Friday, July 30, 2004

Libs Feature In The Guardian

Nice Career Spanning Piece Here:

In a hotel room in New York, Barat is hunched over an acoustic guitar. As night creeps into morning, he'll run through various Libertines songs, try a few Beatles numbers and play lots by the Doors. He begins new single Can't Stand Me Now - a bruised portrait of how Doherty and Barat's relationship has deteriorated - before suddenly stopping. "Do you have any idea what it was like for me to tell Peter he couldn't be in the band?" he asks, his eyes welling up. Then he grabs a bottle of beer and loses himself in the song...

It's hard to remember it was the music that made anyone care about the Libertines in the first place. That and the chemistry between all four members of the band, an unpredictability that inspires magic and mayhem in equal measure. Combining the power of the Clash and the melodic beauty of the Beatles, their songs capture the angst of the disenchanted and swoon with the poetry of the Libertines' private world, Arcadia - a vision of England in which no one is tied to societal rules, and in which everyone is free to do as they wish.

It was a shared belief in Arcadia that forged the initial bond between Barat and Doherty. "It was something that a lot of people had laughed at," says Doherty. "Or maybe I'd never found quite the right person to share it with. With Carl it was glaringly obvious that we'd found each other"...

Their potential was finally spotted by Geoff Travis, head of Rough Trade. "They were alive, alive to a degree that you just don't see," he says. "They were hilarious, entertaining, jumpy, songs coming out of their ears." The Libertines were signed to Rough Trade in 2002 - and celebrated in typically idiosyncratic style. "We got a bunch of money," says Barat, "ironed it and put it in the fridge."

May 2003. The Libertines arrive in New York for the first time and play a triumphant show at the tiny Lux in Brooklyn. Afterwards they go back to their hotel to celebrate. Barat and Doherty sit with their guitars, playing Chas and Dave songs to a small group of friends. Everyone is happy. It doesn't last. The next day, the band are in a recording studio and Barat is eager to do some work. But Doherty has brought some friends in with him. The tension is unbearable.

"Pete and his friends having their little crack fun," remembers Barat. "They're singing this song - which is my tune - adding and changing bits. Then a girl says: 'Come and sing, it's fun. Shall I teach you the words?' " Barat left the studio and New York soon after.

Doherty remembers it differently. "I knew I had I a better album than Up the Bracket in me and I wanted to record it. But I was told we've got to keep touring, keep promoting. That was the first time I realised we were on a conveyor belt."

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Won't You Heed My Call?

Message To The Rest Of The Libertines:

please don't play to p of the pops or reading Leedswithout me if you have any heart or beleif in me. I 'm sorting it out, it's ok. don't be daft., I'm wanting to speak to you. I need to speak to you. there's these songs I can't get out of my head
I'm off and about the Allbion singing them. I've got a lot of energy and good people about me, Chev, Jim, Dot, Andrew, Matt, Jai and my mum I need to speak to you mum I've got a new phone.
whatever happens, from now in and I'm here if or when you need me, I send all my love and wish you well
Peter x


Carve It Into Something New

Gary Talks To XFM:

"Carl's attacking [the live shows] with a real fervour. He's really, really going for it. Whether he's enjoying himself or not, I don't know. I think he also knows that this is for the better good of everybody," he continues. "We'll keep on playing, Pete has something to come back to, and hopefully Pete will want to come back. [He'll be] in a better frame of mind than beforehand and that's what we really, really want."

New Bilo Post on Babyshambles:

