There's a bird on the wire...

...with another bunch of news.

• Mensah, the Thirst's lead singer (pictured above with the Pizza) speaks about Peter's solo album.
• If you're interested in seeing the man hanging in Paris go here.
• Nice video with Carl and Drew for Crisis.
• Carl Barat is threatening to release an album with The Chavs.
• And the NME is threatening to release a Dirty Pretty Things exclusive (kidding - that would be much appreciated).

Something else

The Libs in Q (thanks to Skyebluekookie)

• Funny piece about Babyshambles at the FNAC store (with photos and videos).
• Not so funny article about Carl's current troubles. Now that's worth a mention: “We don’t want to keep on recording" he said "We want to get it out as soon as possible. If it doesn’t come out soon then I’m going to release a single first”. Yes Carlos, but DO IT. NOW. And sack your manager before it's too late. And all the ballast you're dragging with you. Sod them. Get it?
• OK. French Dog Blues is moving to another server. It'll be back soon.
• The Q issue with the Libertines article is out (see photo above). If you wanna save some quid, go to libs daily, some kind soul has scanned and uploaded the whole affair (put on your reading glasses!). I have read it and it's nothing more than Bound Together version Reader's Digest. The last two quotes are rather moving though. Peter: "I can say this forever I suppose and people might laugh at it but I don't think I really ever left the Libertines. Nor can I ever leave the Libertines". Carl: "I'll always be a Libertine. I've got it (tattooed) on my arm so I haven't got much choice".

Babyshambles in Paris - Take Two

"Hang on a mo... is that Oscar Wilde?"

"No, it's his best friend"

Less than one month after the Olympia gig Babyshambles got back to La Ville Lumiere to play a show at the Zenith (the Olympia was taken over by Morrissey last night. Hard choice for the Parisiens!!). I'm still trying to find out what happened at the FNAC store a few hours earlier, but for the moment I leave the stage to our much devoted French star. Ladies and gentlemen, Madame Anjali:

"[...] When the gates opened i could smuggle in my big camera (this is relevant later on in the story), and i was joined by Sweet Matilda at the front row, in front of Drew. we had to sit through 2 support acts, one of which was a kid who had won a competition on MySpace France to sing 3 songs acoustically before the gig. he sang "Last post on the bugle", "Sunny afternoon" and one of his own. it was funny and sweet, especially it was his birthday and everyone sang it to him. then the second act was once again one of those teenage sensations championed by Rock'n'Folk, called The Dodoz, i won't comment any further, you know the drill. BabyShambles walked onstage on time, to the sound of "La Marseillaise" at full blast, it was fantastic!!! we were dead chuffed. Pete was clad in a tuxedo and a high hat, and had a sort of blue white and red sash tied around him, like the one presidents and mayors get. he looked absolutely wonderful! the gig started in total euphoria, with "Carry on", "Delivery", the setlist wasn't much different from the previous European dates. i was dead relieved that they were playing marvellously well, in contrast with the Olympia last month, me and Matilda were singing along and it was beautiful. i was taking pictures and they were coming out great, all was well. until some security cunt told me off for taking the pictures, and threw me out of the front row. i had to go to the cloak room to deposit my camera and i couldn't go back to the front so i stayed at the far right-hand side. this is where i realised that apart from a dozen of kids at the front, the rest of the audience was pretty apathetic. i was feeling sorry for the band, because for once they were playing really well, and they weren't being rewarded by the audience. at the end, Pete even said "Thank you very much, you've been an awful audience!" it was such a shame because judging by the exuberant entrance, they were really chuffed to play France at first. also, at some point, between two songs Pete said something about Morrissey which i couldn't really make out. Moz was playing that same night at the Olympia, and when Pete mentioned him it sounded as though he intended to leave the BS show halfway through to go see him instead! fortunately he stayed and played the whole show. after the gig an aftershow was arranged in a club somewhere in the posh part of the city, but it didn't look like the band were very much up for going. according to Mik they'd been there once before and it had been dreadful so he didn't want to go. in the end he and Adam still went, but didn't stay for long because it was indeed dreadful. i don't know what Pete and Drew got up to, i have no idea if they went somewhere else or went straight to bed".

