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dirty-pretty-jackal-s · 7 months

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The Libertines return with ‘Run Run Run’ and announce new album ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’

“We're over the moon, and the ball is in the back of the net," declares Pete Doherty, as the band also announce intimate Margate shows

ByAndrew Trendell

The Libertines have returned with new single ‘Run Run Run’, as well as announcing details of their long-awaited fourth album ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ and some intimate Margate shows.

READ MORE: The Albion Rooms: Watch Carl Barat show us around The Libertines’ hotel and studio

Arriving on March 8, ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ is the long-mooted follow-up to 2015’s ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’, with the first taster arriving in the form of launch single ‘Run Run Run’ – a classic yet subtly raucous Libs indie dancefloor anthem that sees them reflect on their standing after more than two decades, as Carl Barat begins: “It’s the lifelong project of a life on the lash”.

“It’s about being trapped, and trying to escape your dismal life, a bit like the man in Bukowski’s Post Office,” said Barat of the track. “The worst thing for The Libertines would be to get stuck in a ‘Run-run-run’ rut – constantly trying to relive our past.”

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As well as sharing a name with Erich Maria Remarque’s anti-war novel, the album’s title is in honour of the band’s Margate hotel, studio, restaurant and bar, The Albion Rooms – which is also depicted on the sleeve with a dramatic cast of characters from the world of faded seaside glamour.

Consisting of 11 new tracks with songwriting credits shared among all four of the band, ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ was produced by Dimitri Tikovoï (The Horrors/Charli XCX/Becky Hill) and recorded at The Albion Rooms in just four weeks back in February and March of 2023, before being finished over a wee at La Ferme de Gestein Studios in Normandy. Additional production and mixing comes from Dan Grech-Marguerat (Lana Del Rey/Liam Gallagher/Paul McCartney).

Despite having been attempting work on writing the album for some years, the indie veterans have said that their previously reported sessions at Geejam in Port Antonio, Jamaica

saw Barat and Pete Doherty’s chemistry reform, before returning to Margate to reconvene with bassist John Hassall and drummer Gary Powell where, as Doherty explained, “we really came together as a band for “a moment of rare peace and unity, with all the members contributing.”

Doherty continued: “We’re over the moon, the ball is in the back of the net, and I’m chuffed for the lads!”

“I feel like we’ve completed a cycle of some kind as a band, and finally now we can add these songs to the setlist, because we’ve got some bangers in there. Now we’ve opened the hotel and used the studio ourselves and it’s all worked out – more Libertines records? I should hope so!”

Barat, meanwhile, added: “Our first record was born out of panic, and disbelief that we were actually allowed to be in a studio; the second was born of total strife and misery; the third was born of complexity; this one feels like we were all actually in the same place, at the same speed, and we really connected.”

The Libertines’ new album ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ is available on CD, deluxe CD, 12” vinyl in limited edition coloured variants, deluxe double vinyl cassette and digital download on March 8.

Fans who pre-order the album will be offered the chance to purchase tickets for ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade – described as “two days of special acoustic and electric live shows by The Libertines” at the 500-capacity Lido in Margate on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 December. VIP after party tickets at the Albion Rooms and Justine’s nightclub, including full band DJ sets, will also be available.

The tracklist to ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ is:

‘Run, Run, Run’ ‘Mustang’ ‘Have A Friend’ ‘Merry Old England’ ‘Man With The Melody’ ‘Oh Shit’ ‘Night Of The Hunter’ ‘Baron’s Claw’ ‘Shiver’ ‘Be Young’ ‘Songs They Never Play On The Radio’

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Speaking to NME back in 2019, Doherty said that the band had been exploring a number of ambitious directions on new material, likening it to the diversity of The Clash‘s divisive ‘Sandinista’.

Drummer Gary Powell then told NME in August last year that the band were “not going to try and reinvent the wheel… but I think we can push the boat out a little more while still bringing something that has the same emotional integrity and dynamism that the audience craves when they come to a Libertines show.”