after thousands of years rehabilitation the bilo laptop returns, and if hundreds of closeup eye witnesses are to be relied on to inform you of my ship shapeness, is in as good a shape as its owner is these reckless (rockless)sweet days of liberty, adventure and melodic arcadian revelry. I awake just, to the familiar towers and twisting footbridges in the embassy filter air of sheffield. their rammed in and ready. Backstage is a go go with selfish cunt jamming up the mirror, Dot practising her xylophone solo for never never, the lights are low and red and I'm waking up stood motionless in clean white fake fake burberry yfronts what has been going on?
A hell of a first night in Glasgow... intimacy, inspiration and sweet sweet music the night before duringand after the show the like of which I've never known, and I confess a quiet sorrow that perhaps the first night of the tour was to be the greatest. How could that be matched? Well... by time the Wolverhampton Civic hall's ballroom floor and stage had stopped shaking from the outrageous spirit shown and spilt (remember the round got in for the whole moshpit, and they cannae dwell, hotel close attention, corridor parade. a new song you fancy everyone really don't you) the dressing room had a piano and a jacuzzi and sitting in the bubbles with dot, andrew and Rini and god knows who all in our knickers I,m singing, all innocence smudged reflections in the steamed mirror. not a drug in sight...
when people say 'get better'.. I wonder how it can.
'playing reading Peter?'
'I can't go anywhere I'm not welcome. I love playing, but do not idealize a heartbreaking routine. Their way is sound but oh what a way I have found.'
I am available though, now you mention it...

this most certainly is the life then, on beanbags now everyone dancing in the dressing room, Mike Papa Georgio singing to a rabid acoustic shuffle '..I wish I had sailed the darkened seas on a great big clipper ship' people spinning round in the heat tambourines. meanwhile, out in the snake pit the anti-christ faces the little lions...
selfish cunt just been pulled out the crowd by chev, they called martin a wanker so in he waded, he's an elegant and slim but quite hefty dose of the theatrical underworld singing of race, hackney pavement chalk bodies outlined in his closet's imagination from raving queen glitter braces outerspace and 'the best band in the world are we' in the face point blank of boos and flying bottles. eh up, in swaggers young Tom Paddington now
'alright Mr Doherty. wnna cig?'
everywhere you look there's a fuckin paddington
Lambert and Butler.\hmmm

Monday, July 26, 2004

You'll Never Choose, You're Bound To Lose

BBC Radio One Reports:

After being kicked out of the Libertines, Pete Doherty performed an acoustic set on Friday at a London art gallery to mark the opening of a photo exhibition dedicated to the band. He was briefly joined on stage by Libertines' drummer Gary Powell, who joined in on hand claps for a track called 'Don't Be Shy' from their new album. Pete dedicated one of his songs in his set to bandmate Carl but backstage it was very different, Pete told Radio1 he feels there's no going back for him and the Libertines: "The door's been shut on me from the Libertines. Whether it was the management, whether it was the band, it doesn't matter to me. I don't want to hang around any place I'm not welcome."

"I can't betray myself. I feel betrayed. I don't want to go on about the drugs thing, I try and avoid it as best I can but to say it's about drugs to me is a cop out. At the moment, the only people that are offering me support are the boys and girl in Babyshambles."

Friday, July 23, 2004

Don't Forget: Libs Photo Exhibition This Weekend!

This July photographer Roger Sargent will be presenting "The Boys In The Band", the photographic story of the band so far. Open to the public on Saturday the 24th and Sunday the 25th, the exhibition launches on Friday the 23rd of July with an invite only viewing.  Over 150 unseen images of the band will be on display at London's Proud Gallery.

::Thanks to James for the heads up:::

 

 


Tuesday, July 20, 2004

Solo Pete

Dates For Pete's Acoustic Tour:
Glasgow Stereo (July 26)
Wolverhampton Little Civic (27)
Sheffield Trippets (28)
Southampton Joiners (29)
Nottingham The Social (31)
Brighton Freebutt (August 1)
London Camden Monarch (2)
Bristol Louisiana (4)
Shrewsbury The Albert (5)
London Camden Monarch (6)

This week's NME:



Pete in Vice Magazine:





Sunday, July 18, 2004

So Much News To Report, So Little Time

Quite a bit has been happening in the world of The Libs.  Here are the highlights:
 
The story behind "What Katie Did" (thanks Acoustica):
 
Katie first met the charismatic 24-year-old rocker in April 2002, at a gig in East London. Pete nicknamed her Katie Bapples, due to her large chest, and co-wrote the song What Katie Did, about her battle to quit drugs. It appears on The Libertines' second album, due out on August 9, and was recorded before they sacked him.  The couple had been dating for a month before Katie realised he was into heroin. One night in his flat, he persuaded her to try it, too. "We were young romantics and would write each other poetry," she recalls. "He told me I could only discover 'Arcadia' - our word for a perfect, peaceful world - if I took the drug with him.
 
