Pete Doherty has said that his new Babyshambles album is the best work he has ever done, adding that The Libertines are "probably the most manufactured band ever". What, more manufactured than Girls Aloud? Westlife? The Monkees?
Speaking to Xfm, Doherty said of the nearly finished album: "We've got a load of songs, about 30. It's sounding good. You'll like it, there's a couple of surprises on there, a couple of brand new ones we wrote when we were in there. We might call it 'Up The Morning', maybe, but we don't know yet. Same with The Libertines, it's always the last day when we have to get the artwork sent off. It's the best record I've ever made by a long shot."
Doherty went on: "Apart from the Sex Pistols, The Libertines were probably the most manufactured band ever. Me and Carl signed to Rough Trade as songwriters and then pieced together a band from the miscellaneous. It was just a case of let's get the best looking people and be as much like The Strokes as possible. That was the idea at the time."