Pete Who?

It was a spirit-crushing trial that would've tested the patience of Job himself. Every day, Libertines leader Carl Barât had to watch, saddened, sometimes horrified, as his old band partner Pete Doherty sank deeper into his tabloid-trumpeted, substance-abusing quagmire, dragging bystanders - like model Kate Moss, caught (allegedly) in a Doherty coke-sniffing snafu - down with him. It's all spelled out in the new U.K. bestseller, Bound Together - The Definitive Story of Peter Doherty and Carl Barât and How They Changed British Music.

Jail terms didn't work. Nor did countless failed rehabs or aborted reunion attempts. Barât - who'd offered his chum a come-back-when-you're-clean Libs deal - finally had no choice: He soldiered on with a rambunctious new combo, Dirty Pretty Things, and left Doherty to his own diabolical devices. And although the pair reportedly reconvened over a few Camden-pub pints only last month, the first DPT single - from its ribald Waterloo To Anywhere debut for Interscope - pretty much says it all: "Bang Bang You're Dead." Barât and band guitarist Anthony Rossomando (who'd subbed for Doherty in the Libertines) sat down for a few friendly pints themselves in a New York bar to discuss the happy ending to this rock 'n' roll tragedy.

You handled this sordid affair with grace and dignity. Which probably wasn't easy.
AR:I completely agree. That's why I've stuck by this man all the way. He's an example that shines down through the entire band each and every day. It's always easy to rally behind someone who represents themselves with dignity and truth. And he never went for the bullsh-t that was thrown his way. I'd just like to point that out right away.
CB:And let me just point out that it wasn't me saying any of that. But I had nothing else to do than just keep going, really. I had no choice. You end up in a bad situation, and you have no choice but to turn 'round and figure out a way to break through it. And I still knew at heart what it was I did musically. But it got clouded. I definitely went through a period of self-doubt. I stopped returning calls - well, I don't return calls, anyway - and I kept good friends around me, the ones I've got currently.

The title Waterloo To Anywhere was obviously based on London's Waterloo tube and rail station. Have you ever just hopped on a train bound for anywhere?
Yeah, yeah - I have done that a bit. And I do get recognized. And Waterloo Station is a tube stop, but it also goes overland and covers the South of England, and has access to the Chunnel going over to Europe and everywhere else. So you can get to anywhere from Waterloo, pretty much, not just anywhere in England. But, yeah, I've just bought a ticket and jumped on. Basically a bit of a vagabond existence. And I'd end up in Cornwall or somewhere and just find a place to stay when I got there. And, yeah, I've got enough money now to do something like that. But the thing is, you can do it with no money, and no money is the idea. I got quite used to it. And there are hundreds of ways 'round it, really. I've spent years traveling in London for nothing. In the tubes, you just pick up the old tickets and they'll get you out the other end because they haven't been used. And for getting in, you just put your hand or a newspaper in place while someone else is going through, and the gate stays open and you just walk through behind 'em. There are loads of tricks like that.
AR:That's a good one! I never knew that one!

Waterloo's got some pretty wicked numbers on it, like "The Enemy," "Deadwood," "Doctors & Dealers," and "Blood Thirsty Bastards."
CB: Well, the songs are about more than just my personal lament story. I didn't wanna write a selfish record. "Deadwood" is about getting rid of all the deadwood in your life, about just being real. And with "Bang Bang," again, there's a lot more going on there than the Pete thing. It's about putting everything to bed and taking stock, focussing on the phoenix rising from the ashes.

Didn't you just hang out with those whippersnappers the Arctic Monkeys last night? And actually DJ at their concert?
CB: Yeah. I played a Beatles song and a Stones song, and that was it.

Do you believe that - as the book title suggests - you've changed the face of British music forever?
CB: Well, I think we were definitely part of the scene. And we helped open the door. And now we're the young band. The Monkeys were just saying yesterday how it had been three years and one day since their very first gig - they've been playing together for over three years now. But Dirty Pretty Things have only been gigging for nine months! We've got those Arctic Monkey guys totally beat!

By Tom Lanham
Source:The Wave