Pete Doherty: Still trying too hard

If you'd hoped that his latest spell in rehab might see Pete Doherty move on from sideshows and stunts, the news isn't encouraging:

"I've come up with some good riffs too," he said during an interview conducted at the centre. "Like simple bass lines and I'm trying to get this warlord's daughter to play drums for me but she's off the radar at the moment. So hopefully we'll have some new ideas when Carl next bounds into view in his bandana and leathers."

Yes. You can't just make a sodding tune, can you; it's got to have a sodding "warlord's daughter" involved, hasn't it?

Libertines re-coagulate, claims Mirror

It depends how much credence you put in an exclusive credited to a "music industry source", but it looks like The Libertines might be about to try theirs and their fan's patience once again.

A music industry source reveals: “Pete and Carl really enjoyed reforming the band last year for the Reading and Leeds festivals. Now Pete’s out of prison and trying to stay clean, getting the band back together is his main priority.

“Fortunately Carl is open to the idea of touring and getting back to what they were famous for. So long as Pete is relatively on the straight and ­narrow, the world is their oyster.”

I'm not sure "a desperate bid to cash-in on dwindling affection due to the failure of any attempts to build an audience doing something else" is quite what they're famous for. Yet, anyway.

Reading - Leeds was great, says Mr Reading-Leeds

As is now traditional, the organiser of the festival must have his post-fest interview to declare how well everything went. Melvin Benn has, thus, proclaimed Reading-Leeds good.

And, given the way Leeds used to always end in a pitched battle and burning trash, the organisers probably do deserve credit for having turned things around. Nowadays, it's just the bands who are causing trouble:

Last night at the Leeds Festival Axl Rose slammed the festival organisers, saying "This war ain't over". Benn had cut the band's sound at Reading to prevent them from breaking the noise curfew.

Benn played down the feud, saying: "I'd definitely book them again but I don't know if they'd come and play. I doubt I'll be getting a Christmas card from them. It's not personal, I think the band are great. Why would I make it personal?"

It's not entirely clear how Axl intends to pursue his "war"; or, indeed, if he'll even remember he's at war this morning. Shouldn't he really be at war with the licensing authorities rather than the festival anyway?

Benn was pleased with how professional the Libertines were:

"Anyone coming into this festival that just read press would have thought thought The Libertines were going to be the issue but they were professionals," he said.

He added: "They were just fantastic. It was the real deal and they made the effort. Whether it's got legs for the future I don't know. What they have done is knock their heads together and gone, 'Let's put great shows on'. They may all walk away from each other again, if they do I expect they'll walk away very happy because they've really hung out again.

I suspect "professional" is the key word here; watching on TV the set came across as very highly-polished, like something a Libertines tribute band might do. In the reuniting, they lost something of their soul. The Likely Lads have become Mike And Bernie Winters.

Gordon in the morning: Yes, you've mentioned this more than once

Perhaps Sean Hamilton's embedding of the Williams-Barlow video might have been more surprising - it has a gay theme, or rather a 'gay' theme, as The Sun is putting it - if Gordon hadn't kept banging on about it while it was being made.

The song isn't very good, either. Barlow has tried to make a tune that sounds a bit like Glen Campbell and wound up with something that sounds like, well, Take That in a foam cowboy hat; Williams tries to chap-up to the challenge and ends up falling off the horse.

Elsewhere, Amy Winehouse went to see the Libertines:

AMY WINEHOUSE felt the wrath of LIBERTINES fans on Wednesday.

The singer, who went along to watch the band's comeback gig, left before the end because punters began pointing and shouting, "Who are ya, who are ya?"

So The Libertines fans are now bullying women in the audience, are they? Classy.

News at 10?

There's some Twitterage about this morning that NME.com is going to host a big announcement about The Libertines at 10am.

Oh, they couldn't leave it alone, could they?

Gordon in the morning: Curse him, he's right

Credit where it's due: this morning, Gordon Smart gets The Libertines story right while the NME comes across all print the legend.

Smart boils yesterday's press conference to the big idea behind the reunion:

PETE DOHERTY admitted yesterday he has been persuaded to reform THE LIBERTINES because the £1.2million fee will pay off his tax bill.
[...]
Pete said at the press conference: "What's appealing about the money is what's left after tax obviously. Which turns out is just enough to pay last year's bill."

The NME seems to have left that bit out in its extensive coverage of the reunion. But then if their reunion special edition had gone 'why get back together?' 'it's the cash' it might have taken a bit of the shine off the event.

Gordon in the morning: Don't look back into the sun

There are many things you could say about the ill-advised Libertines reunion. Possibly only Gordon would go with this:

Smells like 'tines spirit

Because, effectively, The Libertines and Nirvana are the same thing.

