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Hes a Beautiful Shambles

By
Mike Farragher
,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 1:05 AM
Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 5:45 PM
Read more: Pete Doherty, Babyshambles


I've always been viciously envious of writers that are able to write while under the influence. Who among us wouldn't harvest a kidney to be able to write beautiful, boozy poetry like Shane MacGowan? Sadly, nothing has emerged from this pen in that condition. Don't try this at home kids, but in the interest of bringing you the best column possible over this past decade I have ingested a stray substance or two upon occasion while on the road.

I usually wake the following morning with no recollection of the night before in a cloud of neon orange specks spread across the snow-white duvet after rolling around in a bag of Cheetos. All I have to show for my so-called chemical creativity is a blank sheet of paper wet with sweat on my fleshy cheek.

So you can see why it's easy to hate Pete Doherty. His dabbling with suspect substances is well documented, yet he produces brilliant music with a crackerjack band like Babyshambles.

On their new CD, Shotter's Nation, Babyshambles tries on styles like Doherty tries on top-shelf supermodels. The CD was produced by Stephen Street, who has twirled the knobs for legendary albums from the Smiths, the Cranberries, and Blur.

Under Street's watchful eye, the band displays a thrilling identity crisis throughout this disc. They don't know if they want to be Green Day, the Kinks or Sublime, and they have a heckuva good time trying to figure it out as they go along!

For those of you not plugged into international tabloids, Doherty has been a media darling of gossip columnists ever since he dismantled his first band, the Libertines, because of his alleged drug use. Babyshambles rose from the ashes of that band, and it became the main vessel for Doherty's to continue his brilliant poetry laced with erratic behavior.

Babyshambles released their self-titled debut in April 2004, and settled on the lineup of Doherty, guitarist Patrick Walden, bassist Drew McConnell and drummer Gemma Clarke by that summer.

By Christmas, the band had to cancel or halt shows because Doherty was unable to perform. One of these sudden cancellations sparked a riot at the London Astoria. Clarke left the band early in 2005 and was replaced with new drummer Adam Ficek.

Since then, the media has feasted on things like Doherty's arrest for allegedly assaulting and blackmailing documentary director Max Carlish. Naming their first single "F** Forever" cemented them as bad boys throughout the U.K. and Ireland.

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Hes a Beautiful Shambles | Irish Music | IrishCentral


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