The wisdom of Pete Doherty

The Libs’ man had a busy 2016 what with a new solo album and a smattering of UK tour dates in support. It was a bold move considering the band only recently released their brilliant comeback record ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’. Here are some of Pete’s deepest musings on life, fame and even Pilates…

1
 

On London: “London becomes a very small village eventually. You run out of places.”

2
 

On The Libertines’ chemistry: “We’re all over the place, we’re a mess, but we’ve got a few things going for us – and that is these melodies that weave our fucking songs together.”

3
 

On doing Pilates ‘[Sings to the tune of Dean Martin’s ‘Volare’]: “Pil-at-es, oh, oh, oh/Don’t start-ees, oh, oh, oh.”

Advertisement

4
 

On his love for France: “The French thing isn’t some idle vanity project – it’s in my blood. I have family buried in the [Père Lachaise] cemetery near here. I could probably qualify for the French water polo team.’”

5
 

On fame: “It was always my ambition to be on the cover of a free gay magazine.”

6
 

On reincarnation: “My past life is a fucking mess, a real mess.”

7
 

On continental life: “If people hate you in France, they hate you for a genuine reason. In England, there isn’t any depth to people’s distaste.”

Advertisement

8
 

On having a heart attack: “I was running into the walls, making steering wheel signs with my hands. And then I just… stopped. My body just stopped.”

9
 

On The Libertines getting back together: “Well, it’s going to happen. It’s unfinished business, isn’t it?”

10
 

On Kate Moss not liking his music: “The fact that Kate didn’t like my songs was always a bit of a choker.”

11
 

On drug paranoia: “One time I thought the IRA were on my roof, trying to break in. It’s crack psychosis. The only way to get through it is by lying on your belly for two days.”

Advertisement

12
 

On his debauched lifestyle: “One minute I’m waiting for Kate to arrive to join me in the Jacuzzi for a romantic evening. The next thing I can remember is doing cold turkey in a vomit-filled cell.”

13
 

On addiction: “When did I last score drugs? I’d be a liar if I didn’t say that, until the day I die, I’m gonna be uneasy about answering a question like that.”

14
 

On life with Kate: “Shameless have we been, scene after scene, piping, pinned and powdering notes on planes… debauching it at the airports all over Europe.”

15
 

On not realising his dream of becoming a footballer: “All I ever wanted to do was play for QPR, and when it sank in that it was never going to happen, it was heartbreaking.”

16
 

On being misunderstood: “I’m a musician. But to a lot of other people it’s drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs. And more drugs. And I don’t like it.”

17
 

On musical ambition: “We [Babyshambles] always wanted our own version of ‘My Way’. A fuck-off big Sinatra one-off hit.”

18
 

On drug-taking and music: “It’s not conducive to concentrating and playing and singing. I tend not to get a lot done when I’m battered.”

19
 

On Kate Moss (again): “A lot of people basically are obsessed with the missus and I don’t know really… she’s just a bird from south London.”

20
 

On the tabloid press: “Honestly the cut, paste and twist of the gutter journalist: will they not desist this shit?”

21
 

On his ‘archive’ of unreleased material: “If you’ve got a bloke at NME who knows how to fix Macs, I’ve got fucking shitloads of broken Macs with sessions on that you can have…”

22
 

On resisting temptation: “I know where the self-destruct button is. I just have to resist the temptation to push it.”

23
 

On getting clean: “There’s a silent pop as I find the vein and launch a great shift into my system. Eye-closing, jaw tightening, speedballing through the opening hours of my detox at the Nightingale Hospital, Lisson Grove. It begins now, does the rest of my life.”

Advertisement
Advertisement