Not that Gordon isn't over-excited:

If they'd managed to keep going, they were on course to become the biggest rock band in the country.

Really? You can't picture them playing the game quite like Kasabian, flogging football shirts and turning up to feed the tabloids. And if you try to picture it, all you can see is the band splitting apart.

Carl Barat leaves open 2011 Libertines reunion

On the long-scale of reunion likelihood, running from The Smiths netherworld of impossibility to Madness' perpetual reformation, you can nudge the Libertines a couple of inches towards Madness. Carl Barat is making noises that he might consider it some time next year.

In unrelated news, Carl Barat's 'income/outgoing expenditure spreadsheet' has announced that the way things are going, the money might run out some time in 2011.

Luckily, there might be room in the diary:

"It's not definite definite. I can say 2011, but it's hard to plan the Libertines until next Tuesday. But 2011 is where there's room for that to happen. So if everything's all right, then, yeah, it would be glorious to get on the old jacket and venture forth, into the known."

It's not clear if there's an element of 'yeah, we must meet up this time - right now is tricky for me... how about some time before the end of recorded time?' to this. It's unlikely Pete Doherty makes firm plans more than about two hours in advance.

Decade Null: 2004 - The Libertines

You can't really do the last decade and totally ignore the Libertines, can you? So let's not paint Pete Doherty out of history entirely. From The Libertines self-titled debut album, Carl Barat does a solo reading of Can't Stand Me Now for Rolling Stone.

Okay, we're painting Doherty out a little.



[Part of Decade Null 2004]

[UPDATE: Thanks to Danbut for pointing out that I'd totally forgotten the existence of Up The Bracket]

Barat to Doherty: Don't look forward in excitement

As the last of September ebbed away, Pete Doherty was telling everyone the Libertines were coming back, back, back:

“I think we’re gonna make a record, and tour. Get the Libertines to take it to the next step, next stage. Next year.”

This comes as news to Carl Barat, who can't get away to marry you today, as his life won't let him:

"I'm too busy next year. Maybe the year after that," he said. "See how it goes. When it needs to happen, it will fall into place. It's more a way of life than a band for me. I’m not going to jump up there and play the songs for some money – if it feels right then it will fall into place."

Admittedly, he didn't say "over my dead body", or "when Nick Clegg becomes Prime Minister", but there's a suggestion that he's not quite so excited by the prospect of reuniting with Pete. "Maybe we'll see how things look for 2011" couldn't be a more effective brushing-off if it came with a tray to collect crumbs and was followed by a little buffing.

And I'm sure the bit about doing it for money wasn't meant to make it sound like, ooh, some other people are desperate to get back together so they can stop relying on collecting the empties at the Black Dog And Handle to scrape enough for a kebab on the way home. I'm sure.

The Libertines reform... up to a point

Exciting - or, possibly, depressing, myth-killing news - from the NME this morning:

Pete Doherty has confirmed his plan to reform The Libertines to play UK festivals in 2010.

Really? They're reforming next summer? How on earth did Pete persuade Carl to get involved?

The Babyshambles frontman told NME.COM that he had already convinced former bandmates John Hassall [bass] and Gary Powell [drums] to reunite for gigs, and that as soon as Carl Barat agreed, dates would be finalised.

Ah. So Pete's plan would seem to be 'announce it to the press, then back Carl into a corner where he can't really say no without looking like an evil dream-killing villain. There's nothing like a reunion at knife-point, is there?

The comeback, by the way, is entirely motivated by artistic impulse and nothing whatsoever to do with the sluggish sales of Doherty's solo work.

Dirty Pretty no longer Things

Carl Barat's post-Libertines adventure, Dirty Pretty Things, are calling it a day. There's a statement:

01/10 Dirty Pretty Things Official Announcement
It is with some sadness we announce the farewell of the Dirty Pretty Things. It's been a glorious three years which we all would gladly live out again, but it is time for us to try new things. (not The Libertines). We are reluctant to give up touring but will give the last waltz everything. We have and are determined to go out as we came in, after which we all have other ventures to be getting on with and splendid future plans. Heartfelt thanks to all who made it what it was, much love and we'll see you on the road.

The "not The Libertines", you suspect, might be telling here - although a perfectly great band in their own right, it must have been grinding knowing there's always a part of your following who really hope you're going to get back with your ex.

Barat: Looking miserable for Libertines fans

Carl Barat has told the Independent that the biggest challenge to Dirty Pretty Things was trying to not disturb Libertines fans:

"At the Isle of Wight," Barat recalls, "I felt I couldn't be seen to be having a good time, because I was dutifully carrying this cross. I thought that's what the fans of The Libertines wanted. A lot of them were in mourning for the band."

