NME blogger about Peter's secret influence

Slightly ironic piece by NME blogger Paul Stokes about who the real influence behind Pete Doherty is:

Pete Doherty's secret influence
20/09/07 10:30:04 am
by Paul Stokes
"There’s been a lot of talk about the influences behind Babyshambles’ new album ‘Shotter’s Nation’. Does ‘Delivery’ rip off The Kinks (maybe a little). Was it really Graham Coxon’s guitar playing that encouraged Pete Doherty to recruit producer Stephen Street (it was).
However one massive influence seems to have been missing in discussion of the album, and Pete’s career so far – Oasis.
The stadium-filling Mancs might seem to jar with the surprise gigs at The Boogaloo Bar favoured by Babyshambles and The Libertines, but from the bigger sound of their new album, to the anthemic qualities of songs like ‘Albion’, ‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’ and ‘Time For Heroes’, the hand of Gallagher has never been to far away.
Firstly, both Pete and Noel Gallagher are huge fans of The La's, so it follows that they would share something musically, and the Oasis man’s solo tracks like ‘Sad Song’ or 'Half The World Away’ share a spirit with Pete’s acoustic moments, notably second album closer 'The Lost Art Of Murder'.
Then there was this clip which surfaced on YouTube of Eddie Temple Morris interviewing the aspiring singer for MTV when he was queuing up to buy an Oasis album in the late 90s, which revealed Pete was more than just a casual listener - he was a solid fan.
All interesting factors, but this week the dots have really been joined.
If you check the inside back cover of this week’s NME, you'll see a shot of Pete from 2000 – pre-Libertines – which our wonderful photographer Jo McCaughey snapped in Camden Market. She wasn’t actually snapping Pete, just people hanging around, and didn’t think anything of it until she saw the snap again recently and realised who it was.
As an insight into Pete’s influences it’s amazing. Wearing a cap, wire thin glasses and a sharp mod suit the initial reaction is that the Babyshambles man is trying to be John Lennon.
However, think about the timing and what Liam Gallagher was up to around then and it’s clearly the Oasis frontman who is not only a musical influence, but a sartorial icon for the young Libertine.
It’s a real shame then that all bridges were burned between the two camps after Babyshambles failed to turn up to support Oasis at a couple of their arena shows in 2005, as who knows, a Pete and Noel collaboration (just like when Noel was the young buck collaborating with his icon Paul Weller) might have been on the cards.
I’m now spending the day looking for more examples of Oasis’ influence on Pete – if you spot any post them below – but suddenly Babyshambles' forthcoming UK arena tour makes a whole lot more sense…"

Meanwhile, I must say that with Peter still in rehab and Carl catching UFOs in Santa Monica, California (USA) I'm starting to experience a mild libertine-cold turkey. But actually I still have to buy my copy of Delivery...