Morrissey closes down Street

Stephen Street was going to give radio listeners a treat - twenty seconds of Morrissey singing a demo track, as part of a documentary about Stephen Street:

"[I just wanted] to show that even when [Morrissey] was singing on a four-track cassette, he still sounded great," [Street] told Contact Music.

What could be sweeter than that? Morrissey must be delighted at his former producer so keen to show off what a great singer he is, right?

"On Friday afternoon [30 April], both the BBC and myself received a letter from Morrissey's solicitors threatening an immediate injunction preventing any broadcast unless the material was removed," Street said. "Apparently their client was 'horrified that the proposed material would be broadcast.'"

If Morrissey put half as much effort in when he was in the studio as he does when he's on the phone to his lawyers, we might be hearing some decent new stuff around now, instead of ruing missing out on a clip of old business.

The world nearly missed out on the Babyshambles album

Apparently, Stephen Street wasn't going to put up with any of the band's nonsense during the making of their current album, Shatner's Revenge. Ficek and McConnell have been talking to the Evening Echo about the making of the record:

"Did I think it might not ever get done? Yeah. They were difficult times," Ficek is quoted by the Evening Echo as saying. "There were a lot of heart-to-hearts between Stephen and Pete. Each time Stephen was about to quit, they'd sit down and have a chat.

"Stephen wouldn't compromise at all. He was like, 'I'm going to get what I need to make a good album, otherwise I'm not going to do it.'"

Bassist Drew McConnell added: "There were a couple of times when I found myself running down a stairwell after Stephen. I had to drag him back to the canteen to talk."

It's interesting that the band were so desperate to keep the producer on board - in other words, then, this is less a Babyshambles record shaped by Street, more a Stephen Street record performed by Babyshambles.

It's even more interesting that a band taking bookings for an arena tour is having to send the bass player to do interviews in the regional papers to push an album.

Stay straight, instructs strict Street

During the making of the forthcoming Babyshambles album, Stephen Street decided to have a go at getting Pete Doherty to kick the drugs:

"Pete wasn't in a very good state for the first couple of weeks of making the record for the reasons that people know about. It was a bit worrying to be honest with you.

"There were a couple of times I had to fire warning shots across his bow, say, 'Listen, you've got to sort yourself out here because if you don't I can't work with you'. I felt like I was going to let down the rest of the band if I walked away from things.

"Sometimes I had to sit down with Pete and have really good heart-to-hearts with him to get through all of that and connect with the real musician and artist that's underneath..I wanted to prove to those people that he can make a decent record."

Clearly, Doherty took what he said straight to heart, judging by how it's now almost a week and a half since he's been photographed doing drugs in a tabloid.

Street seems to have missed the point that, if Doherty was off the drugs, he'd be in a position to make a decent record like the ones he made before - because he could get back with Carl, bringing out the best in each other. If it wasn't for the drugs, Street wouldn't be involved with a Babyshambles album, because there would be no Babyshambles.