WEB EXCLUSIVE: Pete Doherty talks to Hot Press before Babyshambles' Cork, Dublin and Belfast gigs this month

“We’ve managed to steady the ship in a lot of ways. There’s no crack and there’s no heroin. I know that’s not necessarily enough but for now it’s a good place to come from. We’re looking to move beyond that as well. I think no spirits might be the next step. There’s whispers of being alcohol-free.”

Pete Doherty is telling Hot Press what is and isn’t being consumed on the current Babyshambles reunion tour.

I’m reminded of Ronnie Woods’ thoughts on the matter: “You can’t totally shut off. Keep it to a gentle rain – nobody likes a drought or a flood!”

“A gentle rain? I like that a lot!” Pete beams.

Bringing them this month to Cyprus Avenue, Cork (August 22), Vicar St., Dublin (23); and The Limelight, Belfast (24), Babyshambles’ second coming was prompted by the death last year of founder member Patrick Walden at the far too tender age of 46.

“We’d been trying to do it for a while but it was so complicated because Pat was still struggling quite badly with his addiction,” Pete explains. “It was just hard to get him in the room. Sad to say, his death about a year ago was the catalyst. Obviously doing it without him isn’t the same because songs like ‘Fuck Forever’ and ‘Pipedown’ are as much his as they are mine and nobody can play them like Pat. You’ve got the very mod-y rock ‘n’ roll Babyshambles stuff and then you’ve got the grungier punk stuff with Pat. Those songs are just mammoth.

“He was a very brilliant and intricate guitar player. Pat’s in our hearts and on the screens behind us. It was his death really that made us like, ‘Fuck, let’s do it before anyone else dies!’”

Before reuniting with The Libertines, Pete told me that he had to brace himself for going back into that environment and making sure it was safe and healthy for him. Was that the case with Babyshambles as well?

“A little bit,” he nods. “We’re spending a lot more time together than we used to when it would be different factions. You know, the drugs faction which would be me and whoever was on guitar, and the rhythm section, Drew and Adam, who were a bit more reliable and made sure we got everywhere and avoided arrest. They weren’t terribly successful but they did their best, god bless ‘em. Now we’re on the same page-ish.”

Babyshambles released ‘Dandy Hooligan’ last year as a bit of an appetite whetter for the tour. Is there more new Babyshambles stuff taking shape?

“Yeah, we’ve got some really strong ideas. I’ve got a trunk-full of new songs. It’s hard to know what to do with them now. Do I do them with the ‘shambles or with The Libertines or on me own? We’ll see but something like ‘Dandy Hooligan’ was a no brainer. As soon as I wrote it, I thought, ‘This is a ‘shambles song!’”

To further get you in the mood for those Irish shows, the ‘shambles have just released a four-track Live At Koko EP which will be followed on October 9 by a full-length album of the same name.

“That Koko show was at the end of a four-week tour,” Pete recalls. “It might have been a little rough round the edges but that’s part of our sound anyway. We don’t use many FX pedals, we don’t have loops, we don’t have click-tracks. I’m not knocking it, bands can do what the fuck they like, but if you want a good raw, unfiltered guitar sound, you come to Babyshambles.”

Ushering them on to the Camden Town stage – “Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, I have a great affinity for this band. I’ll tell you why – because like me they’re still alive!” – is Bill Bailey. How did that come about?

“It’s through Drew McConnell, the ‘shambles Irish bass-player. His mum’s from Dublin,” Pete resumes. “I don’t know if he’d like the term ‘jobbing musician’ – shall we say ‘journeyman’ – but he’s played with Liam Gallagher and spent time in a tuxedo as part of Bill Bailey’s West End show. We have different people introducing us each night and Drew just said, ‘Why don’t we get him?’”

That Koko gig aside, what have been the highlights of the reunion so far?

“I never thought I’d use Norwich and the East Anglia University Arts Centre in this context, but that was the one for me,” he says to the delight one would imagine of Alan Partridge. “After a couple of warm ups in some pubs, it was the first medium-sized venue we played and just to see a roomful of people lost in the moment, singing the songs. And the sound being so clear and pure. It sent shivers up my spine.

Pete has been quadruple-jobbing with The Pete Doherty Show (more of which anon) hitting YouTube in September; solo gigs on the way with Smiths legend Mick Joyce on drums; and The Libertines covering ‘Sayonara’ for November’s 20th Century Paddy – The Songs Of Shane MacGowan album. How did they settle on that particular track?

“Well, apart from the fact that we left it quite late – we didn’t have that much choice as to what we’d do – I’ve always loved that song because it’s a good old singalong, isn’t it? In some ways it’s a forlorn song, but it’s also quite celebratory. We’d had a few days in the studio writing and recording and it really fitted the mood we were in. I think years and years ago we covered it. It’s got a story to it as well; the young man out east and wandering around. It’s very poetic, the lyrics are beautiful.

"I’ve been trying to get ‘Kathmandu’ into a song for years. Kathmandu used to be Libertines slang for a certain type of mod haircut where you have a really straight fringe and then bangs down the side. It was our dream haircut back in the day. Doing ‘Sayonara’ meant a lot to us in different ways.”

Shot in and around his beloved Margate, The Pete Doherty Show – or The Pete Dock-Erty Show as the Brits mispronounce it – finds the singer contemplating the enormity of life with TikTok comedy sensation Josh Pugh.

“I wasn’t that keen to be honest, but ended up really enjoying it,” he confides. “I wanted to meet and work with Josh Pugh. Late at night on the tour bus, one of the lads would bring out a phone and show his little standup routines, which I love. They’re very funny. He’s writing his own sitcom now. You know me, I’ll try anything once!”

Each wepisode finds one of the acts signed to Pete’s Strap Originals label performing live in the Dalby Café where Mr. D (in)famously scoffed their gut-busting mega-breakfast in under twenty minutes, thusly getting it for free. Kicking things off are GANS, the Birmingham duo who sound like IDLES on Grade A ecstasy.

“GANS are taking the world by storm,” Pete enthuses. “They’re the pride of our stable. Actually, I say that about everyone we’ve signed to our label including Junior Brother who’s supporting Babyshambles in Ireland.”

As soon as the Babyshambles tour finishes, Pete is going to be taking to the road with Mike Joyce, his missus Katia de Vidas, his toddler daughter Billie-May and his beloved dogs who've also been squeezing onto the Babyshambles tour bus.

“The Pete Doherty solo project was for a long time just me on acoustic guitar but now I’ve got Mike Joyce playing drums, which is the stuff of my teenage fantasy. I adored The Smiths – I love them even more now I know him! We’ve got Mike Moore and Jack Jones playing guitar, my wife on keyboards and Billie-May on maracas! I don’t know what the child labour laws are now Brexit’s happened but we’ll get round it!”

See the September print issue of Hot Press for more on the Pete Doherty Show, Pete's friendships with Shane MacGowan and Amy Winehouse and lots more!

Photo credits: New Babyshambles portraits by Barnaby Fairley and live shot by by Daniel Quesada