Latest news with #TheLibertines
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I'm in my late-twenties and definitely can't afford a house in London... but here's why I'll NEVER buy a house boat
Noughties Indie rockers The Libertines have a song called up 'Up The Bracket' and it begins with a jarring, almost in-human gurgling sound before the thumping guitar kicks in. The words actually being vomitted out in this guttural opening salvo are 'Get out of it'. I used to be convinced that only a tortured poet like Peter Doherty could ever annunciate a sound with such startling desperation. That was until last week, when I spent a long, lonely and claustrophobic night on a houseboat in London 's trendy Little Venice hearing sounds and experiencing fragments of sensations that chilled my soul to the core. Houseboats are very much the vogue in our cramped and over-populated cities, but they are hardly a new property trend. People have lived on them for years, mostly along stretches of canals in places like Birmingham and London, but also on some rural areas of The Thames. But the number of boat dwellers in the capital has reached a record high, with at least 10,000 people currently calling its waterways home. The surge in popularity for riverboats has also extended across the UK, where the amount of floating homes has risen by 6 per cent in the last decade, reaching a total of 34,573. Traditionally, the sort of person to live on a houseboat is a hardy but bohemian type. A bit of an outsider who doesn't mind cooking everything on an electric stove or carrying their waste to a public toilet in the p****** rain. We all know the sort, and honestly, good luck to them, it's just not a lifestyle 99 per cent of the country want to lead. That should, and used, to be all there was to say on the matter - so why am I, a man in his late-twenties living in London, constantly being told I need to grow up and go live on a houseboat? Irritatingly, the sort of trendy places I am forced to hang out with my friends these days are nearly always situated on some previously god-forsaken and now overly-gentrified stretch of canal where the pints cost £7.80 and you have to sit on a crate. If this wasn't bad enough, I'm also now at the stage of life where some of my more successful (*privileged) friends are starting to settle down with their partners and look for properties together. It should be obvious to you by now dear reader, that not only am I clinically single but also atrocious with money - the only real relationship in my life being a toxic one with disposable vapes that really should have seen me referred to addiction services by now. And of course my friends are aware of this and so after the awkward silences we share whilst canal watching, following their latest attempt to make me justify my life, one question often bobs to the surface. 'Have you considered getting a houseboat? The mortages are really cheap and it's basically a property hack. Loads of my mates have done it!' Mmmmhmmm. Yes, your friends, my friends, we're all living on houseboats in this hellish, never-ending water world. But why? Well, lets find out from the source shall we? As we all know, people who live on houseboats love nothing more than telling everyone they know they live on a houseboat. It's like a drug to them. They crave it in that utterly desperate way and we all have to suffer as a result. And after they've told everyone they've ever met, some people like to take it one step further and tell, your friend and mine, the media. You might think 27-year-old El Sutcliffe isn't a stereotypical houseboat dweller, but she and others like her are now, I would argue at least, peak boaters. The firefighter and TikTok enthusiast recently spoke about her decision to live along the canals in the West Midlands on a £15,750, 49ft narrowboat. 'It just seemed like a no-brainer and I don't have any regrets, I think the housing market is all a bit mad', she exclaimed, 'I could never afford to live where I do if I didn't live on a boat. 'It had no flooring, it had sunk previously, it was all very questionable – but I thought 'what have I got to lose?' Since buying the boat in May 2024, El says she has spent over £10,000 on renovations. These included essentials like a log burner, a fully-equipped kitchen with fridge, sink, and gas cooker. So over £25,000 in the hole then? But, she has 'zero regrets.' She continued: 'I could have got a one-bed flat in quite a rough part of Birmingham where I would have had to pay ground rent, maintenance fees and things like that. 'I'd always liked the idea of living on the boat but I was running out of time, I needed to figure something out. 