Pete Doherty is a man of paradoxes. Hailed as one of the best songwriters of recent times yet people struggle to think of a single song he has written. Shies away from fame but attracts paparazzi in their droves. After a hiatus of sorts, his second band, Babyshambles, are recording new material for their second album and are making a highly anticipated one-off festival appearance later this summer. Notion caught up with them for an exclusive chat.

It's a sunny Friday afternoon in central London. Some would call it a balmy summer's day. People are leaving work early and popping into the pub for a couple of pints before heading home and getting ready for the weekend. It's a nice scene and one that I have been witnessing for about three hours. You see, waiting for an interview with Babyshambles is by all accounts a long and drawn out affair. You have to wait in the pub all alone like some sad, lonely, work-shy excuse for a man because at any moment you might get a call exclaiming, "I've found Pete, he’s on his way!" Unfortunately, on this particular Friday, I never received such a call. All I received was five pints of Carling, a packet of Flamin' Hot Monster Munch and not much change. Still, there are worse ways to spend a Friday afternoon I suppose and I consoled myself with the assurance that I'd get to meet the band over the weekend or early next week. They're holed up in a studio recording new material, with no escape, so it should have been easy to sort out. For all the protestations of Babyshambolic harmony, it was about to kick off once again.

Let's recap. Pete Doherty was once in a band called The Libertines. By all accounts they did rather well for themselves. However, Pete enjoyed himself a little too much, got a little too fucked and eventually got himself thrown out. The estranged Doherty had his own band which he called Babyshambles and after a multitude of line-up changes, the band now has the relatively stable line-up of Doherty on vocals, Patrick Walden on guitar, Drew McConnell on bass and Adam Ficek on drums. They made a modestly successful album called 'Down In Albion' in 2005, had a few top 40 singles, including 'Fuck Forever', and are currently recording a few tracks at Turnmills in preparation for a new album. If only it were that simple. If only it was simply about the music. If only they were a normal band who probably don't like turning up for interviews but realise they must because that is the done thing. If only their lead singer wasn’t one of the most famous junkies on the planet, who went out with one of the most famous models of all time, who suffered months of tabloid attention, bad press and was ultimately rejected by his father. If none of this were true I might have met Babyshambles over the weekend. Instead the band nearly split up, and the chances of me getting an interview were diminishing by the day.

 

As the weekend rolled by, getting balmier and balmier, the news eventually filtered through that Doherty had left his bandmates stranded for six hours at Waterloo when in fact they should have been on a train taking them to perform a gig in Paris. According to one tabloid, McConnell and Ficek were left "fuming" and had threatened to quit the band. Only a grovelling apology from Doherty saved Babyshambles and they eventually performed on Sunday night. Under these circumstances, gaining a face-to-face interview was looking increasingly unlikely. By the following week I had resigned myself to the fact that I was never going to interview the band. However, the fickle wheel of fate was on the move once again and it was under these circumstances of self-loathing that I got a call saying the interview was on. Only this time, instead of trying to talk to the band face-to-face I had to e-mail the questions over. "Fair enough," I thought, "how hard could it be?"

Harder than I thought. You see, trying to ask a question to Babyshambles is like trying to ask your mum if you can borrow some money to go out on the piss. You can't simply come out and say, "mum, can I borrow £50 to go out with my mates on a mental night out where we'll drink eight pints each, slam a multitude of Tequila slammers, run up and down the road naked and end up in Spearmint Rhino?" She'll say no. You have to be a bit more subtle and stress the need for taxis to get you home safe, leaving out the naked truth of Spearmint Rhino and drunken carnage. The same principle applies to Babyshambles. I can't ask Pete whether he thinks it's an embarrassment to be voted sexiest man by NME readers when he's clearly a struggling addict who needs help and support from experts, not to be elevated to some sort of modern day sex god from people who somehow think being a junkie makes you sexy. In fact, I can't even ask this question. It's like asking your mum if you can have a lap-dancing club in your front room. A more softly-softly approach is thus needed, one that panders to their emotions, without offending and without hitting the nail quite so firmly on the head. This is why I found myself checking my e-mails at 10.40pm on the night before Notion goes to press hoping against hope that Doherty and co had managed to say something interesting and coherent. Unbelievably they had. I had actually completed an interview with Babyshambles.

