Peter Doherty and Carl Barât from The Libertines join Matt Wilkinson today (9th April) on Apple Music 1 to discuss their new album, ‘All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade.’ Carl discusses his venue Justines and the impact of the struggling venue economy as well as opening up a hotel and studio space. Peter talks about recording during a hurricane in Jamaica and his record label, Strap Originals. They also talk about buying Jimi Hendrix’s coat and Jim Morrison’s bathtub.
Peter Doherty and Carl Barât on opening up a hotel and studio space…
Peter: The dream was to have this space that we could all share and call HQ, like we always had with the Albion Rooms in the past. Where we’d always live, we’d call it the Albion Rooms. And so this was to create a space for us to record and a place to keep all our tat, and then it developed into the idea of having a venue as well.
Carl: We set up this hotel with grand ambitions and a lot of objectives of which we achieved. Now, personally, being very close to it and having to deal with a lot more of the runnings and whatnot, I think we’ve done that, and I think what we really need is a studio where the artists can stay there. We don’t have to shove them down the road.
Carl on buying Jimi Hendrix’s coat…
Someone convinced me to buy it in an auction. It was going cheap. It was because there was about to be a movie come out and Andre 3000 was playing Jimi Hendrix, and it was going to really revitalise the Hendrix estate and all of the sort of bric-a-brac..
Peter on buying Jim Morrison’s bathtub…
Yeah, this is a bit of an exclusive, this, for your show, we’ve also got the bathtub that Jim Morrison died in, which we’re going to be putting in one of the rooms. There’s a fellow who my wife’s cousin knows, and his cousin was basically the landlord. And he’s not interested in music, and even less interested in music mythology, and so he’s just been going on about this bathtub which people who have been trying to buy off him. He doesn’t want it. He thinks it’s morbid to make money off it. So I said, “Well, we’ll take it for the hotel.” And so I said to Carl, and obviously Carl’s known me for years, knows I do have a tendency to exaggerate and… Well, lie, but this one is the bang honest truth and it’s actually there.
Carl on opening Justines…
We’ve got a live venue as well. Justine’s in Margate with the record label and the live venue, and seeing the bands and the circuits and getting a bit more involved in that. There’s so much out there that needs a voice and a platform. Both live and otherwise. And if you just joined the Music Venue Trust as well, which is we trying to do Justine’s on our own. We didn’t realise that there are thousands of venues all over the nation, all struggling. And that is the only platform that exists for these bands, these Lambrini Girls. But there are so many of them coming through and then, we have Soft Play. That was amazing, doing their record at the Albion Rooms.
Peter talking about recording at GeeJam studios in Jamaica…
Peter: That’s when we first, me and him [Carl], just really first sat down to try and decide whether we had it in us, another record. So we went to Jamaica. We got a few bits done there, but really the record started in Margate. There was a hurricane there when we were there as well and we were in the studio, I don’t know if you saw the studio. It’s all glass on the top of the hill. So it’s surrounded by glass, it was a hurricane, so all these tropical birds kept flying into the glass all confused. And literally, you’d get a dozen an hour, you just hear a [thud].
Peter on his record label Strap Originals…
Peter: It’s been a big part in what drives me and what gets me out there really, to be honest, a lot of the time. Obviously, we’re doing a lot of gigs this year, but I can really see myself putting more time into the label, promoting, and putting tours together for these young bands. We’ve had some amazing support bands. That Local Authority, Glasgow regions band, but some of the French bands we had, there was one, something sheep.
Carl: The Fabulous Sheep
Matt Wilkinson: Do you have Lambrini Girls as well?
Peter: Yeah. That’s one of the best support rounds we have had. Fat Dog, they were cool. All these young bands, they’re all not so much like carrying on the torch, picking up the flag. They spend half the gig in the crowd, these bands, they’re amazing.
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