#the libertines #‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’#carl barât #carl barat #peter doherty #gary powell #john hassall #new songs #new album #gigs #tickets #margate #the albion rooms #justines #carlos barat #nme magazine #articles #Youtube

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mserratog · 5 days

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Book Review: The Geek Way - The Radical Mindset that Drives Extraordinary Results

The book is written byAndrew McAfee, who is is New York Times bestselling co-author of The Second Machine Age. He is the co-director of the IDE and a Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management. As presented in his bio, his research investigates how information technology changes the way companies perform, organize themselves, and compete. The twenty main takeaways that I…

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#AndrewMcAfee #BookReview #Geeks #TheGeekWay

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weiandhan · 16 years

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Intruder threatened death-plunge student

ByAndrew Drummond

October 27, 2008 — 7.07am

A naked and scared teenage student fell to her death from a third-floor balcony while trying to escape an armed man who had forced his way into her inner-city Sydney apartment.

The 18-year-old Chinese woman, her 19-year-old Korean boyfriend and two other women were held inside the Waterloo apartment on Sunday for more than an hour by the knife-wielding stranger, NSW police said.

Neighbours called triple-0 after seeing the young couple fall some 25 metres from the balcony to the concrete surface below about 1.40pm (AEDT) Sunday.

Both were naked and police have not ruled out the possibility they were sexually assaulted or threatened with sexual assault prior to the fall.

The man suffered two broken legs, a fractured pelvis and a fractured vertebrae and was taken to Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where he remained in a stable condition on Monday.

"It's believed the deceased and the injured male were trying to get to the next level, from level three to level two, to try and get away from the offender," Superintendent Luke Freudenstein said.

He conceded the couple must have been "very fearful" to attempt the climb.

"We don't know precisely how the (intruder) got in, but we do believe that he followed the female in after she buzzed her way in," Supt Freudenstein said.

"We don't know what the motive was ... it could have been a robbery, and we really don't know how long the fellow may have been loitering around out the front."

Once through the security entrance of the unit block the intruder threatened the woman with a knife and followed her to the apartment where he forced his way inside.

"We believe it's opportunistic," Supt Freudenstein said.

"There's nothing to suggest he targeted those victims. There's nothing to suggest they know the victim."

Some 65 minutes passed before neighbours saw the couple trying to climb off the balcony.

"Something has happened in that unit to make them take that step, 25 metres above a footpath for them to try and climb, from our information, to the balcony beneath and unfortunately they haven't made it," Supt Freudenstein said.

After the fall, the intruder - described only as a man aged about 30 with a dark complexion - walked out of the apartment leaving the two other women uninjured.

They have undergone counselling and were helping detectives, Supt Freudenstein said.

"This is the first time in my career of 28 years that I've seen such a horrific incident," he said.

"(I've) never heard anything like this before. It's a tragedy, a situation where people have had to actually scale a balcony to get to their safety."

Both victims were "highly educated" and studying in readiness to attend university, he said.

Police are using Interpol services to try and contact the victims' relatives.

