Despite having a new memoir out next month (called A Likely Lad), Doherty seems to have given audiences a bit of an early teaser into his personal life with this new interview, discussing topics such as watching The Simpsons in prison as well as his new drug-free lifestyle.

According to him, a big open secret to sobriety is lots of love and support, crediting his marriage to Katia de Vidas back in 2021 as being a big help, saying “Marriage is the bolster; I have the love and support of someone I love. I’m blessed to be alive, not sat in a hedge in Old Street, injecting into my groin.” He’s also in recent times credited his collaboration with French composer Frédéric Lo (more of which you can read about here), as well as spending lockdown in Normandy, as helping separate him from his former lifestyle.

On the whole, Doherty’s big problems are hopefully a thing of the past, with him seeming to have put it all behind him now. “I’ve managed to get out of the addictive cycle – which I maintained all along I was quite happy in – but I was pretty fucked, and I’ve never really admitted to that.” He describes his current state as “a phase of rejuvenation”.

Even in his darkest moments though, he had some sources of comfort, namely a popular American sitcom. Aside from smoking, the occasional airing of The Simpsons was one of the best pastimes on offer apparently, with Doherty getting “excited when they showed The Simpsons at 6 pm. My cellmate would say: “What are you watching this for? It’s shit,” and I’d say: “No, it’s subversive and interesting.”

There are also some details on his childhood when he would often move around Europe and England, as well as fights with paparazzi and an interesting detox method in Thailand; “my two security guards took me from Heathrow … to projectile vomit with the Thai monks at Tham Krabok …. You’re supposed to do it three times and vow to the gods that you will never take drugs again upon pain of death”.

As for tour dates, The Libertines are celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their debut album (Up the Bracket) with a special performance in London’s Wembley Arena. If you fancy seeing them live then you can look here. As for Doherty, his UK dates can be seen below, with a performance tonight in Liverpool’s Arts Club. Tickets can be found here.

Pete Doherty UK Tour Dates
16/05/2022 – Arts Club – Liverpool
18/05 – The Lemon Tree – Aberdeen
19/05 – Tower Ballroom – Hull
20/05 – Cambridge Junction – Cambridge

The book’s synopsis advertises itself as “Doherty’s version of the story – the genuine man behind the fame and infamy. This is a rock memoir like no other“, with Doherty exploring some of “his darkest moments“. It comes just a month after Doherty revealed his drug addiction nearly lost him his feet.

EXCLUSIVE

A rock memoir like no other…@petedoherty and Simon Spence – ‘A Likely Lad’

The long-awaited, candid memoir from talented musician and @libertines frontman Peter Doherty.

Signed + 4 exclusive postcards.https://t.co/CisggEMjUG @LittleBrownUK pic.twitter.com/SxfchILsw1

— Rough Trade (@RoughTrade) April 20, 2022

Luckily for him, things have been getting better as of late. His recent collaboration with French composer Frédéric Lo yielded the critically acclaimed The Fantasy Life of Poetry & Crime. Doherty credits this latest project as contributing to his sobriety over the past two years.

On dealing with his drug addiction, he said back in January that “I was getting clean. I suppose there was just so much recklessness for such a long period of time and not really caring what anyone else thought that it reverses, and all of a sudden you go from having no pressure to being hyper-sensitively aware of this new expectation …. I think the creative process is like an addiction in itself. I need to write songs, and I’ve never really got to the bottom of it.“

If you’re interested in A Likely Lad, it’s due out on June 16^th through Little Brown and can be pre-ordered from here. Doherty also has some live dates coming up, both in the UK and around Europe, visiting the likes of Birmingham, London, Paris and Amsterdam. You can see the UK dates below, as well as find tickets here.

Doherty’s little old outfit The Libertines has some things coming up as well, namely talks of a new album. They’ve also got a performance at London’s Wembley Arena lined up, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their debut album, Up the Bracket. If you’re interested then you can get tickets here, and the band’s UK dates can be found down below.

