Babyshambles: the poet, the drugs and the rock n Roll

Babyshambles was created by Doherty during his first forced absence from The Libertines, in mid 2003. He was not allowed to play with them unless he tackled his drug addictions, and so wanted a different creative outlet. He recruited an old friend and once a brief member of The Libertines Steve Bedlow, commonly referred to as Scarborough Steve, on vocals. He named the band Babyshambles, a title which had been given to him by the Queens of Noize (former bandmate Barât had been similarly called Papashingles, but it was rarely used). The name comes from the UK beverage Babycham.

After some makeshift recording sessions, Doherty quickly organised a gig. By this time, he had resolved to call his new band The Libertines as well, as he thought he had an equal share with Barât to the name. However, the band did not show because it was the same night Doherty was arrested for robbing Barât's flat. After he was charged and released, another gig was organised at the Tap'n'Tin (famously the location of The Libertines reunion gig). The band played this one, but the performance was poor and fans left disappointed. Soon after Doherty was sentenced to 6 months in jail, on appeal reduced to two.

After leaving prison Doherty rejoined The Libertines, slowing any progress with his Babyshambles project. Despite that, he found time to record the band's first single Babyshambles. It was released in April 2004 on High Society Records. Less than 1,000 copies of the CD and 7" were released and both can now be found changing hands for more than £50 on internet auction sites such as eBay.

Midway through 2004, Doherty again found himself out of The Libertines pending him staying clean, meaning he had more time to spend on Babyshambles. The line-up, which had been very changeable, began to stabilise with Patrick Walden on guitar, Gemma Clarke on drums and Peter Perrett's two sons, Jamie and Peter Junior on guitar and bass, respectively. Doherty organised a slew of gigs. Despite not showing up to all of them, the band gained some respect in its own right, not just off the back of The Libertines' success.

The band underwent several changes of line-up before finally stabilising during Summer 2004 with Doherty on vocals, Patrick Walden on guitar, Gemma Clarke (who has now left the band) on drums and Drew McConnell on bass.

During September and October 2004 Babyshambles embarked on a UK tour culminating in two sold-out shows at the London Scala. Despite fears that Doherty's performance would not be consistent, the tour sold-out and received critical acclaim. The band's second single "Killamangiro" was released November 29 2004 on Rough Trade Records and reached number 8 in the UK charts. The band embarked on another tour in December amid increasing concern about Doherty's drug use. During a gig in Blackpool the band walked off stage when it became clear Doherty was too intoxicated to perform and a riot broke out at the London Astoria when Doherty failed to turn up for a gig.

In January 2005, Gemma Clarke quit the band, citing disagreements with the management who she considered irresponsible for failing to address Doherty's obvious drug problem. She was replaced by Adam Ficek. In February 2005 Doherty, along with fellow musician Alan Wass, was arrested on suspicion of assault and blackmail. It was alleged that Doherty assaulted Max Carlish, a documentary maker, in a London hotel, a charge he denied. Carlish had made a documentary about Doherty entitled 'Stalking Pete Doherty'. After allegedly assaulting Carlish, Doherty spent several nights in prison until £150,000 bail could be raised. After being released on bail Doherty spent several weeks in a recording studio in Wales working on Baby Shambles' debut album. All charges against him were dropped in April 2005.

Work on Babyshambles' debut album continued throughout April and May 2005 with Mick Jones, who had also worked with Doherty on the producing of The Libertines' albums. The album, Down in Albion was released on 14th November, having been leaked onto the internet on 19th October. It came 10th in the Radio 1 Album Charts. The first single from the album was "Fuck Forever" and was released on August 15th,reaching number 4 on the UK Singles Chart. The second single "Albion" was released on the 28th November and came 8th in the Radio 1 Single Charts.

On October 1, 2005, the Babyshambles tour bus was raided by police. Pete Doherty was charged on suspicion of possession of class A drugs and bailed until December, although Doherty claims that the substances were related to his Naltrexone implant.