Very beautiful photos by Oliver Peel on Flickr.

A spoonful of news

Helsinki, the band that features Drew McConnell, are to tour in support of Kid Harpoon later this month (here).

Peter may perform at Brixton's Jamm nightclub in south London on Friday, February 8 (here).

As I speak, Babyshambles are playing a showcase in Paris, at Montparnasse FNAC.

Babyshambles Italian Weekend

Adrian Hunter (AKA Babybear) writes to FDB: “Milan tonight and Babyshambles supported themselves at tonight's show. The boys opened the evening shortly after doors with a set of Shambles' newies inc Pretty Sue and Libertines oldies inc I get Along and Time For Heroes. Cat Claw kindly let us use their gear and are now onstage while we relax for 40 minutes before heading back to The Rolling Stone Club for the full set. Milan certainly getting their money's worth tonight. We catch the red eye to Paris tomorrow for our biggest French gig ever and a possible FNAC instore meet and greet with the fans. Then off to Lyon and then a few days off in Blighty before the next round. Thanks to everyone who's come to the shows so far and thanks for everyone's patience with the rescheduling of shows (all for good reason). I hope you have all had a blast and I hope the upcoming dates are as enjoyable as these have been. Ciao!”

I say, thank you to Babybear and particularly Babyshambles for putting up three amazing shows in a row in my country, for a fantastic weekend of sleepless nights and crap food and huge boozes, for reminding us that great music still exists. The only negative note: the setlist is always the same (and maybe there were too many fangirlies but that’s normal).

I was supposed to attend only one gig, I ended up attending all 3 of them, and the last was the blast. Sorry for the lack of updates in the last days, I was too busy searching for lifts and missing trains.
The tour was totally ignored by the Italian press, which is “surprising” (?) considering the intense coverage the 2006 gigs received when Doherty was escorted by some famous chick and slept in a famous designer’s mansion. By the way I can show you a gallery of beautiful photos taken by Samuele Franzini and a very blurred but funny video of Peter dj-ing and dancing at the Fish and Chips Club after the Rome gig.

Rome’s setlist (s): Carry On Up The Morning, Delivery, Beg, Steal Or Borrow, Pretty Sue, Baddies Boogie, Side of The Road, Unstookietitled, The Blinding, Unbilotitled, You Talk, Sedative, There She Goes, Back From The Dead, Pipedown, Killamangiro, Albion, I Wish, Fuck Forever.

You Talk - Baby Shambles live at Rome

Thanks to Britjack. Very good show, not the end of the world, but more than average. Band very tight, Peter in good shape. Just a few probs with Pete-stalkers, but that was not unexpected. More info later.

Pre-gig shenanigans

Anthony Thornton writes to org.uk: There’s a four-page feature on the Libertines in this month’s Q. IT includes a couple of rare (early/Razzcocks) era photos and some nice eyewitnesses stuff from the people who where there Banny, Tony Linkin, John Hassall. A fantastic quote from Alan McGee and some good stuff from our very own Kirstys.

Following Adam’s last message to FDB, hinting at the possibility that Stephen Street might be producing both next Babyshambles album AND Peter’s solo album, the actual producer of the latter, Jake Fior, has posted a message to .org stating: “I spoke to Peter this morning and he has confirmed that we are still working together on his solo project.No member of the current line up of Babyshambles or Babyshambles management has appeared or is scheduled to appear on any of the recordings, so I cannot see what relevance their choice of producer would have for Peter's solo work. If he wants to use a different producer then I'm sure he is more than capable of making that decision solo.Jake Fior”.

Carl & Didz are dj-ing again on Saturday Feb 9 at Totally Wired, Mango Joe's Restaurant & Bar, Medway Valley Park, Chariot Way, Strood, Rochester, Kent. Meanwhile, the two dirty pretty things keep expressing their frustration at the difficulties they're facing for the release of their second album (here).