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침입자가 투신한 학생을 위협했다

시드니 시내 아파트에 강제로 진입한 무장괴한을 피하려다 벌거벗고 겁에 질린 10대 학생이 3층 발코니에서 추락해 숨졌다. NSW 경찰은 18세의 중국인 여성과 19세의 한국인 남자친구, 그리고 두 명의 다른 여성들이 일요일 Waterloo 아파트 안에서 칼을 휘두르는 낯선 사람에 의해 1시간 이상 감금되었다고 말했다. 이웃 주민들은 이 젊은 커플이 일요일 오후 1시 40분경 발코니에서 콘크리트 표면으로 약 25m 떨어진 것을 보고 트리플-0을 불렀다. 두 사람 모두 나체였고 경찰은 이들이 추락 전 성폭행이나 성폭행 위협을 받았을 가능성을 배제하지 않고 있다. 이 남성은 다리 2개와 골반, 척추뼈가 골절되는 부상을 입고 시드니의 로열 프린스 알프레드 병원으로 이송돼 24일(현지시간) 안정적인 상태를 유지했다. 루크 프로이텐슈타인 교육감은 "사망자와 부상당한 남성이 범인으로부터 벗어나기 위해 3단계에서 2단계로 다음 단계로 올라가려고 한 것으로 보인다"고 말했다. 그는 그 커플이 등산을 시도하는 것이 "매우 두려웠음에 틀림없다"고 인정했다. 섭 프로이트너스틴은 "(침입자가) 어떻게 들어왔는지 정확히 알 수는 없지만, 여성이 웅성거리며 들어온 뒤 그가 따라 들어갔을 것으로 믿는다"고 말했다. "우리는 그 동기가 무엇이었는지 모른다... 강도였을 수도 있고, 그 남자가 얼마나 오랫동안 밖에서 어슬렁거렸을지 정말 모른다." 일단 아파트 경비실 입구를 통해 침입자는 여성을 칼로 위협한 뒤 아파트로 쫓아가 강제로 안으로 들어갔다. Supt Freudenstein은 "우리는 그것이 기회주의적이라고 믿는다"고 말했다. "그가 그 피해자들을 목표로 삼았다는 것을 암시할 수 있는 것은 없습니다. 그들이 피해자를 알고 있다는 것을 암시할 수 있는 것은 없습니다 이웃 주민들이 이 커플이 발코니에서 내려오려는 것을 보기까지 약 65분이 흘렀다. Supt Freudenstein은 "그 부대에서 어떤 일이 발생해 그들이 인도에서 25미터 위에 있는 그 계단을 올라가도록 했고, 우리가 아는 바로는 그들이 발코니까지 올라가도록 했지만 불행히도 그들은 성공하지 못했다"고 말했다. 추락 후, 30세 정도의 어두운 얼굴을 가진 남자로만 묘사된 이 침입자는 다른 두 명의 여성들을 다치지 않은 채 아파트 밖으로 걸어나갔다. Supt Freudenstein은 그들이 상담을 받았고 형사들을 돕고 있었다고 말했다. 그는 "내 경력 28년 동안 이런 끔찍한 사건을 본 것은 이번이 처음"이라고 말했다. "(전에) 이런 말은 처음 들어요. 사람들이 안전한 곳으로 가기 위해 발코니를 기어 올라가야 했던 상황은 비극이에요." 그는 두 희생자 모두 "높은 교육을 받았고 대학에 다닐 준비가 되어 공부했다"고 말했다. 경찰은 인터폴 서비스를 이용해 피해자들의 친척들에게 연락을 시도하고 있다.

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newsakd · 10 months

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[ad_1] Union leaders told have told striking Hollywood writers that they plan to meet with representatives for studios to discuss restarting negotiationsByANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment WriterAdam Shapiro poses on a picket line outside Netflix studios on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Los Angeles. The actors strike comes more than two months after screenwriters began striking in their bid to get better pay and working conditions. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)The Associated PressLOS ANGELES -- Union leaders told striking Hollywood writers Tuesday night that they plan to meet with representatives for studios to discuss restarting negotiations after the first official communication between the two sides since the strike began three months ago. The Writers Guild of America sent an email to members saying that the head of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents major studios, streaming services and production companies in negotiations, requested a meeting on Friday to discuss the resumption of contract talks. “We’ll be back in communication with you sometime after the meeting with further information,” the email read. “As we’ve said before, be wary of rumors. Whenever there is important news to share, you will hear it directly from us.”It was not immediately known whether a similar overture was made to union leaders for Hollywood actors, who have been on strike since July 14.Asked about the prospect of talks with either guild, a spokesperson for the AMPTP in an email said only that “We remain committed to finding a path to mutually beneficial deals with both Unions.”An email to a representative from the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which represents striking film and television actors, was not immediately returned.Talks between screenwriters and their employers collapsed on May 1, and the first of the two strikes that have frozen production in Hollywood began a day later. Issues behind the strike include pay rates amid inflation, the use of smaller writing staffs for shorter seasons of television shows, and control over artificial intelligence in the screenwriting process.“I had hoped that we would already have had some kind of conversations with the industry by now,” SAG-AFTRA Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland told The Associated Press earlier Tuesday, before the email was sent to writers. “Obviously, that hasn’t happened yet, but I’m optimistic.” [ad_2] Source link