Pete Doherty UK Tour Dates

13/05/2022 – KOKO – London
14/05 – Birmingham Town Hall – Birmingham
16/05 – Olympia – Liverpool
18/05 – The Lemon Tree – Aberdeen
19/05 – Tower Ballroom – Hull
20/05 – Cambridge Junction – Cambridge

The Libertines UK Tour Dates

11/06/2022 – Rock N Roll Circus – Newcastle
01/07 – Castlefield Bowl – Manchester
23/07 – Wembley Arena – London
05/08 – Bute Park – Cardiff
08/08 – O2 Academy – Edinburgh

The OVO Arena in Wembley will be greeting the band for this special occasion, with them set to play the album in its entirety alongside a number of other “classic” songs. And there’s also going to be some “very special guests“, though who they are only time will tell.

We’re going to Wembley. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 9am x#UPTHEBRACKET20 pic.twitter.com/RR1BDAUWl7

— Libertines (@libertines) March 8, 2022

The band have been on a bit of a touring high as of recent. They’d only just finished their Giddy Up A Ding-Dong Tour last month in Kentish Town’s O2 Forum, and they’ll be giving their European fans a chance to see them live over October and November.

It’s all rather good news considering the delays in their recording output. A follow-up to their 2015 album Anthems for Doomed Youth (only their third studio release in twenty years) has yet to come. Back in 2020, band member Carl Barât talked about the difficulties recording it: “It’s been going well, but it’s been difficult with COVID …. John [Hassall, bass] is in Denmark and Pete [Doherty] is in France. It’s been a fucker to travel …. We’re just waiting to get back and lay stuff down, it’s just a matter of when.”

Despite the difficulties here, band member Pete Doherty has been a bit luckier in terms of finished work, what with his collaborations with French musician Frédéric Lo. The two have been working on a new album in Paris and Normandy, which is to be titled The Fantasy Life of Poetry & Crime (more of which you can read about here). Written whilst Doherty was getting sober before the pandemic, it seems to have paid off with a release set for March 18^th. Broadway World describes it as Doherty’s “finest work to date“.

If you fancy reliving your noughties hey-day with the people that made it happen, tickets for the newly announced gig will be on sale this Friday from 9 am, and can be accessed from this link. If you want to have a look at what Pete Doherty’s up to in terms of solo gigs, you can look here. And if a bit of French-infused indie-rock is your cup of tea, you can pre-order Doherty & Lo’s upcoming album from this link.

The music video was directed by Roger Sargent and filmed in Normandy last week by Doherty’s new wife, Katia de Vidas. It features some references to the lockdown, such as an opening shot of stacks of toilet rolls and baked bean cans. The duo appear in a darkly lit bunker, only emerging outside into the sunlight at the very end.

Doherty says that the single was inspired by his sobriety of the last two years, saying “I’ve been clean since December 2019, so at the time of writing this I was really white-knuckling it with the drugs and feeling like would only be a matter of time before I went back to it. It hasn’t turned out to be that way, but there was that kind of kicking out at the new way of being clean and feeling like it was temporary.“

The album as a whole will feature music by Lo and lyrics by Doherty. The pair met back in 2020 when they collaborated on a tribute album to the late French songwriter Daniel Darc. Finding the creative spark around one another, they had a whole album written up within six months.

Lo said on their collaboration: “We were like forever friends. It was really strange. I loved Peter’s lyrics and the way he writes. It’s really modern and post-modern. I love Oscar Wilde and The Smiths, and Peter’s work is so expressive. I knew when I offered him some tunes that it was good material, so it was like one plus one equals three.“

If you’re looking forward to a whole album’s worth of Doherty & Lo, The Fantasy Life of Poetry & Crime will be released on March 18^th on a variety of formats, such as vinyl, CD, digital downloads and cassette. You can pre-order here and the tracklist can be seen below.

1. The Fantasy Life of Poetry & Crime
2. The Epidemiologist
3. The Ballad Of.
4. You Can’t Keep It From Me Forever
5. Yes I Wear A Mask
6. Rock & Roll Alchemy
7. The Monster
8. Invictus
9. The Glassblower
10. Keeping Me On File
11. Abe Wassenstein
12. Far From The Madding Crowd