In the early 2000s, The Libertines were arguably the most talked-about, and certainly the most written-about, rock band in Britain. The UK music press were borderline obsessed with the London-based quartet, their scrappy, romantic songs about 'Albion', their free-spirited hedonism, and, in particular, the bromance between frontmen Pete Doherty and Carl Barât.
When Doherty began dating supermodel Kate Moss, The Libertines moved from the front pages of the NME to the front pages of Britains's scandal-hungry, self-righteous, hateful, right wing tabloid newspapers, who delighted in reporting every whiff of gossip and drama around the band, particularly when it came to stories of Doherty and Barât's appetites for Class A drugs.
“The tabloid interest didn’t really happen until Kate [Moss] came into the picture,” Doherty says in a new interview with The Times. “It wasn’t really connected to the band.”
“But it wasn’t like we were innocent victims in it all,” Barât admits. “We realised the attention could put the band into the annals of history, even if it was a pain in the arse at the time.”
Asked how the additional attention around the quartet affected the band members' mental health, Barât replies, “Well, I tried to commit suicide with a marble sink.”
The incident in question took place at the home of the band's manager, former Creation Records boss Alan McGee. Following an intense argument with Doherty, The Times reports that “Barât head-butted a sink so violently he ended up with one eye hanging out of its socket.”
Alan McGee took Barât to the nearest hospital, where his eye was sewn back in. Unfortunately, it was inserted the wrong way round. Realising this, McGee was forced to drive Barât to London to get the procedure done correctly.
“I felt like I was on The Truman Show, even though I wasn’t the one going out with Kate Moss,” Barât recalls, reflecting back on the time. “I didn’t know what to think or believe. The only thing I had faith in was the songs.”
The Libertines tour the UK from next week. Remaining tickets can be purchased here.
