(THE LIBERTINES) This Is Who I Am....Carl Barat

Q Magazine

October 2009 

From The Libertines to Dirty Pretty Things, freewheeling guitarist and singer-songwriter Carl Barat has found experience in a whole raft of bands, experiences and friends...

Name: Carl Barat

Former bands: The Libertines, Dirty Pretty Things

From: Basingstoke

Interesting fact: Carl's sister, Lucie Barat, played Helen's handmaiden in the 2004 film, Troy. 

The influences of an artist can be found in a variety of locations: people, places, life changing records. For the past two months, Q has teamed up with Orange to bring you This Is Who I Am - a series of intimate interviews with a number of heavyweight artists - Kasabians Tom Meigan and The Enemy's Tom Clarke have previously explained how their music influences have impacted on their lives, and which people and relationships made them who they are today. In the third and final part of the third and final part of the series, it's the turn of Carl Barat - former frontman with Dirty Pretty Things and one time Libertine - to take the confessional...

Who was the most influential person on your musical career? 

I guess my Dad. He introduced me to music. I remember he used to drive around in a Reliant Robin, which was kind of embarrassing in later life. But I remember sitting in the back and listening to The Jam and David Bowie, so I had that drummed into me from an early age. 

What were some of your earliest musical developments? 

I remember watching Nirvana's MTV Unplugged, and copying it on guitar. That's how I spent most evenings. Then I guess I went "strictly metal" for a few years. 

How did that happen?

I went with the attitude. But then eventually, I think I got into rap metal bands such as Rage Against The Machine. From that I went on to hip hop acts. acts like Cypress Hill. Then I got into some weird English stuff like Gun Shop, and then there was that band, Sensor...

So who was the person that introduced you to playing music yourself? 

Well, my dad had a guitar, which I wasn't allowed to touch, so that in itself was an incentive really. I secretly learned how to play it. I got caught a couple of times and got a bit of a drubbing, but that was the inspiration to learn. Then the second you can play Sweet Child O'Mine to your friends - and you see the look on their face - it just snowballs from there, really.

How did you meet Pete Doherty? 

Through his sister. She mentioned that she had a brother and always spoke very highly of him. Then one day she said he was finally coming up to London. She had to go and do something and he was in her room in (university) halls, so could I go and look after him? I went in and the room just stank of urine and there was this guy sitting on the bed - he was much bigger than I expected - wearing this plastic jacket and I thought, "Oh God, he's incontinent." It was a bit awkward. 

What happened next? 

I just thought, "Jesus, I've been lumbered with babysitting". But he did have wily, electric eyes and a really fascinating curiosity about everything. I found myself wanting to impress him, for some reason. It turned out that the pee smell was from the river - the window was open, it was right on the Thames. That was an interesting start to an interesting friendship. 

Why did you not want to meet him? 

I just couldn't be bothered really. But then when I did meet him, he was just like the kind of person I'd like to meet anyway. He cared about words and language, history and culture and poetry. He was quite an inspirational fellow. 

When did you decide to write music together? 

Pete had the idea pretty much straight away. He harangued me for about a year to get on with it, but I wasn't sure what I was doing. I thought I was going to be an actor. But then eventually we got together and spent a long time doing it. 

You both have a wonderful romanticism about England and Albion, as you call it. Where did that idea come from? 

Albion was just a word we used as an embodiment; it means England, it means the white cliffs of Dover...We just used that to symbolize the vessel, the journey that we embarked on. because after a while I left Brunel University, I realized this was almost like our destiny. I had to heed the call and throw myself face first into it. As soon as I realized this, it was like, "About time, let's do it." That was when we came up with the idea of Albion meaning England, which is something we both hold dear to our hearts. And then the voyage began, really. 

Do you think your love/hate relationship with Pete Doherty will ever go away? 

I doubt it very much. It's never going to turn into indifference. Certainly not on my part, anyway.   

(The magazine states that the full interview was posted on Q The Music)