Peter Speaks In The Metro (scroll down a bit):
 
'The narcotic contribution to my lifestyle is exaggerated', he muses. 'If i did the things they say, i would be dead. £1000 of heroin a day is impossible. I feel like i've got things under control on the drugs front. And i'm confident about the album'.The album to which Doherty refers to is The Libs eponymous follow-up to 2002's debut Up The Bracket. It's due out next month but Doherty won't be on the PR junket - not since Barat announced they'd be touring without him.'This absolutely breaks my heart' Doherty sighs. 'Saying that i'm too mentally ill to play and that i'm noy welcome at the festicals is a bit like him saying "Kill yourself". i know i've cut myself up and stuff, but that was the first time in my life that i felt suicidal.'If Carl was a clean-living lad, then maybe i'd make an effort to be completely clean' he continues. 'but i feel abandoned, there's nothing he could have done to hurt me more. Hopefully, he'll get help himself and realise I love him'. In the meantime, Doherty's focusing on his other musical manifestation, Babyshambles. So how's it different from the libertines? 'Well i'm allowed onstage' Doherty smiles, wanly. 'This libertines album that's coming out should have come out a year ago, so the Babyshambles album we're working on is the new Libertines. We might confuse people by calling it The Libertines by Babyshambles.'
 
Review of "The Libertines" from the Observer Music Monthly   
 
Carlos plays "What A Waster" and "Can't Stand Me Now" acoustic for a Dutch radio station, and you can listen now.
 
Bootleg of T In The Park Performance now for download.
 
Possible album covers:

 

Thursday, July 15, 2004

Oh Shite!

From Drowned In Sound:

What do you get when you cross an ex-Libertines star, Selfish Cunt, Buckingham Palace, and some horseshit? Why, a news story of course! DiS was there to witness the mess...

During a photoshoot for the NME yesterday outside the Palace, a horse saw a prime moment to take a dump. The resulting poo was then kicked around by Attention-Seeking Bloke from disco punks Selfish Cunt, before he picked it up with his bare hands and started hurling the poo at Babyshambles' Pete Doherty and photographer Andrew Kendall. The Others' singer Dominic Masters then tipped a pint of beer over Selfish thingy's head. As Doherty, looking pale but rather dapper in a black suit, wrestled Selfish wotsit to the ground and shocked tourists watched, several policemen ran in to break them up.

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Artwork!

"Anyone Who Argues That Hedonism Fuels Creativity Has Obviously Never Listened to Motley Crue"

Jack posted the following story from the Telegraph on the .Org Forum:

My Long Night With a Libertine

Pete Doherty of the Libertines was an accident waiting to happen, says Neil McCormick
Supposedly celebrating its 50th anniversary this week, rock and roll has already had more than its share of tragedies. So it is with a heartbreaking combination of sadness and resignation that one watches another bright young spark succumb to the tired myths of hedonism and excess. The first time I met Pete Doherty of the Libertines, I knew that he was an accident waiting to happen. Having witnessed the group deliver an abandoned, chaotic and utterly exhilarating set of hyped-up garage rock at Glasgow's King Tut's in February last year, I was surprised to find the slightly dazed, waif-like singer and guitarist turn up at my hotel door after midnight, inquiring in his polite, soft-spoken manner whether I had any cocaine.

I guess rock journalists have a reputation almost as bad as their subjects. I won't pretend that I am entirely innocent, but I have seen too much of the dark side of narcotics to condone their casual abuse. Still, I invited Pete in to share a bottle of red wine, my vice of choice. Whereupon Pete produced a bag of heroin (which he claimed had been donated by a fan) and proceeded to chop out a couple of thick lines. When I informed him I wouldn't be sharing his stash with him, he did not seem particularly bothered. He just snorted both lines himself. I wrote then that I feared "for the health and sanity" of the Libertines, suggesting that "they may one day be established among Britain's greatest combos. But first they have to survive life on the road." What I didn't report was that I spent several hours that night talking to him about the perils of heroin and gently trying to disabuse him of his naive theory that he wouldn't become addicted because he was snorting rather than injecting.

