““I was definitely worried about him,” says Barât. “He was a dear, dear friend. It was a very strange time, you know? We would only communicate through little barbs in our songs and interviews.“ Barât first heard about the possibility of a Libertines reunion after Doherty mentioned the idea to an Israeli newspaper last spring. Soon, the duo were meeting for mojitos to talk it over. “There were a few quick fixes,” says Barât of their relationship. In June, the band gathered in a Hamburg studio to rehearse. Playing together felt right immediately. “It was undeniable. You could see it on everyone’s faces. It’s like an old storybook covered in dust. You pull it out, and it’s everything you’ve ever wanted.“”
I tried to translate the interview, best as I could:
Carl: “When you end a relationship you demonize your ex …”
Pete: “What was the question?”
Carl: “How we got back together.”
Pete: “Ah.”
Carl:
“… you demonize your ex to protect yourself … That’s kind of a law of
nature to get over it. You concentrate on the negative things and create
a person that doesn’t exist. Pigman suddenly is mega sau.
And, and, yeah … it took a while for me to revert this process and
become friends again. Although I always loved him, even when we didn’t
talk. If that wasn’t the case I wouldn’t have been interested in doing
anything again.”
Pete: “All these songs were
written before we got signed, or payed or had any fame. And so our lives
were … in and around and about the subjects of our songs … and what
we did for a living – was nothing, because we didn’t do anything for a living.
But when you get signed it’s reverse – what you then do for a living and to
get paid becomes that … and the songs are about what you used to do on this planet … but what is
your life … it’s nothing.”
Pete: “Queens beach
road (???) has this little hump that you can fly over with your car. You
just have to be careful, that there’s nobody else around … Ahh, did you
hear that clicking? Ah well … so I’m going really fast with my jaguar
and drive toward this hump and suddenly “Bang bang you’re dead” plays
on the radio and as I start to drive slower to listen to the lyrics, I
already see the police in the rear mirror, then beside me and in front
of me. And Carl sings on the radio “I gave you the Midas touch and you scratched out my heart”. As my face touches the
sidewalk he starts the solo. Then they locked me into the police van
and I thought “You bastard.”, because I was sure that Carl had teamed up with the police.”
Carl: “ … more likely with the devil.”
Pete: “I always like to describe us as: fame hungry chancers.”
suchasinistergame 