Pete Doherty has opened up about the time he lied about supporting Supergrass on tour and his bandmate pretending to be in Radiohead.
The Libertines frontman recently sat down with NME as the most recent guest of our In Conversation series and took a moment to discuss the band’s massive Gunnersbury Park show that is happening on Saturday August 9 (visit here for tickets and more information).
The likes of Lambrini Girls, Hak Baker and Supergrass will be joining the ‘Time For Heroes’ group as special guests. After being asked if having Gaz Coombes and co as an opening act feels surreal and heavy, Doherty said: “Yes. There was a time years ago, back when we were young whippersnappers, where we’d be down Dublin Castle lying to try and impress girls, telling them that we were going on tour with Supergrass, then trying to get them back to our basement.”
He continued: “I’d go out to the phone box and call the landline, pretending to be Supergrass’ manager! This is before we were even signed or had a bass player or a drummer. Then we ended up supporting them, and now they’re supporting us.”
Doherty also opened up about the time that his Libertine bandmate Carl Barât pretended to be part of Radiohead in order to impress a group of girls.
“I remember one time, Carl was going around pretending to be the guitarist of Radiohead at the Wag Club in Soho. I think one of them was there as well. He was chatting to these Scandinavian girls with his hair all over his face, saying, ‘I’m the guitarist in Radiohead’, and they were like, ‘Ah, I just met your bass player! He’s over there!’
“We came a cropper a few times. ‘If you’re really in Radiohead, why are you handing out flyers for the club?’ There was always a way around it.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Doherty spoke about the band’s follow-up to their recent album, 2024’s ‘All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade‘, their first album in nearly a decade and first to top the charts in 20 years, sharing that he and Barât have yet to speak much about the next record.
“We didn’t really have much time but during soundchecks for the last tour, there were a few ideas,” he said. “We never really just say, ‘Right, let’s meet in the studio with a blank, empty canvas’. Maybe we should try that. I’m a bit wary of that. For someone who’s well-known for being chaotic, I like to be well-prepared in my own way. Maybe it’s my early Cub Scout training.”
In other news, Doherty recently shared his New Year’s Resolutions for 2025 and reflected on how far he’s come over the past 24 years.
The Libertines will be touring all throughout 2025 with dates in Europe, UK and Australia. Visit here to purchase tickets and for a full list of dates.