'I can't see myself getting rid of it – it would absolutely break my heart because we've built it from the ground up.' She says that once the renovations are complete, she expects to pay between £550 each month on mooring and upkeep costs - which is cheap, so where's the downside? Well, listen El, if it works for you it works for you, but I can still think of a few downsides. A former colleague of mine used to live on a houseboat, having bought it cheap with his girlfriend at the peak of their love. They probably dreamed of all the romantic nights they'd spend on the loch as their late-twenties rolled into their thirties. But time and perhaps the claustrophobic nature of their relationship and squat (*houseboat) did for them. She split up with him and moved up north with her new boyfriend just before Covid. He stayed on the houseboat (which he only owned half off) - working from home during the pandemic with an internet dongle and an electric heater. I left that job over three years ago but can still picture him in the office like it was yesterday. He would sit hunched over his monitor in a dirty wool sweater with a palpable sadness in his eyes. His pink chapped hands clawing at the keyboard and cradling his coffee mug for warmth. He also stank. I hope he is doing OK now. We've started rambling here, but the reason we have is that my editor asked me to interview someone about a houseboat. Naturally, I refused for the reasons outlined above. Eventually, we came to a compromise. So, this is what happened when I spent one night living with the enemy on one of London's trendiest waterways. My home for the night is a charming enough vessel which I found advertised on Airbnb for the reasonable price of £160-a-night. It sleeps four, with two in the double bed at the back of the boat (starboard?), and another two presumably sleeping uncomfortably on the sofa bed which is crammed in by the door and log burner at the front (port?). My host is incredibly proud of it anyway, and in fairness, it is well equipped and he seems amenable, even offering me a quick one-hour tour along the river before the night begins. As you would expect, it is incredibly cramped inside the boat, it essentially being a caravan on water. After arriving, I busied myself making a cup of coffee navigating the lighter hob with aplomb and only momentarily being overwhelmed by the noxious smell of the leaking gas. As I worked I kept smacking my elbows against the shelves and windows of the kitchen area which was naturally irritating. But, if you did actually live here (shudder) I can imagine you would eventually get used to the cramped quarters and adapt your movements. What was more interesting, and perhaps something you'd never really get a hold on, was the fact the boat did rock from side to side as I moved around and it was hit from the side by waves and disturbances in the fetid canal. I take my coffee outside and sit for a while on the small deck area at the front of the boat. I watch the joggers and cyclists go about their business and hear the sounds of birds chirping. Across the canal, trendy diners are eating gourmet Italian in a pop-up cafe. In the distance, I hear the throng of the Westway, that ol' familiar of London's heaving road network, carrying on with its solemn duty by selflessly ferrying commuters home to places like Reading and Slough. I sink back and close my eyes, allowing myself the space and time to relax into my surroundings. I feel peaceful, like I'm perhaps enjoying this after all? I open my eyes again and see a teenager staring listlessly at me on the opposite bank. He's staring at me intently, but it's not boredom or envy I'm reading in his sullen eyes. No, I've seen that look before, in the faces of exasperated bus drivers, in the gaze of triumphant traffic wardens, in my own mirror after a bad weekend. Yes. the look he's giving me is one of pure hatred. He thinks I own a houseboat, and he's giving me that self-same look that screams a familiar mantra. 'Bore off, mate.' I rush back into the boat and slam shut the makeshift doors vowing not to leave it again until darkness offers me the sweet release of personal brand anonymity. After a disappointing meal in one of the aforementioned trendy riverside haunts (no change from £30 for a burger and drink) I am ready for bed. The canal boat is baking when I return having basked in the sun all day. It is interminable but I'm beyond caring. I peel off my drenched clothes and make use of the shower, which has a surprisingly firm water pressure even if it is freezing cold. The cramped apparatus floods the bathroom though so my feet are soggy when I return to my small and hot bed. As the water dries on my unhappy feet, I drift into a restless sleep. At 3am, I awake with a jolt. I can hear something outside in the darkness, a low, groaning sound interspersed with cackling and the clink of bottles. I peak out through the curtains and my worse fears are confirmed. The undesirables are having a substance party underneath the bridge.