I did share my concerns with his management, who told me it was a full time job keeping Pete away from "undesirable elements". The following week, the European tour was cancelled. This weekend, the Libertines play Scotland's T in the Park festival without their erstwhile co-leader. Although they still have Doherty's songwriting partner, the estimable (and much more sensible) Carl Barat, for fans of the band this must be a little like the Beatles without John (or perhaps more pertinently the Stones without Keith). But, after his three failed stints in rehab and a spell in prison (for burgling Barat's flat), Doherty's bandmates seem to be resigned to life without him. They released a statement announcing that "he is and always will be a Libertine, and when he cleans up he'll be welcomed back into the band". Meanwhile, Pete has admitted to being addicted to crack and heroin. "I'm not scared about death," he told the Sunday Mirror last week. "I don't care if everyone says I'm going to die if I carry on taking drugs. I know people who take more drugs than me. It isn't drugs I need to get rid of, it's the demons in my head."

Rock's dismal history of drug casualties (the "Stupid Club" that Kurt Cobain's mother pleaded with her son not to join) suggests Doherty should take the dangers a little more seriously. Anyone who argues that hedonism fuels creativity has obviously never listened to Motley Crue. It is certainly not Doherty's drug habit that has made the Libertines such an exciting prospect. He and Barat are talented songwriters, with a penchant for juicy chord changes and a quintessentially English lyrical sensibility that draws on an imaginative reworking of the imagery of old Albion.

The Libertines spearheaded a wave of new British bands (including the Ordinary Boys, the Others and Razorlight) with a refreshing sense of polemical urgency and an intense desire to make a real connection with their audience. This is a band who loved to play, staging secret gigs and spontaneous performances in public places, every show ending in a riotous stage invasion, whether it is Brixton Academy or somebody's front room. They recently completed recording their second album, a ragged masterpiece that draws on the intense relationship between the two frontmen. The sad thing is that, when it is released by Rough Trade in August, it will almost certainly prove to be both the band's major breakthrough and swansong. The anthemic first track (and debut single, released on August 9) already sounds like Doherty's apology for the mess he has made. It is called, with a genuine sense of contrition, You Can't Stand Me Now.

Sunday, July 11, 2004

Mama You've Been On His Mind

The Sunday Mirror Reports:

AGONY OF LIBERTINES STAR'S MUM
Exclusive By Danielle Lawler

THE mother of rock star Pete Doherty has told how her son's £1,000-a-day heroin addiction has broken her heart. Jacqueline Doherty says: "It's bizarre. I look at his body and wonder where did my little boy go? He's not my Pete - my son wouldn't do anything like taking drugs. "But I don't fear death for him. At least he wouldn't be in this living heroin hell he is now."

"I'll always be there for my son, but he's broken my heart." She spoke out after the Sunday Mirror's exclusive interview last week with Doherty, 24, when he spoke of his spiralling drug addiction and his sacking from top band The Libertines. He was forced out after his third failed attempt to kick his heroin habit. "I have cried so many tears over Pete," says Jacqueline, 50. "The reality now is either death or being messed up with his head mangled on drugs. Or he could turn and become the person he should have become in the first place.

"He was so clever at school, I thought he might become an English professor." The mother-of-three gave Pete a strict Catholic upbringing during his years growing up in Liverpool and London's Shepherd's Bush. But she says the family have been torn apart by his attempts at self-destruction. His father, also called Peter, and two sisters, aged 26 and 17, are devastated to see the change in him. "Pete used to make us all laugh but now we are crying. I just pray at some point he'll see how he's pushing everyone away who loves him." Jacqueline, who is a nurse, predicted his downward spiral when Pete admitted smoking cannabis at 18.

"I said 'It will lead to heroin - every heroin addict started with cannabis.' "He told me I was over-reacting - but I was right." Brainy Pete gained 11 A* GCSEs and four A-Levels before going to university to study English. But after six months he dropped out to form the Libertines. "Eventually he admitted he'd been taking heroin and crack cocaine. I was devastated and asked why. He said he wanted to experience everything." He promised never to take drugs again, but a year later Jacqueline stayed with him at the Priory rehab clinic in London. "It was his second go at rehab. I stayed with him for nine days. When I searched his room I found heroin in his pillow, taped underneath chairs - he'd stashed it everywhere. He got through the detox stage but he was determined not to stay at the Priory and left."

