Our week-long countdown to V200 continues with this exclusive interview with Babyshambles' Adam Ficek.

NME.COM: Will Babyshambles be bringing some rock ‘n’ roll spirit to V this year?
Adam: “I think rock and roll doesn’t exist, it’s just a media thing. There’s a rock and roll spirit, I suppose, in as much that there’s people up there playing emotionally raw music. The whole connotations with drugs and stuff is a bit of a cliché though. I think we’re much less a pre-conceived band on stage, we’re gonna be up there and it’s going to be very pure and very raw music. It’s a much more emotional, raw, heartfelt performance you’re gonna get with Babyshambles, as always.”

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NME.COM: How do you think you will go down with V’s more mainstream audience?
Adam: “Whoever we’re playing to, we play as we play. You’re going to get Babyshambles playing a typically raucous show, we’re not going to go in and change anything we do. We get so much more criticism than other bands so it just tends to wash off our backs. I’d like to think we’d win a few fans over, ‘cause our reputation as a band is quite tarnished in the media and I think a lot of people who see the band are quite surprised we can play and perform. Although it’s shambolic and raucous, there’s a high element of musicality and emotion in what we do.

NME.COM: So, what else have you got planned for your performance?
Adam: “Fireworks, people juggling with fire, dancing giraffes…no, there’s nothing special planned, we’re just going to go on and deliver things the best we can. The songs are more than enough to give people a good show at the festival. You’ve just got to get on, do your best and take care of business.”

NME.COM: Are there any kindred spirits on the bill?
Adam: “There’s no band out there that has the same rock and roll spirit as us. There’s one band who come close, and that’s The View. They’re one of the most sincere bands out there, they’re walking the walk and talking the talk. There’s so many bands out there who say ‘yeah, we’re rock and roll, we’re gonna change the world’, and you think ‘how?’ I see a lack of bands out there that sing from the heart, I mean, Peter is the real McCoy, what you see is what you get with him.”

NME.COM: Will you be hanging out in V’s celebrity-packed hospitality areas?
Adam: “No, I don’t think any of our band will be. Will Pete? Pete might be there getting a drink, but none of us would hang round with celebrities out of choice. We try to turn our back on that kind of thing, it’s not what we aspire to be. It just doesn’t interest me.”

NME.COM: So Pete won’t be living it up, then?
Adam: “He’s clean, he got an implant last week, so he’s convalescing at the moment. All the band are running around him and keeping him in a good place emotionally and physically. He’s making great progress. So he’ll be on the fruit juice and yoghurt. The problem comes when they try to palm us off with concentrate, that’s when windows start to get smashed. It’s bad when they give us non-organic fruit when they say it is organic. You can taste the pH level in the soil.”

Interview: Tom Pinnock