So, then... will there be a resurrection? Not unless there's a point, he insists. Even the friendship with Doherty can be a distraction:

"Once I've done what I'm doing now, it won't be hard at all. It may detract in the short term from what I'm trying to achieve. It's certainly a friendship I cherish. But I want to let it be for a while. A lot of my friends say you should only do reunion if you're going to write a new album. I agree. Otherwise it's just a cash-cow, a glory-milker. I've still got 'Libertine' tattooed on my arm. There were some kids outside who asked me to play some Libertines tonight. One of them was covered with blood, for some reason."

For some reason.

No word, no mention, of the supposed musical Barat and Doherty are meant to be busy writing, you'll note.

NOTW jibes at Doherty

There's a pointless space-filler from today's News of the World - Stars At Their Worst. This purports to be "pictures they want banned" but they consist of things like Amy Winehouse looking a bit wobbly and Britney Spears wearing ripped tights, which hardly is their "worst" and, you imagine, not the pictures they'd have had banned first, given the opportunity.

There's also one of Pete Doherty, but it's the caption rather than the close-up of his nails that catches the eye:

Former Libertines guitarist Pete Doherty is mostly famous for being Kate Moss's druggy ex boyfriend.

The second half of the sentence is, you'd have to admit, probably fair, but it's a little bit ungenerous to boil him down to 'former Libertines guitarist', isn't it?

Showbiz Zoe gets a scoop

The Sunday Mirror's Zoe of the Showbiz with Showbiz Zoe column might have landed herself a large exclusive this morning with the news that Carl Barat and Pete Doherty are - supposedly - writing a musical together a bit like the Threepenny Opera.

If only her colleague on the Daily Mirror hadn't reported exactly the same story on Friday.

Time for accountants

Now, we have as much respect for The Libertines and their great pop moments as anyone, but did their back catalogue really stretch so far as to make a compilation album either possible or necessary? Or is this merely a Christmastime cash-in, shaking down the loyal for a few more quid for the songs they'll already own?

Libertines unbound

NME.com is giving away a free chapter from Anthony Thornton's excellent Libertines Bound Together biography. You have to download it off the NME site, though, you can't just go into Waterstones with a Stanley knife and chop out the chapter.

It's not all Shirley Bassey

There are reports on NME.com suggesting that The Libertines might reunite for Glastonbury, or, at least, Pete and Carl might stumble together onto a stage somewhere to run through It's Thelma I'm Marrying.

Although, admittedly, this is based less on inside knowledge and more on something that they read in the Mirror this morning - which is a little odd under the strapline "First for Music News". The NME does have exclusive photos of the pair working together in a studio last Friday, but, erm, isn't publishing them until they've been in the paper. And that was for Radio 2's Sergeant Pepper thing, so it's a safe bet there might be some BBC shots kicking around, too.

Barat: Libertines reunite - if Doherty remains alive

Tucked into the "isn't the art world crazy" report on Pete Doherty's paintings, Zoe in the Sunday Mirror catches up with Carl Barat, the Bewes to Pete's Bolam:

"Pete ended up in the nick last week - I don't think he'll ever change.

"I love Pete like a brother and I am working with him again. But he could end up dead in a few years if he doesn't sort himself out.

"We were in the studio last week and should have something by the end of next year."

You'd have to question the nose for a story of someone who gets a juicy 'Libertines reunion - by the end of next year' story from the horse's mouth, and buries it in a ho-hum 'the prices on modern art' piece.

Doherty: He might not be clean, but he's good

Pete Doherty's ability to satisfy London's magistrates continues, with Judge McIvor praising him for being bothered to turn up to find out his case reviews turn out:

The musician was 30 minutes late for the hearing, but Judge McIvor told him: "There's no obligation for you to turn up to the reviews.

"The fact you've turned up shows co-operation - more than co-operation - and there is no risk of you breaching this order."

So, is Pete clean?

Apparently not, but... oh, he so wants to be:

"I'm quite keen to show a negative test as soon as possible," the 28-year-old told the court.

It's a little bit like Nick Cotton, isn't it? "I'm gonna get clean for ya, maaa..."

Of course, if Doherty's in as much financial trouble as he's supposed to be, he might have no option as his supplies will dry up anyway.

[UPDATE]
CNN had a more detailed report, in which he implies that it's the love and support of Carl Barat which may have saved him (for this week, at least):

Rocker Pete Doherty said Wednesday that people close to him are insisting that he kick his addiction to drugs.

"The people I'm closest to have had enough. They've said it's drugs or them," the Babyshambles frontman said at a court appearance to review his progress in complying with a treatment order.

"A lot has changed in the past week," Doherty added.

In the last week, of course, he reunited on stage with Carl. We're sure it won't be in any way galling to Kate that a year of her life, and two spells of rehab on her money isn't a patch on a sing-song with his former best mate.