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newswireml · 1 year

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Arkansas lawmakers send Gov. Sanders school bathroom bill#Arkansas #lawmakers #send #Gov #Sanders #school #bathroom #bill

A bill preventing transgender people at public schools from using restroom that correspond with the gender identity is headed to the Arkansas governor’s desk ByANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Transgender people at Arkansas public schools would not be able to use restrooms that correspond with their gender identity under a bill lawmakers sent to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on…

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cywhirlgates · 2 years

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Spotlight: Arcee

«The Transformers Spotlight #12» Graduated from St. Trinians with honors."The Transformers Spotlight: Arcee"PublisherIDW PublishingFirst publishedFebruary 20, 2008Cover dateFebruary 2008Written bySimon FurmanArt byAlex MilneColors byJosh Perez and Kris CarterLetters byChris MowryEdits byAndrew Steven HarrisContinuity2005 IDW continuityChronologyDevastation

This ain't the Fembot we all know and love, folks...

Contents

[hide]

1 Synopsis

2 Featured characters

3 Notes

3.1 Production notes

3.2 Continuity notes

3.2.1 Later retcons

3.3 Transformers references

3.4 Trivia

3.5 Errors

3.6 Covers (3)

3.7 Advertisements

3.8 Reprints

4 References

Synopsis

"Oh, I finally get it! 'Jhi-ax-us?' Gee, ax us!"

An enraged Arcee has been tearing a path of destruction through the universe, necessitating Ultra Magnus to hunt her down and bring her in as authorized by the Tyrest Accord. After a protracted battle, she gets knocked out by a flash/concussion grenade and taken into custody by Magnus. As they leave the area, a couple of apparent drones surface and talk to a monitor—promising that the Nega-Core has not been detected and/or taken, which elicits a confirmation from their master that preparations for the Expansion will continue.

Garrus-9 penitentiary: Arcee's spark is being held in a cell, along with some notable others. Warden Fortress Maximus confers with Jetfire and the Technobots about when they can incarcerate the Monstructor components in the same way; Jetfire notes that they can't break through the destructive programming far enough to rehabilitate/reform the sparks (as per Optimus Prime's orders), and as such, haven't pulled the sparks from the frames. As they confer, the Decepticon Onslaught leads his Combaticons in a perfectly-timed (as monitored by Banzaitron) assault on the facility, striking at precisely the right grid-sensor-shuffling moment and breaking into the penitentiary.

Fortress Maximus has no choice but to unleash the "threat-level-9" Arcee on them, with the sole caveat of destroying her spark (via a spark casing g-force crush) if she attempts to escape. A furious battle ensues, but after she cuts through Blast Off and plows through Brawl in vehicle mode, the Combaticons (who recognize her when she first attacked) manage to teleport out with the unconscious Monstructor components (whom Banzaitron wants to join his Secret Service).

Arcee proposes that she be released to hunt them down or killed on the spot. When asked for her motivation she grows angry, commenting that "you don't even know you're DOING it... you unconsciously SENSE a difference." She then reveals that Jhiaxus tampered with her CNA, turning her into a female, "because he was curious, because he could", just to see what introducing gender to the Transformer race would do. He then discarded her and left her to her fate. Traumatized and vengeful, all she can think of is wiping out Jhiaxus and all trace of his tampering in this universe.