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Pete Doherty shows off his incredible weight loss - after receiving shock 'wake-up call' from health scare despite getting clean in 2019
Pete Doherty looked healthier than ever as he showed off his slim build while playing an arcade game after revealing he was at risk of having his toes amputated earlier this year. The 46-year-old rocker, who dated Kate Moss for two years, has spent nearly the entirety of his adult life in the spotlight after shooting to stardom with The Libertines in the 2000s. But much of his chart-topping success has been overshadowed by turmoil - including crack and heroine addictions which even landed him behind bars for a brief period. After moving to France with wife Katia de Vidas in 2012, Pete revealed he took up another unhealthy habit - a cheese and wine diet which left him in 'worse health' than he was before. He candidly admitted in a 2023 interview with Louis Theroux that 'death's lurking' and more recently opened up about his struggles since being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. During a gig in Munich this year, Pete shocked supporters by revealing doctors told him 'he could lose his toes' if he's not careful. A post by his wife Katia on Thursday however, seems to suggest Pete may finally have put his health first. Taking to her Instagram Stories, Katia, who tied the knot with the singer in 2021, shared a video of The Libertines front man looking in the best shape he has in years while enjoying a guitar game in an arcade. Sporting a pair of smart brown shoes, some grey jeans and a plain black T-shirt, Pete seemed healthy as he showed off his skills on the instrument while wearing a characteristically quirky hat. After being given the 'wake-up call' by doctors in March, the video will likely come as a promising sign to Pete's supporters. The rocker went for a check up after noticing sores on his feet had turned black in January. 'It was touch and go,' he told The Times of whether or not he would be able to keep his feet, having lost feeling in them. Those who suffer from diabetes carry the risk of foot-related complications as high blood sugar levels can damage blood vessels, in turn effecting the flow of blood to feet and legs. 'Now I allow myself a gin and tonic once a week, but I've basically not been drinking and have got my blood sugar to a good level, so my toes are healing,' he added. Pete was pictured wearing normal shoes for the first time in months at The Great Escape Festival last week, where he opened up about his family life. As well as welcoming his new daughter Billy Mae with his wife in 2023, Pete is father to son Astile, 21, with singer Lisa Moorish and daughter Aisling, 14, with South African model Lindi Hingston. Speaking to Rob Beckett about bringing his youngest on tour, Pete revealed: 'If she didn't feel comfortable, if she wasn't happy, I just wouldn't be able to do it because I don't I want to not be with her. I've missed opportunities in the past to to be a father and I... I don't want to miss this one, you know, I mean.' He was then asked about Aisling, to which he replied: 'Yeah, I don't... I don't see her at all.' Pete continued: 'But I have an older son. He's 21 now. And we are... we probably speak and see each other more now than we ever have. 'And even then it's not that much, but it's... he's met Billy May as well. On the same year Billy May was born, Pete worried supporters after telling Louis Theroux that 'death's lurking' due to the toll that years of drugs and alcohol abuse had on his body. He told Theroux: 'You are looking at a very sick man. I've battered it haven't I, I've f*****g caned it. 'The heroin and the crack, I surrendered to that and then it was cocaine and the smoking and the alcohol, and now it's cheese and the saucisson and the sugar in the tea.' In another interview, this time with The Evening Standard, he revealed he had been told to change his diet immediately. 'I have seen a liver doctor who says I need to change my diet - too much cheese, too much milk. 'But the cheese is so good, that's part of the reason I stay here... it's a cholesterol and diabetes thing now, but there are tablets, it makes a big difference.' The rockstar had previously admitted that he put on weight after over-indulging in his guilty pleasure. In 2021, Pete said he had ditched drugs and was instead indulging on cheese on toast and enjoying long lie ins after staying up for six days straight during his wildest years. Doherty's childhood was spent in various places across Britain including Dorset and Warwickshire, before forming the Libertines with co-frontman Carl Barat in London. Their debut album Up The Bracket peaked at 35 in the UK album charts in 2002 but the band's self-titled follow-up hit number one two years later, featuring singles such as Can't Stand Me Now and What Became Of The Likely Lads. Their success was affected by Pete's wild antics away from the studio however, with the rocker handed a six-month jail term, reduced to two, in 2003 after breaking into his co-frontman's home and stealing items including a guitar and laptop. Doherty was later given a 14-week prison sentence in April 2008 for breaching a probation order following previous drug and driving offences. He took heroin for the first time in 2002 when just 23, yet the addiction didn't fully take hold until he found himself sweating and sick after a journey to Japan. Doherty has since spent spells in rehab, including a six-week stint at Clouds House in Wiltshire beginning in September 2007. Earlier that year Doherty had announced on-stage at the Hackney Empire in east London his engagement to Kate Moss, who sang alongside him that night. The couple first met two years earlier and were often seen together on London's social scene during their on-off relationship before reportedly parting in July 2007.
