The Libertines have revealed that they still have the ambition to break America, despite frontman Pete Doherty being “banned” from the country for two decades.
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The British indie icons reflected on the success of their career over the past 20 years during a new interview with The Sun (via Music News), and revealed that there is still a part of them that wishes they could take their music across the pond.
The discussion came in light of their recently released album, ‘All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade’, which was their first full-length LP in nearly a decade and the follow-up to 2015’s ‘Anthems for Doomed Youth’.
Opening up about their hopes to take the album into the States, Carl Barat opened up about the struggles they have faced with the prospect over their career. “Trouble is, Pete’s been banned there for the past 20 years,” he said, explaining how Doherty’s well-documented struggles with addiction have led to various legal issues, and prevented the band from heading Stateside.
He continued, going on to share how, although the frontman’s sobriety may help them overcome their previous obstacles, they still have no idea what size their audience would be outside of the UK and Europe.
“We don’t know what we’re worth ticket-wise — it could be Madison Square Garden or a local bar,” he pondered. “But we’re hoping, especially with Pete’s progress, to get there and find out.”
‘All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade’ arrived today (April 5), following the indie heavyweights teasing the release over recent months by dropping singles including ‘Run Run Run’, ‘Night Of The Hunter’, ‘Shiver’ and ‘Oh Shit’. They also debuted some other cuts from the album at two intimate shows in Margate last December.
The album was given a shimmering four-star review by NME, and described as seeing the members “find their voice again”.
“On ‘…Eastern Esplanade’, the sense of listening in on a band teetering on the precipice of disaster is gone, replaced by a more stable and necessarily safer version of The Libertines,” it read.
“The results may be patchy, but this is not, and could not be, an album that rides the same intoxicating high as ‘Up the Bracket’. What they have done, though, is find their voice again, and, for the first time in over 20 years, The Libertines feel like a band with a viable future.
Ahead of its release, The Libertines spoke to NME in October about ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’, with Carl Barât explaining that the band were all “facing in the same direction” for this record.
“There’s been a lot of focus and everyone’s been working on finding their own personal place in the world as well. Everyone has very different lives and we managed to find something to unite over,” he said.
“That’s what The Albion Rooms has been really good for – having that in bricks and mortar, and co-owned by everyone. It feels like it’s part of this journey that’s been going on for a while now.”
Pete Doherty added: “The other albums were basically written before we went in the studio. This time it was a case of people presenting really strong ideas, and then everyone else just tucking in, putting their bibs on, rolling up their sleeves and chewing the fat.
“There were so many times on this album where I thought I knew what the song was, and then it became completely different for the best.”
To celebrate the release, the indie giants recently added some new dates to their 2024 UK and Ireland headline tour – find all the details here.
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