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Dodgy's drummer Mathew Priest and lead singer Nigel Clark have countered rumours that the band are splitting up. They said the band are taking a year off and will resume work on their next LP in January 1999.

The three members will concentrate on solo projects for the rest of this year and sources close to the band claim that Priest and guitarist, Andy Miller also plan to work together. The decision to take a break comes after the trio had a crunch meeting two weeks ago following arguments about the recording of the follow-up to 'Free Peace Sweet'. It was scheduled for release in September. That album has now been scrapped but A&M plans to release a new single in May followed by a 'greatest hits' album in the summer, featuring two new Dodgy tracks.

Priest explained that tensions had built up over the last year, especially during the nine months when the band were involved in a court case with their US record company PolyGram. The band successfully sued the corporation, parent company of Dodgy's UK label A&M, for restraint of trade, because it has never released any Dodgy material in the US, despite a contract which promised to. Now they will have material released in the US for the first time later this year, probably starting with the 'greatest hits' album.

Clark told NME: "I'm going to do another Dodgy album, yes, but I'm not going to do it if it's not going to be good! We've got to stretch the boundaries. Big beat has affected us, lounge, all this sort of thing. I have to make it exciting for myself. So we're just going to mess around and see what happens next year. People think we're mad but we've got to do it."

Clark is to release an album of Tibetan music featuring interviews with the Dalai Lama and boasting a host of artists such as DJ Shadow, Coldcut, Asian Dub Foundation and Norman Cook. The album will be the soundtrack for a documentary that Clark's film production company, Huncamunca, is making about the plight of the Tibetan people. The company's first project, a New York independent film called 2x4, won an award for best cinematography at the recent Sundance Film Festival in the US.

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Date/Time	Venue	Town/City	Seetickets	Viagogo
Feb 17, 2012 20:00	The Box	Crewe	Buy Dodgy Tickets from £16	Buy Dodgy Tickets
Feb 22, 2012 19:30	Bush Hall	London	Buy Dodgy Tickets from £18	Buy Dodgy Tickets
Mar 09, 2012 19:00	The Electric Palace	Dorset	Buy Dodgy Tickets from £16	Buy Dodgy Tickets
Mar 09, 2012 19:30	The Electric Palace	Dorset	Buy Dodgy Tickets from £16	Buy Dodgy Tickets
May 25, 2012 20:00	Hertford Corn Exchange	Hertford	Buy Dodgy Tickets from £16	Buy Dodgy Tickets