If you didn't know the history and you didn't know the stories you would be forgiven for thinking that Babyshambles were a normal band in the process of recording their second album, albeit without a record label. I ask whether the rumours of a fall out with Rough Trade are true, whether the label refused to renew their contract because Babyshambles had become more hard work than it was worth? "We were never dropped from Rough Trade," comes the predictably defensive reply. "The contract just came to a natural conclusion. We'd love to work with them again." Of course they would. However, being labelless brings along a variety of problems, not least who pays for studio time for the new album. Luckily enough for Babyshambles, the owners of Turnmills have granted the band free studio time in their own shack in return for an exclusive performance from the band at their very own Get Loaded In The Park festival at the end of August. For the band it sounds like a good deal. "We've been bursting to get into the studio because we've got loads of new material we're dead excited about," Drew informs me, "easily enough for three albums."

And for many this could be a worry. A common criticism of 'Down In Albion' stemmed from its excessive length and the fact that there were too many mediocre songs to stifle highlights such as the singles 'Killamangiro' and 'Albion'. The last thing a follow up should do is to make the same mistakes again. However, Drew is quick to leap to the defence of their debut stressing that although album sales were relatively disappointing and critical reaction was at best mixed, it does not matter because, "we always wanted to keep our musical integrity." He continues: "the production style and the circumstances under which 'Down in Albion' was recorded played a massive part in the final product. Peter was struggling with implants, Adam's mother passed away and Patrick's father passed away, so there was a lot to deal with. Plus there was the whole drugs scandal with Kate, and Peter was in jail for some time. If we had come through all that with a glistening record then that wouldn't have been real. It was an honest account of what was going on at the time for everyone concerned."

Honest it may be, but honesty doesn't necessarily make great music and although Babyshambles are blessed with an adoring fanbase it does not mean they will always be so adored. I ask whether the fans will eventually give up on the band, on their failure to turn up and the mixed performances that have plagued them since the beginning? "You could argue that the fan base is slowly dwindling," comes the surprisingly honest reply. "It's certainly a testing time for our fans and for us, but there's loads of positive things ahead and we're all really excited about what the immediate future holds." And the future could be bright if Babyshambles get it together. They are, after all, blessed with a lead singer of immense songwriting power and belief and just because they have cocked up in the past and buggered their fans around far more than they deserve it doesn't mean they can't begin to set it right in the future. "We make every effort to get to every show and we appreciate all the trouble that our fans go to, to come and see us," stresses Adam. "What's hard to explain to people is that you can't believe what you read in the papers. We never intend to miss any show - but Peter, for example, has the world's weight on his shoulders and sometimes the cracks show. We can only hope that people can see through the fuck ups and the mistakes and be patient, and we'll come out the other side, stronger and more consistent for all the trials and tribulations we've gone through in the past."

Perhaps they will, but in the current climate, just staying together with a lead singer in the form of the oft absent without leave Pete Doherty appears to be a struggle. "Sometimes it can be very hard to function as a band," Adam informs me, "It's difficult to get Peter in and out of places sometimes, mostly other countries. He doesn't plan to miss any of the flights and deep down we know that. We get angry and frustrated, but his good intentions are always there. It's not that Peter doesn't give a fuck, he really does give a fuck and that’s why we stick together as friends and as a band." So there’s no chance of cutting Pete lose then? "Anyone who is a Babyshambles fan will know the answer to this question. We'll always stick together, stick by Peter. Anyone who thinks we shouldn't... well we don't care about them. The band believes in what we are doing. We're in it for the long haul and we'll stick by each other come what may."

As well they might, for without Pete Doherty, Babyshambles simply would not be. I ask whether the band feel they need to legitimise themselves in the eyes of the music world because of Pete's association with the Libertines? Whether Babyshambles' success largely comes form the fact that Pete used to be in a different band? "As long as you can legitimise it to yourself, then that's good enough," comes the reply, although the band do admit that the Libertines association is a, "legacy Peter is due". Adam continues: "Libertines were a great band, who gave the whole music scene a kick up the arse. Don't forget it's still Pete - the same guy. He is the centre of Babyshambles and as long as we believe in the output of the music, we won’t lose any sleep over it."

And there we have it. Pete Doherty is the centre of Babyshambles. Despite his problems he is the creative force through which Babyshambles continues to flow. The next album will decide whether this creative force has been snuffed out or is still burning brightly. Babyshambles want to move away from bad times and all the shit that comes with too many drugs and too many tabloid photographers. They want to remove the "bad influence of drugs and letting down our fans". As Drew rather eloquently puts it: "The music has been buried under a mountain of bullshit and we're trying to get to the top of the mountain and hoist the flag of Albion high in the air and be kings of the world."

SEE BABYSHAMBLES LIVE AT THE METRO WEEKENDER – GET LOADED IN THE PARK. THE EVENT TAKES PLACE ON CLAPHAM COMMON ON AUGUST 27TH.