Pete Doherty (Ebury)

Early in 2004 Alan Mc introduced Pete to D Hart, who had played in the Creation Recor band The Jesus and M Chain. Hart had follow The LibertinesTEN to the of England on the tra with hisALBUM Super TWO 8 cam with a view to making music video for the ba Hart would later fly o Paris to direct the Fo‘ Lovers’ video to accom the single Pete was on verge of releasing wit Wolfman in the spring Pete was still playing Early in 2004 Alan McGee introduced Pete to Douglas Hart, who had played bass in the Creation Records band The Jesus and Mary Chain. Hart had followed The Libertines to the North of England on the train with his Super 8 camera with a view to making a music video for the band. Hart would later fly out to Paris to direct the ‘For Lovers’ video to accompany the single Pete was on the verge of releasing with Wolfman in the spring. Pete was still playing solo gigs, advertising them on his website a day or two before they took place. He’d already recorded ‘For Lovers’ and was desperate to record the B-side; it was a beautiful song and he was convinced it would be a hit. He’d also finished recording the debut Babyshambles single. But Pete and Carl still wanted to write together. They needed to collaborate and bond after the debacle of their trip to the Welsh valleys, and they had a second Libertines album to write. So they decided to head to Paris. Pete wanted to be alone with Carl in the French capital and renew their friendship; Carl wanted to get away from the crowd that had attached itself to Pete and the drugs. They both wanted to play guitar and write songs. 173 PETE DOHERTY: LAST OF THE ROCK ROMANTICS ALBUM TWO Having spent the best part of a week in Hay-on-Wye witnessing the In a posting on his website entitled ‘The moon elegant over Paris destruction caused when Pete and Carl got together, Alan McGee and I’,Pete described walking the ‘magical streets’; of ‘theatres, tin cans, decided to hire security guards – more as a means of protecting his moustaches and pedal scooters’.He wrote endlessly in his latest volume charges from each other than, say, rabid fans. Nicknamed the Twins, of the Books of Albion; he hung out with a band called The Parisiennes. these men had a lot of form. It seemed a little over the top but in retro- He encouraged readers of his postings to head out to Paris ‘on a grand spect it was worth it. Carl and Pete’s relationship was volatile at the best debauch’, while Biggles, aka Carl, was forced to head back to London of times and even a trip to the romantic city of Paris was unlikely to due to family problems. throw water on the fire. After Carl had headed home, Douglas Hart flew out to Paris to They would be staying, appropriately enough, at France’s Albion direct the ‘For Lovers’ video. Pete was happy pursuing projects like this, Hotel on the Rue Notre Dame de Lorette. Pete claimed he and Carl and his mind was wrapped up in his new love, Babyshambles, which he would be ‘returning to friendship, oblivion’. He didn’t bargain on felt was far more than a sideline. While in Paris, Pete decided to do a McGee heading out as well to keep an eye on his protégés. It wasn’t couple of impromptu gigs; one, which he billed as ‘Acoustic Shambles’, quite what Pete had anticipated, and as a result Carl was lured away took place in the Café Bergerac next door to the Albion Hotel. But he most nights to restaurants and parties while Pete preferred to stay in the was glad to be in The Libertines again and was looking forward to head- hotel room, writing. ing back to London, playing live again with Carl and working on the That’s not to say the break didn’t do the pair good. There were fun follow-up to Up The Bracket. times. One night Carl and Pete disappeared to a local strip club but ended up seeing ‘some old bint pulling her clobber off’. But it wasn’t long before Carl got sick and went down with a fever, delirious. Pete While Carl and Pete’s relationship may have been couldn’t recall ever seeing him this bad – one night Carl began ranting fraught, love for The Libertines was growing. On 21 February the band about how it was ‘all over’ for The Libertines, simply because Franz picked up the gong for Best British Band at the annual NME awards.‘It’s Ferdinand had topped the charts. the best thing you can win,’ Pete said. With Carl bed-bound, Pete wrote songs and strolled the streets of On stage, Carl and Pete leaned into the mic and proceeded to recite Paris alone. It had always been a haven for free-thinkers – its Left Bank the First World War poem ‘Suicide in the Trenches’ by Siegfried Sassoon cafés a magnet for artists, poets, revolutionaries, bohemians and taking turns to repeat lines until the final, scalding denouement. philosophers. In the 1830s and 1840s, Romantic artists had lived in It wasn’t the usual ‘thank you’ speech that the event saw year after the Nouvelle-Athènes area in the ninth arrondissement. Pete felt right year. But it emphasised their discontent at Britain’s questionable mili- at home. tary involvement abroad and underscored Pete’s love of poetry. 174 175.

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