The Libertines on new album: ‘We communicated through making music’

Pete Doherty and Carl Barât spoke to Annie Mac on Radio 1 on Thursday night (July 2)

The Libertines have discussed their upcoming third album in a new interview.

Details of the band’s new LP were unveiled on Thursday (July 2), with the 12-track record confirmed to be titled ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’, with a release date of September 4. It’s the band’s first album in 11 years, following their 2004 self-titled album and 2002 debut ‘Up The Bracket’.

Having premiered new single ‘Gunga Din’ on BBC Radio 1 last night, the band also spoke to Annie Mac about the new track.

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“[The title is] from a Rudyard Kipling poem of the same name,” co-frontman Carl Barât said, before quoting the poem in question: “Though I’ve belted you and flayed you. By the livin’ Gawd that made you. You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

Quizzed on the moment the band decided to make new music again, Pete Doherty replied: “In a short period of time just before Christmas last year when Carl appeared out of the blue while I was having some treatment to curb my enthusiasms and we spent a bit of time together. We find ourselves picking up guitars at odd times, doing a few tunes and with Carl mucking about, we decided to make music at the end of it!”

Barât added: “It’s been part of our friendship that we decided to make music again. We communicated through making music anyway.”

Speaking about recording the album in Thailand, Barât continued: “It was ridiculous! in 40 degree heat and 100 per cent humidity with scorpions and pit vipers. It was beautiful, great to have that tranquillity, having the time to ourselves, it was wonderful!”

Asked of their favourite album on the LP, Doherty opted for ‘Iceman’, which was recorded on a nearby beach. “It has a section we recorded where we were coming out of the water,” the singer revealed.

Listen to the Radio 1 interview in full below.

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This follows an interview with NME where the band discussed experimenting with their signature sound for the upcoming record, which will include the use of synths.

Speaking to NME, Barât claimed that the resulting album will be a “modern” version of the band, stating: “It’s not us repeating ourselves, that’s for sure. We’ve definitely moved on.”

Drummer Gary Powell added: “I would have been really, really pissed off if we’d come back with a new album full of old stuff… The last thing I wanted us to do was sound like we were back in 2004.”

NMEPress
The Libertines (L-R): Gary Powell, Carl Barât, Pete Doherty, John Hassall

The band have also detailed plans to indulge in a “week of folly” ahead of their album release.

An update on the band’s Facebook read: “It would be inappropriate for us not to mark this occasion with a celebration of the highest order, so we will be indulging in a week of folly around the UK in which you will all be invited to partake.”

Fans are also urged to sign up to a mailing list via the band’s official website: “You absolutely do not want to miss these announcements.”

Adding their appreciation for their loyal fans, the band continued: “It is hard to express the extent of our enormous happiness and gratitude for what we have achieved since regrouping, from Hyde Park, to Thailand, to Glastonbury, it has been the most inspiring and fantastical of journeys for which we thank you all.”

See the tracklist for ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’ below. The deluxe edition comes with four bonus tracks – ‘Love On The Dole’, ‘Bucket Shop’, ‘Lust Of The Libertines’ and ‘7 Deadly Sins’.

The ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’ tracklisting:

‘Barbarians’
‘Gunga Din’
‘Fame and Fortune’
‘Anthem For Doomed Youth’
‘Heart Of The Matter’
‘Belly Of The Beast’
‘Iceman’
‘You’re My Waterloo’
‘Fury of Chonburi’
‘The Milkman’s Horse’
‘Glasgow Coma Scale Blues’
‘Dead For Love’
‘Love On The Dole’ [Bonus]
‘Bucket Shop’ [Bonus]
‘Lust Of The Libertines’ [Bonus]
‘7 Deadly Sins’ [Bonus]

The Libertines performed a secret set at Glastonbury on Friday night (June 26), filling the gap in the line-up left vacant when Florence + The Machine stepped up to the headline slot to replace the injured Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters.

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