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Hellraiser Pete Doherty returns! Singer launches first solo project since getting clean in 2019 - after weight battle and admitting he was at risk of having toe amputation
(4 STARS) When he was revitalising British indie-rock in the 2000s as frontman of The Libertines, the band he started with his friend Carl Barât, Pete Doherty cut a dishevelled figure. A gossip column fixture thanks to his relationship with supermodel Kate Moss, he somehow survived years of hard partying, drug abuse and brushes with the law. At 46, he's living a different life — in rural Normandy, where he has set up home with his French wife Katia de Vidas, their toddler daughter Billie-May and two dogs. These days he goes by Peter rather than Pete — and this newfound, if belated, maturity underpins his vibrant new solo album Felt Better Alive. His first solo release since he quit drugs in 2019, it's a homespun affair that exudes a ramshackle charm as it skips between poetic acoustic fare and string-soaked pop. There's a buoyant detour into jaunty jazz on The Day The Baron Died (an alternate version of a recent Libertines track) and a nod to country in the title track's pedal steel guitar. It's a well-timed return. The wave of indie-rock groups Doherty originally inspired have found a new audience thanks to TikTok and streaming. The Kooks are headlining UK arenas in October on the back of a sunny new album, Never/Know, and Hard-Fi are playing next month's Glastonbury. The Libertines themselves topped the albums chart last year with All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade. A fresh start in France has also fuelled Doherty's restless imagination. Calvados, one of two folky tracks that bookend this album, takes its inspiration from a Norman couple who make the local apple-based brandy. 'Slow and steady is the way,' sings Doherty. He's talking about the cart horses that deliver the apples, but he might as well be singing about his simpler life. There's more French polish on Stade Océan, inspired by his local football team Le Havre AC (currently fighting relegation from Ligue 1). But these tuneful, sometimes melancholy songs are also the work of an old-fashioned English romantic: Pot Of Gold is a harassed dad's lullaby for his daughter; Ed Belly is the tale of 'a 20-something kid in Coventry' who dreams of a road-trip across America. Some tracks, such as Fingee, feel a little slight. But it's impossible to deny Doherty's storytelling skill or — as on the title track — his self-deprecating humour in admitting that his old life wasn't always the high-octane ride it seemed. 'I dreamt of gunfights in Toledo,' he sighs. 'When I opened my eyes, I was in the lay-by north of Telford.' It comes as Pete took to the stage in Brighton on Wednesday after making a candid admission about his family life. The Libertines star, who welcomed his first child with his wife Katie de Vidas, a baby daughter called Billy May in June 2023, performed at day one of The Great Escape Festival. His on-stage appearance was the first time he has been seen wearing normal shoes after months of stepping out in slippers and medical boots after he revealed he was at risk of having his toes amputated after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes last year. It came after he revealed that baby Billy May, his wife Katie and the family dog all join him out on tour while speaking to Josh Widdicombe and Rob Beckett on the Parenting Hell podcast earlier this month. But as well as welcoming Billy May in 2023, Pete is father to son Astile, 21, with singer Lisa Moorish and daughter Aisling, 14, with South African model Lindi Hingston. And elsewhere in the interview, Pete revealed that while he now speaks to son Astile more than he used to, he doesn't see his daughter Aisling at all. Discussing bringing Billy May on tour, he said: 'If she didn't feel comfortable, if she wasn't happy, I just wouldn't be able to do it because I don't I want to not be with her. I've missed opportunities in the past to to be a father and I... I don't want to miss this one, you know, I mean.' He was then asked about Aisling, to which he replied: 'Yeah, I don't... I don't see her at all.' Pete continued: 'But I have an older son. He's 21 now. And we are... we probably speak and see each other more now than we ever have. 'And even then it's not that much, but it's... he's met Billy May as well. 'He's been doing a few, he's doing something, he's getting involved in bands and he got up and did a poem before one of the Libertine shows.. so Billy May has seen him.' Pete revealed that one of Billy May's first words was 'gig' because she spends all of her time in the tour bus and out on tour, when the family aren't at their base in France. 'She's got her little headphones and she just what takes everything in really,' he said as he described a day on tour with baby in tow. 'She's obsessed with the guitar stands, she loves the guitar, she loves guitar stands, mic stands, drums, she loves to bang with the drums. There's always a support band with a set of drums. 'There's obviously a lot of chaos involved, so hopefully she'll have a nap around that time [when the gig starts]. 'But if not, she'll probably - we try not to let her have too much screen time - but there's the lovely big TV on the bus. So for most of the time on stage, she'll be watching Peppa Pig. 'And then, I don't know, she's just really, she's kind of part of the team, really.' Pete married Katia, who performs in his band, in a private ceremony at a lavish French retreat in September 2021 - just two days after confirming their engagement. The couple wed at the Domaine Saint Clair hotel in the French city of Etretat - their home for the last three years - while The Libertines and the couple's band Puta Madres provided music. Pete who has been clean of heroin for three and a half years, has settled down with his Puta Madres bandmate Katia in France after ditching his bad boy lifestyle. He shot to fame in the mid-2000s as the frontman for indie band The Libertines, but found nationwide attention when he dated supermodel Kate Moss. Pete met Kate Moss at her 31st birthday bash in January 2005, and he declared soon after that he'd 'really found love.' Their turbulent romance briefly ended when Pete failed to complete a stint in rehab in Arizona, USA, with Kate saying at the time she has 'various personal issues I need to address.' He even drew a portrait of himself and Kate using crayons and his own blood in 2005. Pete also famously scrawled 'I love Kate 4 eva' on the windscreen of his Jaguar after leaving court following a drug-related offence.