Fortress Maximus disagrees, pointing the remote spark-casing-control unit at her, but Jetfire tells him to let her go (he'll back up whatever story Maximus concocts for her escape), as they have precious little to lose at this point.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)AutobotsDecepticonsOthers

Arcee (1)

Ultra Magnus (2)

Fortress Maximus (4)

Repugnus (5)

Longtooth (6)

Nosecone (11)

Strafe (12)

Fastlane (13)

Cloudraker (14)

Scattershot (15)

Jetfire (16)

Kick-Off (27)

Jackpot (28)

Rad (29)

Skyfall (30)

Windbreaker (31)

Over-Run (32)

Turbofire (33)

Vroom (34)

Rollout (35)

Sprocket (36)

Afterburner (41)

Lightspeed (42)

Skyjack (7)

Ransack (8)

Bludgeon (9)

Axer (23)

Banzaitron (24)

Gutcruncher (25)

Roadblock (26)

Brawl (37)

Onslaught (38)

Blast Off (39)

Vortex (40)

Jhiaxus (3)

Monstructor (10)

Scowl (17)

Icepick (18)

Slog (19)

Bristleback (20)

Wildfly (21)

Birdbrain (22)

Spotlight: Arcee

HELP

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tuneadda · 2 years

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Careless Whisper Song Lyrics In English - George Michael

Careless Whisper Song Lyrics In English – George Michael

Careless Whisper Song Credits – George Michael Song NameCareless Whisper SongProduced ByGeorge MichaelWritten ByAndrew Ridgeley & George MichaelPhonographic CopyrightSony Music Entertainment, Epic Records & Columbia RecordsCopyrightSony Music Entertainment, Epic Records & Columbia RecordsLabelSony Music Entertainment, Epic Records & Columbia RecordsVocalsGeorge MichaelRelease…

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pakostdramalyrics · 2 years

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Tech Trends for 2022 and Beyond - Rutgers University

Tech Trends for 2022 and Beyond – Rutgers University

ByAndrew SmithDateJanuary 31, 2022Media ContactAllan [email protected] has been changing society since humans began using stone tools, and the pace of change is only accelerating. Here are predictions from six Rutgers technology experts about which innovations will have major impacts over the next few years.While business intelligence (BI) software has existed for a while,…

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cemeterystories · 1 year

Video

St. Hywyn's Church by Andrew Littlewood Via Flickr: Aberdaron, UK

#12th century #aberdaron #byandrew #eglyys hywyn sant #grade one listed #graveyard #llyn peninsular #st. hywyn's church #flickr

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speeding54 · 4 years

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Laguna Cañapa

byAndrew Ross

#bolivia #lake #mountains #landscape #photography #follow for more

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dirty-pretty-jackal-s · 7 months

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The Libertines talk being clean and connected: “We just want to write beautiful songs in the moment”

Watch Carl Barat and Pete Doherty talk to NME about 'All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade' – an album inspired by Margate, war, the refugee crisis, dead birds, and Queen Elizabeth – who'd play who in a biopic, and becoming the band they were always meant to be

ByAndrew Trendell

19th October 2023

The Libertines have spoken to NME about how a sense of sobriety, togetherness and the desire “to write beautiful songs” helped shape their long-awaited new album. Watch our video interview with the band above.

Announced last week with the launch of the single ‘Run Run Run’, ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ arrives in March as the long-mooted follow-up to 2015’s ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’.

With the opening lyrics of ‘Run Run Run’ describing “a lifelong project of a life on the lash“, singer Carl Barat described the track as a somewhat “self-referential” statement about where The Libertines are today, ahead of their fourth LP.

“I was trying to work out if it’s a song of hope or a song of fear,” Barat told NME. “I think it’s a song of hope. It’s saying that even though time has moved on and this person has stayed in the same place, he’s still able to do what he does and he’s going to be who he is regardless of times changing. I don’t know if that’s a sad thing or a good thing.”

Asked if he feels more hope or fear now, Barat replied: “I’m eternally hopeful, and eternally afraid.”