Doherty revealed last week how his mum blackmailed him to attend a strict clinic in Thailand by refusing to get treatment on a lump she found in her breast until he went. Jacqueline, who lives with the rest of the family in Germany for work reasons, was later given the all-clear, but Pete dropped out of the clinic before he was cured. "He called me after he walked out of the Priory to tell me he was on his way to Thailand, I hoped the Thai clinic could help him but again it was for all the wrong reasons," says Jacqueline. "He was trying to please me."

However, she hopes being axed by the Libertines may help Pete, who lives in squats around North London, in the long run. "Maybe it's better if they go their separate ways and get on with their lives. There is too much stigma surrounding The Libertines, Pete and drugs.

"It would be good if he had a clean break and started again."

I Don't Believe In First Love, That's The Worst

NME Reports:

At T IN THE PARK tonight (July 10), THE LIBERTINES played their first gig since PETE DOHERTY left to deal with his drug problems...and the fans gave overwhelming support to the band, as they appealed to the audience to voice their support for the absent guitarist. Playing the NME stage directly before headliners Muse, frontman Carl Barat urged the vast crowd who had come to watch the band to give a big round of applause for Pete, dedicating first song to "my best friend Peter", which was new single 'Can't Stand Me Now', a song that was written by Pete for his bandmate. Their first gig without Pete was an energetic affair, and while Carl appeared to miss his sparring partner on stage, the whole band – with replacement guitarist Anthony Rossomando, who was announced as the substitute earlier today on NME.COM - put full-force energy into their performance, which included a swathe of new songs. The new songs went down a storm with the vast audience who had gathered to watch them, but the wildest applause and cheers were reserved for 'Boys In The Band' and 'Up The Bracket', which were served up as a double-whammy.

It was an emotional gig for the band, with Carl admitting earlier in the day that he was a little nervous. But he put 100% into the set, saying little but playing hard, until the set-closer, which was raucously well received new track 'Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads'. Fan Tim Barker, from Perth, said: "I didn't think Carl looked totally comfortable on stage, he seemed to miss Pete. But they sounded as tight as ever. It lacked something, though." However Scott Webster, from Aberdeen, was absolutely confident about the band's future. "It was fucking magic, brilliant!" he said. "They did well without Pete - they've let him do his own thing, and they will do well without him. They are right behind him all the way, but the new songs still sounded great without him."

"I'd wish him all the best, but I think The Libertines definitely have a future without him," he added.


Carlos, Yesterday

Saturday, July 10, 2004

Pete Out, Anthony In

NME Reveals:

LIBERTINES star CARL BARAT has confirmed to NME.COM who their replacement guitarist will be at T IN THE PARK. As previously reported, the band's July festival appearances will be their first gigs since cancelling all dates in June because of Pete Doherty's addiction to drugs. As a result they've decided to carry on without him. NME.COM can reveal that for the last week the group have been in a secret rehearsal space in Bath, where they've been rehearsing with Anthony Rossomando, who has played with the band before. He joined the group temporarily last year for gigs without Pete, including the Carling Weekend: Reading And Leeds festivals. Carl told NME.COM: "We've been down in Bath getting ready for this gig. I'm going to do my best with the songs and I hope the response will be reciprocal." Barat confirmed that the group will be playing new songs from their forthcoming second album, which is due on August 30. Before their set the band made an appearance at the NME Signing Tent. By the time The Libertines arrived the crowd was the biggest of the day, with the three members of the band signing all manner of objects including Wellington boots, pictures, CDs and even a girl's naked chest.

