Wednesday, November 03, 2004

The End Of An Era

NME Reports:



CARL BARAT is to retire THE LIBERTINES from playing live for "the foreseeable future" at the end of the year, NME.COM can exclusively reveal.

The band have been touring since the summer without Pete Doherty, who was kicked out of the band while he undertook a well-documented fight against drugs.

Speaking exclusively to NME.COM yesterday (November 1), singer Carl Barat said that from December there are no more plans for gigs – the strongest hint yet that the band will split for good unless Doherty cleans up and rejoins.

He said: "As of the end of December Gary, John and I have decided The Libertines will be off the road for the foreseeable future, no more official gigs are booked. An ongoing problem with my health, which requires an operation, will put me out of action for maybe some months.

"My position with Pete hasn’t changed, I hope he gets better, I still love him and hope he will come back in full health and take the world with The Libertines and put the Albion back on-course. Joining the old crew on the good ship wouldn’t be so hard."

The band have no UK gigs scheduled before December. It is currently unclear what operation Barat requires.