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NME sat down with Barat and co-frontman Pete Doherty to talk about being drug-free, becoming the band they are meant to be, who’d play who in a biopic, and penning an album inspired by Margate, war, the refugee crisis, dead birds, and Queen Elizabeth.

Hello, Libertines. You’ve felt very present since the last album. Does it feel surreal to finally be back with some new music?

Barat: “Yes, we’ve got a reason to be here now! It’s a monumental day for us.”

Doherty: “We’re fully behind the record. That’s not just the official line.”

What, if anything, does ‘Run Run Run’ tell us about the new album?

B: “It’s a bit of a red herring really. The whole record isn’t like that. Maybe it’s just getting a nod to the past out of the way.”

D: “There are three or four songs on the album that are that sort of tempo and guitar-driven. There are probably only one or two songs that are any punkier. It’s like an old melodic pop song like [Elvis Costello’s] ‘Oliver’s Army’. As a songwriter, it’s difficult to present good, classic-sounding songs. Call me old-fashioned, but that’s what I love. I love little diversions and mad jazz odysseys, but I love it when bands like The Coral and their new album… James Skelly just keeps writing incredibly beautiful songs with little twists, but still with that ‘60s melody, strength and solidity.

“I’d say ‘Run Run Run’ has got that, but I’d say there isn’t too much of that on the album. It’s probably more eclectic than we would have hoped for or would have done if we’d just done it by ourselves. The geezer who produced it – Dimitri Tikovoï – we gave him quite free reign.”

Speaking of eclecticism, Pete told us back in 2019 that you were looking like you’d be going in a similar direction to The Clash’s ‘Sandinista!’ – a little bit of rap and a little bit of everything. At what point did you shake that off and come up with this more cohesive batch of songs and new vision?

D: “When we heard my rapping!”

B: “The ‘Sandinista!’ thing was just the idea of having everyone involved. When we hadn’t written anything and we were a bit scared. The idea of ‘Sandinista!’ is that you can just do whatever with no particular expectations. It might have started in that way, but we ended up refining it because we realised what was there.”

So what happened when you went to Jamaica that made everything gel?

D: “It wasn’t a waste of time, because it really was an opportunity for us to spend a bit of time together. We just sat back and watched the Coronation. Or was it the funeral? Yeah, it was Lizzy’s funeral. At the time, we were well impressed with what we’d done. Then we got back and sat and played it to everyone…”

B: “It was essentially to get it out of the way. It’s better to do it there than to get everyone in the room, feel the pressure and not get anywhere. It was an essential part of the journey.”

Does Queen Elizabeth haunt the songs?

B: “A little bit, yeah”

D: “It was really strange. We were in this glass cubicle on a hilltop during a full-on hurricane, just watching the funeral and not really knowing what we were feeling. She does pop up in the song ‘Shiver’, which might be coming out as a second single. ‘The day they boxed all Lizzy away… The last king of every dying empire, just let it die/ Sit back enjoy the ride/ The last dream of every dying soldier/ I’ll see you there, flowers in your hair.’

“So this glass cubicle, they polish it like maniacs every day so the birds can’t tell that they’re flying into glass. Every so often, especially when it was very windy, you get these incredible little golden parrots and yellow hawks just going, ‘THWACK’ suddenly. It scares the fuck out of you.”

So the queen is dead, all the wildlife is dying…

D: “Yeah. It feels like the end of the world, doesn’t it? We [did] have a few apocalyptic songs that were a bit more boisterous than I could handle. I kept going to bed every time Carl started doing his big apocalyptic numbers. They were terrifying.”

Carl, you said that the first album was born of the “panic and disbelief” that you could do this, the second of “total strife and misery”, and the third of “complexity” – and this one is more of unity and connection?

B: “Yes, on this one we were all facing in the same direction.”

D: “All we want to do is write beautiful songs. That’s what we’ve always wanted to do, but we got distracted – mostly by ourselves. On this occasion, we followed the pattern of writing songs that we believe in but there was nothing else to say; no fanfare, no cacophony. This is the album we’re proud of.”