Pete Doherty appeared on Newsnight at the end of 2005, and played a few small gigs to fans at the end of that year. At the start of 2006 the band announced that they would play 3 small club shows in London, Sheffield and Stoke. To fans' surprise, Babyshambles performed at the first of the London dates without guitarist Patrick Walden. Instead of Walden, Pete Doherty played guitar at the London date. However, the guitarist returned for a gig in Cambridge in January. He is currently not playing in the band.

On January 14, 2006 Babyshambles were scheduled to perform a gig in Graz Austria but Pete Doherty failed to attend after he got arrested again and charged with driving under the influence and possession of Class A drugs, heroin and cocaine. The band performed without Doherty. On 20 January, Doherty pled guilty to possession of heroin, crack cocaine, morphine and cannabis.

In February 2006, the band also won the Naomi Award for Worst Live Act.

On February 23, 2006 Pete Doherty received an NME award for sexiest male, he also performed with his band Baby Shambles on the night.

On March 31 and April 1, 2006 Doherty was performing two solo gigs at the NonStop Cinema (porncinema and venue) in Graz Austria and were showing his film with the title "Spew it out your soul" which he produced at the suggestion of Bettina Aichbauer, owner of the NonStop Cinema and friend of Doherty, specially for the gigs at the NonStop.

On April 29, 2006 Doherty was arrested, this time on the day of Babyshambles' scheduled appearance at a Love Music Hate Racism rally in Trafalgar Square. The set was replaced by an acoustic performance of 'Albion', by Drew McConnell.

On May 11, 2006 Following a gig in Berlin, Doherty squirted the contents of a syringe at a camera being used by MTV reporters. Although it was assumed to be blood at the time, he later said that it was fake blood purchased for a prank.

On June 1, 2006 Pete Doherty was banned from the easyJet airline after causing havoc on a flight to Barcelona. A syringe was found in the aeroplane toilet, an airline spokeswoman said. The band were due to perform at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona that night.

On the night between June 16 and 17, 2006, the Babyshambles played at the Hultsfred Festival in Hultsfred, Sweden. The police authorities of Kalmar noticed signs of Doherty being intoxicated, and was after the concert confronted by the police. He underwent a test and was found guilty of a minor narcotics crime. He was sentenced to a fine of 14,000 SEK. Although able to dispute the fine, he chose not to do so, and paid the fine. Pete Doherty soon left Sweden, but another unnamed member of Babyshambles was held by police due to a minor seizure of illegal drugs. During the gig, which was severely delayed, Doherty was clearly under the influence of drugs. He fell off the stage, kicked against a photographer and threw his guitar off the stage.

In August 2006 Babyshambles signed up with major record label Parlophone, on which the band will release an EP of about five tracks in within the next months. They are still in negotiations for an album deal with Parlophone, Warner Bros. Records and B-Unique Records

The band released "Beg, Steal or Borrow" to the Get Loaded in the Park myspace. The single was given to those who attended the festival, backed with a live version and a dance version. The band has been rehearsing several new songs which include "French Dog Blues," "I Wish," "Sedative," "Fixing Up To Go," and "The Blinding"

Babyshambles - Live at Paradiso Amsterdam 01-05-06

17 tracks @ 192kbps

setlist:

1. Back From The Dead 2. Loyalty Song 3. Arcady 4. Pipe Down 5. I Love You (But You're Green) 6. Killamangiro 7. What A Waster 8. What Katie Did 9. À Rebours 10. I Wish ("Got No Money In My Pocket") 11. The Blinding 12. Time For Heroes 13. La Belle Et La Bête 14. Bollywood To Battersea 15. Beg Steal & Borrow 16. Merry Go Round 17. Why Did You Break My Heart 18. Stix & Stones 19. Stone Me What A Life 20. Fuck Forever 21. Hopefully It Helps