The Libertines recall "wild" Albion Rooms gigs: "The neighbour tried to break down the door with an axe"

18 October 2022, 13:24

The Libertines on their early shows at home

The Libertines have looked back on their early days in Radio X's Up The Bracket - 20 Years of The Libertines podcast and talked about the significance of their at-home gigs.

The Libertines have talked about their infamous guerrilla gigs, which took place at Pete Doherty and Carl Barat's flat.

The band - completed by bassist John Hassall and drummer Gary Powell - spoke to Sunta Templeton for Radio X's exclusive Global Player podcast, Up The Bracket - 20 Years of The Libertines, where they celebrated the album looked back on their early days as a band.

Listen to Up The Bracket - 20 Years of the Libertines exclusively on Global Player now

Known for playing last minute, guerilla-style Albion Rooms gigs (which initially took place in their Camden Road digs, before they were signed in 2001 and moved to 112a Teesdale Street in Bethnal Green), the band recalled how they were able to build up a loyal following and create a sense of "community".

Carl recalled of the gigs: "Culturally it was really significant in terms of community... and there was a more mercantile aspect to it."

"Yeah, we were putting tenners on the door," Pete explained. "We made it so refreshments could be supplied for all."

Carl added: "There was a palpable excitement. It was like the Wild West. It was such an exciting time".

Listen to Up The Bracket - 20 Years of the Libertines exclusively on Global Player

However, as the band's popularity grew and more revellers turned up at their door, Pete admitted they "started having problems with the neighbours".

"To be honest, I thought it was mental," recalled drummer Gary, "I'd turn up to a few. I remember turning up to one where the neighbour upstairs tried to break the door down with an axe."

The Don't Look Back Into The Sun sticksman, who was recruited to replace the band's early drummer Paul Dufour, continued: "The thing that I actually did like about what they did is they cut the middle man out automatically.

"It just gave us this avenue of interaction, which to this day I still kind of love."

He added: "You don't have to conform. You don't have to do this like this. You can do it anyway you want.

"It's about the end result as much as it is about the journey, but you can make the journey as interesting as you'd possibly like it to be."

To celebrate 20 years of The Libertines’ debut album, Up The Bracket, Global Player has launched a brand new podcast featuring exclusive interviews with the band: Up The Bracket - 20 Years of The Libertines.

The seven-episode podcast, hosted by Radio X’s Sunta Templeton, will lift the lid on the recording process of the era-defining debut album through interviews with Carl, Peter, John and Gary, plus James Endeacott (the A&R who discovered the band) and Anthony Thornton (the band’s biographer).

Listeners will hear stories from before the sell-out shows, before the world tours, before the massive singles, before the headlines, before the highs and before the fall outs.

From the first gig to the moment they felt like they’d ‘made it’; the inspirations behind the songs and the stories never heard before, told by the band themselves.

All seven episodes of Up The Bracket - 20 Years of The Libertines are available now, exclusively on Global Player.

Listen to Up The Bracket - 20 Years of the Libertines exclusively on Global Player