Do you feel like The Libertines are now the band you were always meant to be without the distractions?

B: “There’s plenty of ramshackle baked in still. I don’t think we really know what kind of band we want to be; we just want to write beautiful songs in the moment. It just so happens that at this moment, we’re all facing the same direction.

“There’s been a lot of focus and everyone’s been working on finding their own personal place in the world as well. Everyone has very different lives and we managed to find something to unite over. That’s what The Albion Rooms has been really good for – having that in bricks and mortar, and co-owned by everyone. It feels like it’s part of this journey that’s been going on for a while now.”

D: “The other albums were basically written before we went in the studio. This time it was a case of people presenting really strong ideas, and then everyone else just tucking in, putting their bibs on, rolling up their sleeves and chewing the fat. There were so many times on this album where I thought I knew what the song was, and then it became completely different for the best.

All four of you are credited as writers across the album. How did the spirit of the record change when John and Gary got involved?

B: “It was moments like Pete just described with everyone being there and having confidence. There was a flow state that gave us the confidence to go to places that we wouldn’t normally have gone in if we weren’t on the same page.”

D: “I remember being sat in John’s bedroom 24 years ago, and he had a song called ‘Annabelle Lee’. We never used to do it in the band – not because we didn’t want John to sing, but we both secretly loved the melody and thought that maybe one day we could worm our way into it. That’s what’s happened now. We turned it into ‘The Man With The Melody’ and we’ve all got a verse on it, and Gary sings on the chorus. It’s a completion and a full stop.”

Lyrically, what would you say you’re mining on this record?

B: “It’s one of those things you realise what things are about after the fact.”

D: “The most stressful times of the writing were the morning where we were sat with the pads getting told by the producer that songs needed vocals. We’d just been ad-libbing for most of the songs, so there were these frantic sessions which became a little bit stretched out where we couldn’t get it together with the lyrics. Then, they just sort of appeared out of nowhere.

“It’s fair to say it was pretty stressful finishing some of these songs, lyrically – which is what makes it even more precious as it was touch and go for a couple of them. We couldn’t let it go half-arsed.”

Let’s look at some other bangers on the record. ‘Have A Friend’ seems like a song that speaks for itself about unity?

B: “Yeah, in the face of war perhaps.”

D: “It was [originally] called ‘The Ballad Of Bakhmut’. There’s still a lot of that going on. The world is basically at war.”

‘Merry Old England’ is quite beautiful in the way it discusses the refugee crisis. What are you trying to invoke with that song?

D: “I love that song so much. I think it’s unfathomably beautiful. You can’t hold me back, I’m going to climb your cliff, scale your fence, and take over your country. I don’t think there’s any question marks at all. One man’s end-time capitalism London is another man’s playground of dreams where anything is possible – the mythical city that you finally reach after trying to break out of your miserable town and fulfil your dreams.

“For all the cynicism and talk of being pushed out of town, there’s another generation that will come and find a way to bring it alive again or find a way to make it their own; despite the weight of the fucking world.”

B: “The song is more of a montage than banging a drum, particularly.”

D: “It’s weird. I’ve tried playing it acoustically to people and some of the lyrics are strangely provocative. Even to say, ‘Syrians, Iraqis, Ukrainians, welcome to Merry Old England – how are you finding it?’ To start singing about visas, dinghies, the cliffs once white now grey; you can see people from both sides get excited. It’s just asking this kid on the corner of Margate who has landed there, kicking his heels and not really knowing what to do, how he’s finding it.”

After being scattered all over the world, how does it feel to be back in your old playground of London?

B: “We were driving down Old Compton Street where we used to work in the theatres and…”

D: “We felt like a couple of old gits!”

B: “We did. You can dial back the time in your mind and see all these different incarnations of the city. It’s the most magnificent organism of a place. ‘The city��s hard, the city’s fair’. It’s so alive. It’s quite beneficial to have perspective on that through time. I feel like it never leaves me. I feel a part of it even though I’m not living here.”

