As promised in issue 34’s world exclusive interview with the man, the myth, the legend, here we’ve exclusive album streams from Pete Doherty’s debut solo album, ‘Grace/Wastelands’.
The ex-Libertine’s first-ever album under his own name is released by Parlophone on March 16; its release will be preceded by a single, ‘Last Of The English Roses’, which is one of the three tracks you can hear below.
In issue 34 of Clash magazine we spent some quality time with Doherty, who came clean to us on all manner of topics. Here are just a few highlights…
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Some people might say that Babyshambles is essentially a solo vehicle, so is this a big departure from the usual for you??
I’m quite confused about what exactly it is, because for your Babyshambles aficionado, you know, I don’t wanna be offensive, but your true Libs head or a Shambles head or a Doherty head is gonna look at this list of songs and think, “Hang on, I know that one, and that one’s been around for years”. Although a lot of the songs haven’t ever been recorded or released, they have existed for some time, but they’ve always been songs that, to be honest, I’ve never felt comfortable playing them. Whenever I’ve tried to bring them up in rehearsals or in different album sessions, they’ve just never been able to find their feet really. (Producer) Stephen Street is like an unmanned planet, if you like. He sets his stall out… I’m quite easily swayed. Not that I don’t believe in myself, but if Stephen Street turns around and says, “This is a great song and I wanna record it and it’s going on the album,” then bang, we’ll go along with it.
There are quite a few people who helped you in the making of this album.?
Yeah, we’ve got Dot Allison, who is singing on ‘Sheepskin Tearaway’, which I wrote with her as well – that was 70/30 maybe. And there’s ‘A Little Death Around The Eyes’, which has got the line, “Your boyfriend’s name was Dave / I was bold and brave,” courtesy of Mr. Barat, so that’s a Doherty/Barat one in there – 80/20 I’d say, but I’m sure him and [Alan] McGee and the old firm will dispute that. John Robinson – late of The Bandits – an amazing fella, actually, as it goes. Got a great voice. Stephen Street had him quite low down in the mix, the last I heard. He’s had a song for a while called ‘I Am The Rain’, which we used to play backstage and in hotel rooms and at bus stops back in the days when The Bandits used to play with The Libertines. I always wanted to do it, so we worked on it a bit together, changed a word, nicked a third…
** Check out our world exclusive interview in issue 34 of Clash magazine, replete with exclusive photographs shot by the acclaimed Kevin Westenburg; the full, uncut Q&A can be read online, too – click HERE **
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The tracks below are titled: ‘Last Of The English Roses’, ‘Broken Love Story’ and ‘Baby Don’t Fall Backwards’. These are exclusive to ClashMusic.com – you won’t hear them anywhere else.
Look for a review of ‘Grace/Wastelands’ in the near future. Subscribe to Clash for more great features like this HERE.
