Peter Doherty
Photo: WireImage, Shirlaine Forrest. All rights reserved.
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On Friday (March 18th) a new record by Peter Doherty was released: THE FANTASY LIFE OF POETRY & CRIME. In the ME interview, the 43-year-old not only talks about that collaboration album – he also talks about his relationship with Katia de Vidas, whom he married last September: “Love saved my life. My wife mastered it, she saved my life in many ways. What a wonderful thing,” said Doherty, who says he has been drug-free for more than two years.
Étretat as a place of healing
In the interview, he attributes the fact that the Brit was able to give up drugs for such a long period of time for the first time in 20 years not only to love, but also to several reasons: On the one hand, the atmosphere in Étretat in Normandy would have an influence on his healing – the French community is framed by steep chalk cliffs, under which Claude Monet already let the waves splash and the sun set in his pictures.
“And then he pulls away, death”
On the other hand, the lockdown and the associated being stuck in Étretat also played an important role – and a conversation with his Libertines co-frontman Carl Barât: “There has been a change – a clear change. It happened after the Libertines tour in December 2019. Before that I had a conversation with Carl. It was very important to him that I was clean and didn’t do cocaine or heroin. After the tour I tried to do it. It was very difficult, but I made it. Two years have passed since then. In the midst of a chronic addiction one flirts daily with death. He lives in the next room, becomes a kind of friendly neighbor, if you will. You even start to like and trust him, let him watch your dogs or kids, and borrow milk from him. And then he moves away. He moved to another city, definitely. There are no drugs here in Étretat,” said Doherty, who shared a video of himself roaming around the seaside town back in 2016.
Love not for drugs but for love
The fact that he no longer owns a cell phone also contributes a great deal to a life without toxins: “I haven’t had a cell phone for two years, which is pretty strange for me. I liked the direct connection on social media but can’t risk anything. ‘Cause I know who I am It’s like another form of addiction, but it’s also directly related to the drugs: you can just call someone and get something so easily. I have to be very careful. I miss all my friends too. You know, I didn’t just love people because I took drugs with them. I loved her because I love her.”
Four-page interview to read in the new MUSIKEXPRESS
The complete, four-page interview can be read in the new issue of MUSIKEXPRESS. In it, Doherty talks about working with the French arranger Frédéric Lo, he pathologizes his psyche and compares his current self with the self he was 20 years ago, when the Libertines debut UP THE BRACKET was released. At the end of the interview, the former enfant terrible of British guitar music also reveals what the band’s new music is like.
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