Friday, July 09, 2004

Mick Jones, Mick Jones Knows What I Mean

NME Reports:

MICK JONES has revealed all about the new LIBERTINES album, and spoken out about the troubles surrounding the band. Speaking to NME.COM at last night's (July 7) Diesel U-Music Awards at Fabric nightclub in London, he said the new album, which he produced, saw the band go from "Men to boys. Actually, that's supposed to be the other way round." He continued: "It's almost like they've come into themselves, and the living that they've done since last time has all gone into this. You know what I mean? And the subtext of the record is really great as well. It reaches you, it reaches you in the right place. It touches you. It's touching. It's beautiful really." Asked whether he thinks the band can survive the current crisis stemming from Pete Doherty's chronic drug addiction, he said: "I hope so. I think so. We're positive, we've got a lot of love. We've got a lot of goodwill. No matter what they say about Peter or something, always at the end it's 'Dot Cotton hopes he gets better'. They always put that in don't they, and that means that people care. "People love the band, because they can touch them on that place. You can recognise that but no one can obtain that. You can go for it but it's a once in a generation thing." Jones was given a Lifetime Achievement award at the awards, to which he responded: "It feels like you're finished basically, but funnily enough I haven't been finished up to this point."


Mick Jones, Yesterday

Thursday, July 08, 2004

Yet Another Reason To Move To London

NME Reports:

THE LIBERTINES' turbulent history is to be documented in a new exhibition by former NME photographer ROGER SARGENT. Over 150 unseen images of the band will go on display at London's Proud Gallery between July 24-25, with a launch night featuring a performance by the group taking place on July 23. The collection traces The Libertines' career from the release of their first single 'What A Waster', through to their impromptu gigs, guitarist Pete Doherty's release from prison last year as well as the band's dramatic reunion on the same night. Sargent said: "It would be difficult to follow this, in all the time I've been following bands I've never done anything like it. Working with The Libertines has restored my faith in the music industry. Every time they've performed for two years I've been there, through the highs and the lows, and every time I've felt like I've witnessed yet another historical moment." He added: "I've captured that feeling and now I want to share it with the people that are most important to the boys...their fans."


Sunday, July 04, 2004

Review: "The Libertines"

Pete Doherty is a talented songwriter. He's written about six or seven albums worth of material by now. He wanted to release another Libertines album right after "Up The Bracket" but Rough Trade wouldn't go for it. If we were living in the 1960s, we would have seen a lot more from the Libertines--we're talking Dylan or Beatles levels of output...one or two albums a year.

This being 2004 and the era of the sensible album every three years followed by the two year world tour, the band sticks out like a sore thumb and Pete destroys himself because all he knows how to do is write and record songs, with maybe a bit of playing live on the side.

Ultimately it's the big tours and the unnecessary gaps in proper recording that have dramatically worsened his addiction issues. As one of Pete's idols once sang, "the devil will find work for idle hands to do". It will probably take his death for people around him to realize that, which is a fucking scandal.

Look out your window and you'll see vultures circling, intoxicated with the stench of imminent death currently emanating from our hero. The very system that created Pete is licking its chops, waiting with bated breath for him to keel over so it can start cleaning the whole thing up. Remember when Tony Wilson said the best thing Ian Curtis ever did for his career was killing himself? Pete's problem is practically everyone around him is an aspiring Tony Wilson. The skinny boys with their ripped jeans and designer pipes, the ghostly girls with stripey shirts and trust fund bangs, the greedy journalists, the clueless industry types...

Let Pete die.
Let him become a "Rock n' Roll Legend".
Let us get around to ideal[sanit]izing his memory.
Then let's sell the whole fucking thing on Ebay.

Fuck You.

The album's brilliant by the way. Best thing they've ever done. Pisses on everything released this year, last year, next year...

The Libertines are dead. Long live The Libertines.

Shhhhhhhhhhhh...........................

??????????????????????????????????

(Link no longer functional, sadly. Try Soulseek)

My Boy...There's A Price To Pay

Pete talks to the Sunday Mirror:



MY DRUGS HELL BY TRAGIC LIBERTINES STAR
Jul 4 2004
Exclusive By Danielle Lawler

HE is only 24 and should have the world of rock and roll at his feet. Until last week Pete Doherty was lead singer and guitarist in the Libertines, the group once tipped to eclipse Oasis and make millions. Yet instead of holding court in a five-star hotel suite, the man hailed as Britain's brightest musical talent for years is sleeping on the couch in a friend's down-at-heel flat sipping tea from a chipped cup. Doherty can't - or won't - give up a crippling addiction to heroin and crack cocaine that is costing him up to £1,000 a day...

