Babyshambles producer tells of battles with Pete Doherty

The producer of the new Babyshambles album has revealed that he had to have strong words with Pete Doherty in order to get the album finished.

Stephen Street, famous for his work with The Smiths, Blur and Kaiser Chiefs, told the frontman to “sort himself out” when his drug addiction threatened to derail work on the as-yet untitled follow-up to 2005’s ‘Down In Albion’, which is out in September.

Speaking in this week’s NME, Street said: "Pete wasn’t in a very good state for the first couple of weeks of making the record for the reasons that people know about. It was a bit worrying to be honest with you.

“There were a couple of times I had to fire warning shots across his bow, say ‘Listen, you’ve got to sort yourself out here because if you don’t I can’t work with you’. I felt like I was going to let down the rest of the band if I walked away from things.”

Street added: “I think the guy has got a lot of talent but for me it was hidden under this fug of addiction and I was desperately trying to get through to that young man that’s still there underneath it all who’s a very sharp, well-read, artistic person that’s let his less clever addictions get in the way.

“Sometimes I had to sit down with Pete and have really good heart-to-hearts with him to get through all of that and connect with the real musician and artist that’s underneath..I wanted to prove to those people that he can make a decent record.”

Read NME.COM's exclusive interview with Doherty now

The singer only spoke to us when he left court yesterday (August 7) after his sentencing for drugs charges were postponed and you can read the whole thing online now.

Meanwhile in this week’s NME, we offer our ‘instant expert’ expert guide to The Verve, who have reformed, and hear why Johnny Borrell thinks The Cribs “are talking bullshit”.

Elsewhere, we review the new album from MIA and introduce great new guitar hopes Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong.

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