AT Dirty Pretty Things’ London debut last year, frontman Carl Barat suffered a migraine that left him blind for 20 minutes. Earlier this month, he broke his collarbone falling off a motorbike in Taiwan after a lot of sake and karaoke. And then there was surgery to remove a benign lump behind his ear, which had the potential to leave his face half paralyzed.
Despite all that, Barat, who co-founded the disbanded Libertines with Pete Doherty, seems downright cheery
(in his laid-back style) to have escaped from the notorious escapades of his exbandmate. Dougherty has
been arrested repeatedly on drug-related charges and was in and out of rehab.
“It’s going pretty good,” Barat says from his hotel room in L.A., where he’s smoking a cigarette and watching a TV show about Rod Stewart.
It must be reassuring, too, not to have to worry about his new bandmates being noshows or breaking into his
apartment while he’s on tour, as Doherty did.
Today, Barat just worries over the usual band concern: making an impact with its debut disc. “Waterloo to Anywhere” is out Tuesday, and the group performs at the Bowery Ballroom tomorrow and Tuesday.
Last month, the estranged pals – Barat and Doherty – met for a very public catch-up over a few pints at the Dublin Castle pub in London. But Barat downplays talk of a Libertines reunion.
“Oh, I don’t take it all that seriously,” Barat says. “I was just meeting a friend. Making sure my mate was all right.
We were in the same place at the same time.”
Being mates with Doherty may have affected Barat. He’s 28, but he says he feels 21 going on 80. Then again, he’s
always been like this.
“At 5 years old, I thought I was 80,” he says. “They used to call me a grumpy old man at school.”
And as for making up with Dougherty, he says he’s not forgiving, but realistic.
“There’s not much point,” he says, “in not forgiving people.”