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| After a chance meeting at London\'s New Cross scene, the core members of The Libertines, Carl Barat(vocals, guitar) and Pete Doherty(vocals, guitar) formed, after dicovering a shared passion for romantic britishness and indie and punk (as well as recreational drug use). Th |
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After a chance meeting at London\'s New Cross scene, the core members of The Libertines, Carl Barat(vocals, guitar) and Pete Doherty(vocals, guitar) formed, after dicovering a shared passion for romantic britishness and indie and punk (as well as recreational drug use). They then rented a flat in west London, which they christened The Albion Rooms. After a few changes (including Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell), the final line-up added John Hassall (bass), and Gary Powell (drums). In early interviews, Carl and Pete often spoke of \'sailing the good ship Albion to Arcadia\'. They explained that Albion was England, and that Arcadia was their vision of a better place. However, they also insisted that Carl was born in a kitchen sink, Pete\'s previous job was a gravedigger, and they once auditioned an 80 year old jazz drummer called Mr Razzcocks. (All of these later turned out to be true). Initially, critics failed to be inspired by the band\'s unique vision of England, with more cynical onlookers requesting \'Knees up, Mother Brown\'. However, after several gigs in west London (as well as practically reinventing guerilla gigging), they attracted the attention of Alan McGee, the manager who discovered Oasis. From then on, interest rose. Debut single \'What A Waster\' reached the top 40, and got an NME single of the week. Double A-side \'Time For Heroes\' and \'I Get Along\' was critically acclaimed, and on the month that \'Don\'t Look Back Into The Sun\' smashed into the top ten, they released their debut album \'Up The Bracket\'. Although without the aforementioned single, it was well recieved, and they soon became the band everyone was talking about. However, disaster arose. Pete Doherty, whose heroin addiction had been spiralling all this time (Carl once smashed his head into a sink after a paticularly strong argument), was temporarily kicked out of the band in order to sort himself out. Pete saw it as an act of betrayal, and responded by burgling Carl\'s flat. He was later sentenced to two months at Wandsworth prison. However, he came out relatively clean, and their friendship was rekindled. They then won the best British band at the NME wards, beating off the likes of Radiohead and Oasis, and got a new producer, Mick Jones, guitarist with legendary punk band The Clash. However, while recording their second album, Doherty started taking heroin again, and his relationship with Carl was again tested. Rumour has it that McGee had hired two bodyguards to stop the two attacking each other during recording. Eventually, the band decided Pete should come clean, and was sent to various drug rehabilitation centres (including a stint at a Thai monastery). Howver, this was to no avail. During this time, Pete also formed a band with side-project Babyshambles, and duetted with close friend Wolfman to get a No. 7 with \'For Lovers\'. In August, the new single \'Can\'t Stand Me Now\' (written about Pete and Carl\'s fragile relationship) got to No. 2 in the charts, and they got a No.1 album titled \'The Libertines\', which was every bit as good as the previous one. Although the band played many festivals without Pete, he is currently trying to slowly get clean. Recently the band have played many gigs for anti-racism, and ironically, anti-drugs causes, and have a new single out soon.
Bio written by: Bulldog |
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