Pete Doherty and his new life as an ex-addict: The redemption no one expected

Have you talked with him? “Yes. But if I’m being honest, when I did treat him, it was at night and he gave the impression that he wasn’t quite sure where he was. He had an aura Rock and roll star kamikaze& rdquo;. Roberto Tiers, manager of Barcelona’s Sidecar club, recalls his first encounter with Pete Doherty in 2016. Three years later he became a bartender, who would forcibly negotiate a new concert at the club at Plaça Reial. He came in the afternoon and said to the first bartender he found, “I’m Pete Doherty, give me $150 and I’ll come play here.” And the bartender replied, “Talk to the desk, close the deal and I’ll give you $150.” An annoyed Pete turned around, called us, and the next day we had a full bar. In the end he got $150 and more. Seemed like an odd way to go. Make a deal with a bartender who loads refrigerators” He explains on the other end of the phone.

That wandering image—his disjointed gaze masking its horrors—matches his tendency to hit the self-destruct button too much. Even Alan McGee, discoverer of bands like Oasis, frantic drug user, and the group’s first manager, seemed concerned. “They are the most extreme band I’ve ever worked with. It’s not a rock. I do not know what it is. mental illness, perhaps & rdquo;.

Nobody imagines that 44 years old, Pete Doherty is still reuniting with Carl Barratt to dust off The LibertinesLike this Saturday villanova live festival, And even less so, that he would be alive. “To be honest, I kind of miss the junkie life. But as long as he’s fat, there’s nothing to worry about. There are no fat addicts” recently confirmed XL Weekly.

in this book Pete Doherty, Last Of The Rock Romanticsits author, journalist Alex Hannaford, uses a phrase from psychiatrist Carl Jung to explain the singer’s transgressions. “Every form of addiction is bad, regardless of its drug: alcohol, morphine or idealism.” Pete’s problem, he adds, was that “he was a multiple junkie: he was a perfectionist and a crack addict”. His relationship with model Kate Moss would be the ultimate media push. It’s 2005 and the image of a muddy Monday in Glastonbury with its tall wells is going to become an iconic item. We are Years elegant heroine and romance between It’s the girls and singers India.

After that episode, when Doherty visits Barcelona, ​​he will be like a star. Tierz explains it:His concerts were filled with fans of the band, but also with models to see him. I remember that once there were no tickets left and they gave us all kinds of offers to enter. They even called us to go to the bathroom to solve the problem. Too exaggerated. I have not seen anything similar with anyone & rdquo;.

All kinds of legends are circulated about his visits to Barcelona, ​​and he has only confirmed some of them, but they all have a common denominator: Doherty has always had things his way.. A former member of Sinnamon (the Catalan record label that released some of The Libertines’ recordings here), who prefers to remain anonymous, reminds me of the horror of 2006. Doherty was detained at the airport as soon as he landed in Barcelona to play at Primavera Sound. Apparently the flight commander requested the intervention of the Civil Guard when he saw that he was taking too long to leave the bathroom. The accident came to nothing: no trace of drugs in his bag, just a bottle of methadone.

Journal editor sound world, Joan S. Luna, didn’t forget the (frustratingly) four times she was about to star in the newsroom. “A few years ago we had a female intern who told us one day that she was friends with the other guitarist from The Puta Madres. [una de las últimas bandas en las que ha colaborado Doherty]. After a while he told us:Hey, it’s in our house, if you want me to bring it to you someday to make a sound. In the end we ended up shutting down and canceling his performance four times. Every time the moment approached, they’d tell us, “Pete says he’s got it.” He has always been a genius and a character.”

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Sidecar room manager can testify, who knows what a fire is put out. For a while one of them was living in a random house in La Floresta. About that time they called me once and said, “Hey, Pete’s already there and he’s come in with three dogs, what do we do? And of course, with everything sold out, you can’t stop him. Eventually the dogs come in and I suppose they’ll stay in the dressing room.” In addition to La Floresta, Doherty also stayed for a few days at a gallery in Sarrià called Puntoaparte to display his paintings. It happened in 2014 and on the day it opened he slept in a hotel for 24 hours. Videos are still circulating on YouTube of Carl Barat singing together on a neighborhood balcony.

Nine years have passed, but Doherty has already traveled with his current partner, French band member Katia de Vidas Madris Botha, whom he married two years ago, and they had their first daughter together in May. says Doherty, who has gone from being known as Pete to calling himself Peter Not using strong drugs for three years. He now lives off the coast of Normandy, and though he continues to battle his addiction, he learns he’s still alive by accident. “I’m surprised I’m not dead.