“This self-absorbed vision, this decadent artistic life, it didn’t mean anything when you’re squatting in that dank, decaying place. And Carl said, ‘Look, I know somewhere you’re still in there, the person I used to know. Come out to play.’” 

So now the Libertines have rekindled their friendships, played big stages and made a new album. Have they done enough to purge their regrets and restore their legacy?

“No,” Doherty says. “We’ve started, but I think something has to happen. I don’t know what it is. Something cataclysmic.” His eyes widen. “Some extraordinary twist!”

Barât looks at me and rolls his eyes, amusement intermingled with exasperation. “How about not?,” he tells his friend gently. “Let’s put the cataclysmic things on stand-by for now. You and me, we’re just going to stay on the tracks.”

Peter Doherty and Carl Barât on reuniting and getting clean (Aug 2015)