His mother Jacqueline resorted to emotional blackmail to try to make him stop. She refused to have treatment after finding a lump in her breast unless he booked into Thailand's Thamkrabok Monastery - last refuge of drug addicts that other clinics cannot help...Many now fear he is heading down the same road to oblivion as Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain who committed suicide after battling chronic heroin addiction...

A loose page falls from a leather-bound diary he is flicking through as he chain-smokes his way through a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes. He picks it up and starts reading a poem he's written:

I feel death - dull misty death - it is pestering me like a well-meaning friend,
Death is blinding me, with slow-burning horror flame flickers.
I feel death - thrashing, certain death - banging me about a reet gud clobbering. Waves then...
I feel death, mournful dreary death, clogging up myself.'

Doherty believes that it is his inner demons, rather than drugs, that could kill him. "There are three things I know a bit about in my life and that's QPR, my guitar and drugs," he says. "I know QPR are the best football team in the world, my guitar is the most beautiful thing I own and that I don't take enough drugs to kill me. It isn't drugs I need to get rid of, it's the demons that fill my head. Once I have come to terms with my demons, maybe I'll be able to get clean."

It was after a second and failed spell at the exclusive Priory Clinic that his mother begged her son to go to the Thamkrabok Monastery. "She just turned up on the doorstep one day and was really distressed and worried about me," says Doherty. "She'd found a lump in her breast but refused to have a scan unless I agreed to go into rehab. I think that was unfair to put so much pressure on me, but I went anyway to prove I would do it for her. I went for three days without drugs and it was hell. But she still wasn't satisfied. I'd gone to Thailand like she asked. I couldn't have done much more"...

Doherty had a breakdown, writing in a statement before he fled: "Thamkrabok Monastery have done everything they could to help me, but I am not strong enough for this treatment." He says it was three days of hell. "I'd only come out of the Priory a couple of days earlier so I'd been through all the shakes, vomiting and sleepiness nights with cold turkey. Foolishly I didn't do any research about Thailand before I went, and it was hardcore."

"On the third day I left and went to Bangkok. I booked into a hotel where they offered room service of heroin with my bacon and eggs. I told them I had no money but they said I could have it on tab. I notched up a £280 bill in three days. If I'd done the same amount of brown in England it would have cost me thousands"...

Doherty adds: "The first time I had heroin I was 21, walking round the streets of Whitechapel on a Sunday, smoking brown my dealer gave me and thinking I was cool. I've no idea how much I took that first time or how much it cost. He gave it to me for free. "As it got into my bloodstream I noticed it exaggerated parts of me that were already there... solitude and loneliness. "Then I started getting all these creative thoughts for the first album. So I kept taking it. I didn't get hooked straight away - it was a gradual thing. It was six months to a year later before I started taking it every day. "Drugs have never been the driving wheel - they are just part of creating music. I just want to play so I take it to enhance my creativity. A lot of my lyrics are heroin related - but they're never a celebration of it."

Just before Christmas 2001 they were signed by record label Rough Trade. "We could never afford coke - that was too expensive - it was always heroin," says Doherty. "Someone laid out a line of coke on the table for me and Carl to congratulate us. It was our first proper line...

He was sacked for the first time in July last year. While the band were abroad he even took some of Carl's property to feed his addiction. Doherty was welcomed back - but his continuing addiction finally forced the band to part with him again last week after his latest battle to beat his addiction failed.

"I tried to calm down when they told me with a smoke," he says. "But as I was cooking up I looked at the brown and screwed it up. There was not a drug in the world that could make me feel better. It made me feel dirty and I realised, 'This is why I can't play'. I've got to start getting clean straight away. But I can't do it in the Priory or places like that. I have to do it in the environment I live in because I am always going to be surrounded by drugs while I'm making music. I've just got to find the inner strength to control it"...

Doherty has had a series of relationships with a leggy American model known only as Jack and has a two-year-old son Estile with Lisa Moorish, who has a baby daughter Molly by Liam Gallagher. His latest love was a girl called Irene. Once he dreamt of running away to Paris with her. "Irene was my girlfriend but it's over," he sighs. "I had to choose between her or drugs. I suppose I chose drugs."

Saturday, July 03, 2004

It's Been A Long War...I'm Tired And Dirty

"There are many demons inside of Pete but not half as many as are running around him."
-Tim Arnold