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Pete Doherty takes to the stage in Brighton after candid admission about 'missed opportunities to be a father' as he reveals he never sees his eldest daughter
Pete Doherty took to the stage in Brighton on Wednesday after making a candid admission about his family life. The Libertines star, who welcomed his first child with his wife Katie de Vidas, a baby daughter called Billy May in June 2023, performed at day one of The Great Escape Festival. Speaking to Josh Widdicombe and Rob Beckett on the Parenting Hell podcast earlier this month, Pete revealed that baby Billy May, his wife Katie and the family dog all join him out on tour. But as well as welcoming Billy May in 2023, Pete is father to son Astile, 21, with singer Lisa Moorish and daughter Aisling, 14, with South African model Lindi Hingston. And elsewhere in the interview, Pete revealed that while he now speaks to son Astile more than he used to, he doesn't see his daughter Aisling at all. Discussing bringing Billy May on tour, he said: 'If she didn't feel comfortable, if she wasn't happy, I just wouldn't be able to do it because I don't I want to not be with her. I've missed opportunities in the past to to be a father and I... I don't want to miss this one, you know, I mean.' He was then asked about Aisling, to which he replied: 'Yeah, I don't... I don't see her at all.' Pete continued: 'But I have an older son. He's 21 now. And we are... we probably speak and see each other more now than we ever have. 'And even then it's not that much, but it's... he's met Billy May as well. 'He's been doing a few, he's doing something, he's getting involved in bands and he got up and did a poem before one of the Libertine shows.. so Billy May has seen him.' Pete revealed that one of Billy May's first words was 'gig' because she spends all of her time in the tour bus and out on tour, when the family aren't at their base in France. 'She's got her little headphones and she just what takes everything in really,' he said as he described a day on tour with baby in tow. 'She's obsessed with the guitar stands, she loves the guitar, she loves guitar stands, mic stands, drums, she loves to bang with the drums. There's always a support band with a set of drums. 'There's obviously a lot of chaos involved, so hopefully she'll have a nap around that time [when the gig starts]. 'But if not, she'll probably - we try not to let her have too much screen time - but there's the lovely big TV on the bus. So for most of the time on stage, she'll be watching Peppa Pig. 'And then, I don't know, she's just really, she's kind of part of the team, really.' Pete married Katia, who performs in his band, in a private ceremony at a lavish French retreat in September 2021 - just two days after confirming their engagement. The couple wed at the Domaine Saint Clair hotel in the French city of Etretat - their home for the last three years - while The Libertines and the couple's band Puta Madres provided music. Pete who has been clean of heroin for three and a half years, has settled down with his Puta Madres bandmate Katia in France after ditching his bad boy lifestyle. He shot to fame in the mid-2000s as the frontman for indie band The Libertines, but found nationwide attention when he dated supermodel Kate Moss. Pete met Kate Moss at her 31st birthday bash in January 2005, and he declared soon after that he'd 'really found love.' Their turbulent romance briefly ended when Pete failed to complete a stint in rehab in Arizona, USA, with Kate saying at the time she has 'various personal issues I need to address.' He even drew a portrait of himself and Kate using crayons and his own blood in 2005. Pete also famously scrawled 'I love Kate 4 eva' on the windscreen of his Jaguar after leaving court following a drug-related offence.
BBC News
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Libertines to headline at Cornwall's Eden Sessions in summer
Indie rockers The Libertines are to headline the Eden Sessions in Cornwall in summer, it has been band, whose songs include Don't Look Back into the Sun and Can't Stand Me Now, will perform on Sunday 13, the final concert of the by Pete Doherty and Carl Barât, the group were part of a British guitar music revival in the early Sessions managing director Rita Broe said: "To welcome them to the Eden Sessions for what promises to be an unforgettable, one-day celebration feels incredibly special." Other acts in the finale concert include punk-folk performers Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls, Sports Team and Celtic punk band Mên An Broe said the gig would be "a fitting finale for this years' Sessions season".
