end.

"There were real problems going from making music the way we had, to dealing with record companies and the egos involved. That's why I eventually got out of the whole Artful Dodger stuff.

"I never really got on with Wildstar because I don't think they really ever got how good Rewind was. I always believed they wanted to pull Craig as far away from Artful Dodger as possible.

"They weren't stupid enough to burn their bridges so kept me involved in the album, which I am eternally grateful for because it paid for my studio.

"I think Wildstar wanted to make Craig's second album sound a lot more American. Bizarrely, I think they thought if they made it sound more American then people in the States would buy it.

"The problem is they have an abundance of their own R'n'B artists, it's one of the biggest genres of music out there. If he was ever going to have a chance with that album it needed to be fresh.

"That's what Craig had with the first album, something new and fresh that was still R'n'B, but definitely British."

Mark's frustration with the industry eventually reached boiling point and so he and Peter amicably went their separate ways.

"No one knew who Artful Dodger were. Was it Craig? Was it me and Pete. It was a complete shambles, the album was huge, but as a project there were just no foundations.

"I got rid of the Artful Dodger brand mark. It had been dragged through so much mud. People had strained the name so much trying to make money out of it. It had almost become a liability.

"I thought that if I was ever going to get the chance to make another album I had to get out. Whatever the next project was I wanted to do it properly and not make the same mistakes."

Nowadays Mark is working with young British talent like new band, The stiX. He's also producing Craig David's eagerly-anticipated third album, which is out later this year.

"It's not too dissimilar to the first album. It's got a great feel to it. I think it's going to be big," he smiles, content at last.