Libertines. - The Libertines Bound Together: The Definitive Story of Peter Doherty and Carl Barat and How They Changed British Music

DEDICATION

To Victoria for everything. To Mum, Dad and Judy for their patience. And to Andy F: missing you still.

Anthony Thornton

To my lovely Kerry, my parents Jill, Chris, Jan and Keith and my godson Felix.

Roger Sargent

DEDICATION To Victoria for everything. To Mum, Dad and Judy for their patience. And to Andy F: missing you still.Anthony Thornton To my lovely Kerry, my parents Jill, Chris, Jan and Keith and my godson Felix.Roger Sargent

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Anthony and Roger would like to take the opportunity to thank the following people who Anthony interviewed during the course of writing this book:

Peter Doherty, Carl Bart, John Hassall, Gary Powell and Paul DuFour (aka Mr Razzcocks).

Mick Jones, Banny Pooschti, Jake Fior, Andy Lee, Roger Morton, Andy Fraser, Dean Fragile, Kirsty Wark, Paul Brownell, Alan McGee, Kirsty Ridout, Kirsty Want, Kirsten Lynn, Tony Linkin, James Endeacott, Geoff Travis, Jeanette Lee, Jim Merlis, Gwyn Mathias and Hedi Slimane.

In addition Anthony and Roger would like to thank the following people without whom this book would never have been written or published:

Stephen Jenkins, Pat Gilbert, Neil McCormick, Anthony Rossamondo, Didz, Drew McConnell, Adam Ficek, Michael and Jeff, Colin Wallace, Annalisa Astarita, Stephen King, Matt Bates, George MacDonald, Paul Reeves, Alison Philcock, Phil Whaite, Simon Evans, Terry Grimley, John Aizlewood, Peter Gunn, Jolie Lash, Rob Partridge, Ray Innes, Dominic Blore, Rik Hegarty,

Kerry Swatridge, Caron Malcolm, Robert Hayden, Mr Nick Hat, Patsy Winkleman, Hannah and Rose, Alex Proud, Russell Parker, Richard Day, Bill and all at Holborn Studios, Tim Brooks, Conor McNicholas, Steve Sutherland, Neil Robinson, Tammi Iley and all at NME, Celia Hayley and Julian Alexander at LAW, Antonia Hodgson, Tamsin Barrack, Simon Sheffield, Caroline Hogg, Viv Redman, Maddie Mogford, Siobhan Hughes and all at Time Warner Book Group.

Roger and Anthony would like to give a special thank you to Tony Linkin whose vision and aid was immeasurable from the very beginning.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Anthony and Roger would like to take the opportunity to thank the following people who Anthony interviewed during the course of writing this book:Peter Doherty, Carl Bart, John Hassall, Gary Powell and Paul DuFour (aka Mr Razzcocks).Mick Jones, Banny Pooschti, Jake Fior, Andy Lee, Roger Morton, Andy Fraser, Dean Fragile, Kirsty Wark, Paul Brownell, Alan McGee, Kirsty Ridout, Kirsty Want, Kirsten Lynn, Tony Linkin, James Endeacott, Geoff Travis, Jeanette Lee, Jim Merlis, Gwyn Mathias and Hedi Slimane.In addition Anthony and Roger would like to thank the following people without whom this book would never have been written or published:Stephen Jenkins, Pat Gilbert, Neil McCormick, Anthony Rossamondo, Didz, Drew McConnell, Adam Ficek, Michael and Jeff, Colin Wallace, Annalisa Astarita, Stephen King, Matt Bates, George MacDonald, Paul Reeves, Alison Philcock, Phil Whaite, Simon Evans, Terry Grimley, John Aizlewood, Peter Gunn, Jolie Lash, Rob Partridge, Ray Innes, Dominic Blore, Rik Hegarty,Kerry Swatridge, Caron Malcolm, Robert Hayden, Mr Nick Hat, Patsy Winkleman, Hannah and Rose, Alex Proud, Russell Parker, Richard Day, Bill and all at Holborn Studios, Tim Brooks, Conor McNicholas, Steve Sutherland, Neil Robinson, Tammi Iley and all at NME, Celia Hayley and Julian Alexander at LAW, Antonia Hodgson, Tamsin Barrack, Simon Sheffield, Caroline Hogg, Viv Redman, Maddie Mogford, Siobhan Hughes and all at Time Warner Book Group.Roger and Anthony would like to give a special thank you to Tony Linkin whose vision and aid was immeasurable from the very beginning.

PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

It was the evening of 21 March 2003 when a woman wielding a claw hammer above her head began screaming obscenities at me. The profanities were punctuated with a shrill whine of, Its not fair, how dare they. This woman, it was obvious, had the misfortune to live next door to a den of comings and goings and parties and music. Clearly she had been subjected to long nights of psychological torture at the hands of Bash Street urchins with a sound system to spare.

It was the evening of 21 March 2003 when a woman wielding a claw hammer above her head began screaming obscenities at me. The profanities were punctuated with a shrill whine of, Its not fair, how dare they. This woman, it was obvious, had the misfortune to live next door to a den of comings and goings and parties and music. Clearly she had been subjected to long nights of psychological torture at the hands of Bash Street urchins with a sound system to spare.

Id been in scrapes before in my job at NME: soaked to the skin at Glastonbury with both hypothermia and Portishead poised to strike, and peeling my face off the sticky lager-flavoured floor of the Glasgow Barrowlands. But this was and remains the most scared Id ever been. I banged at the door with a manic mixture of determination and desperation, convinced that at any moment the hammer blow would fall.

Of course, the sensible option would have been to scarper out of Bethnal Green and away from this woodchip door with Albion Rooms crudely scrawled on it in biro, but after making it this far a crazy woman about to bring death on my head wasnt quite enough to deter me from what I knew would be an extraordinary evening.

The girl who answered the door calmly fixed me with a look and then shot a cooler one at the woman. In I went, ten pounds lighter but with woodchip between me and the hammer. I scrambled up the rickety bare wooden steps and into the front room. Roger Sargent had a camera and was standing on the wrought-iron spiral stairs that dominated this tumbledown room full of books and posters. Playing through a tiny scraggy-looking amp, Peter Doherty, Carl Bart and John Hassall were entertaining a small group of people cross-legged on the floor sipping lager.