D: “It’s a bit too much for me. I’m a bit overstimulated because I lead quite a quiet, rural life now. I’m just doing the promotion work and then getting back to the wife and the dogs. You could quite easily fall for it all over again.”

Pete, when you released ‘The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime’ with Frédéric Lo, you talked about how being drug-free and living a serene life in France had helped shape that record. How did you find approaching a Libertines record from that different perspective?

D: “I don’t know. It’s just an everyday scrap, really. It’s proper toe-to-toe with the demons, but because I believe so much in Carl, Gary, John and this record, it’s a pleasure. I just want to do my bit, be as professional as I can, let people hear the songs, and then go and play them. If not, we try again maybe or just crack on with the hotel and see if we can do anything with that.”

The first time NME came down to The Albion Rooms, Carl spoke about it being like Warhol’s Factory – a band HQ where creatives could come, go and feed off each other. Now you’re talking as if, for this record, the hotel almost became the fifth member of the band?

B: “It is our tangible embodiment of what we do. When we live in three different countries and only see each other through touring schedules, we need something. It’s essential that we have something to find us.”

Pete, there’s a new film about your life made by your wife and collaborator Katia de Vidas coming out soon. How does it feel to have your life under the microscope at a time like this?

D: “I’m really happy for Katia, really. It’s been finished for quite a while. I just hope the world gives her the credit she’s due. Now we’re thinking about the next project for her. She wants to do a fiction film. Hopefully if this does well and she can get the money together for the next project, it’ll be amazing. I’ll just be made up for her.

“It’s quite heavy watching a lot of that stuff, but it is a different time. The fuzz, forcefield and camouflage of the drugs I was taking at the time meant that I wasn’t arsed about what people thought or how I looked.”

Is this film drawing the curtain over that part of your life?

D: “Yeah, I still feel really connected to that fella up there on the screen. I can see it’s me, but I don’t think I’ll be able to watch it again, to be honest.”

Have you seen it, Carl?

B: “I have. Anything like that is hard to watch. She’s been making it for 10 years, and I think it’s a beautiful portrayal. It’s through her eyes, and I think she’s done a great job.”

Would we ever see a Libertines biopic?

B: “We’ve talked about it, but then we always have a row about who’s playing who!”

D: “We even tried to sit down and write some screenplays for it, but it always turns into some farcical comedy. There was a musical made in Korea called The Likely Lads. They said it was going to run and run, but it closed after two nights.”

So who would play who?

D: “Now with all this AI, you can just play yourself. We’d be playing with ourselves, as usual.”

How does the future feel right now? Does another album seem more likely than before?

D: “It would have nothing to do with whether we were relevant or getting fat, it would just be whether or not we had any decent songs. That’s the only way I can look at it. I just still get off on writing wicked tunes. Carl recently said to me, ‘I don’t care about being cool any more – I just want to write beautiful songs’. I was like, ‘That’s what we’ve always done’. Apparently not!”

B: “You just reminded me that I wasn’t cool.”

Are there any Libertines bucket list moments left to tick off, or is it just for the thrill of existence?

D: “I’ve got a new batch of songs on the brew that I’d really like Carl to hear and see what he can do with them.

B: “I’m always striving for the perfect song myself. I don’t know if you ever find it. It’s a bit Sisyphean, isn’t it? We’ll get there, or not.

So it won’t be another eight years until we get a new Libertines album?

B: “Maybe it will, you never know. We’re trying not to put that pressure on ourselves at this stage. I’d like to get in a flow state where songs just come out, but I find it quite hard work.”

The Libertines release ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ on March 8.

A new documentary about Doherty’s life, Stranger In My Own Skin, will hit cinemas on November 9.

#the libertines #'All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade'#carl barat #carlos barat #peter doherty #john hassall #gary powell #interview #nme magazine #Youtube

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