CARL BARAT INTERVIEW 2.26am on 15/09/2012

When I told my editor that I was attending festival No.6 at Portmeirion, he asked if there was anyone I would be interested in interviewing...erm, yeah!Carl Barat please! Iv'e always been a fan of the Libertines, and discovered that he would be there showing a special screening of the Libertines film 'There Are No Innocent Bystanders'.

After his acoustic set post the screening, I went to meet the stage manager to conduct the interview, as she had told me earlier, however when I got there she said he would not be doing any interviews. As disappointed as I was, I decided to drown my sorrows at the Kraken rum tent. At roughly 2.20am, my friend approached me claiming Carl was in the tent and that he would do the interview for me!

Probably about 5 double rum and coke's too late, we sat on a hay bail outside and had a long discussion about the history and the future of the band, and about his personal journey through his time in the Libertines and the Dirty Pretty things.

(please bare in mind that we are both highly intoxicated)

CARL BARAT INTERVIEW

2.26am on 15/09/2012

K=Katie Bentham

C=Carl Barát

K: Why did you make the film?

C: When we were getting back together, so many people, like Vice magazine and hand made films, all these different companies, wanted to make a film about it, with all the different pictures

K: Why?

C: I guess to do with the nature of the band, and it being so tumultuous, it was all dancing girls, bells and whistles, and there was just violence, drugs and tabloid notoriety, its the most obvious and boring concoction

K: Not a lot of other band have this kind of publicity!

C: Lucky them I guess

C: With all that stuff on offer, people wanted to make a movie about it, we weren't about to be ripped for people encouraging us to fall out, it was to have somebody we knew and trusted to come along and film it, honestly, with none of that fur coat and no knickers business, who we know will make a decent movie...I found this visor on the toilet floor, do you want to try it on?

K: What is it??

C: Looks like a Nike visor, I would never normally wear it...how is it?

K: It looks great!

C: I feel really bad that you got shunned earlier

K: No, don't worry about it!

K: Why did you decide to show the film here?

C: Well it's been all around the world, Amsterdam, Argentina, Madrid, Brazil...

K: Do you like Portmeirion?

C: I love Portmeirion

K: Have you been here before?

C: Never, only in my imagination

K: Isn't it beautiful?

C: It's beyond beautiful. I used to watch The Prisoner, as a child, on video

K: Has the film been shown across the whole of the UK?

C: It was in cinemas for a while. It's a good film, but I wouldn't expect anyone to really fall head over heels, who didn't know the band before, but I think its a honest dictation of some pretty troubled times

K: Do you think the band are ever going to get back together?

C: Inevitably one day, it's just a matter of when

K: Do you miss it?

C: The boys?

K: No, everything.

C: As a whole, absolutely. Individually? No man, I mean I love them and miss them, but what an annoying bunch of boys, each and every one of them, but together we do something which is beyond each individual.

K: Do you think you were better playing in the Dirty Pretty Things or The Libertines?

C: If you define 'better' I can give you a better answer.

K: As in you personally, your music writing.

C: In The Libertines, I grew in a way which is natural, things occurred, troubled times, each album was a snapshot of the day it was written and recorded. The Dirty Pretty Things...yeah it was good, I played harder than ever, with more attention than ever, everything that was played was played as if the last time I would ever play it, but is that better than The Libertines? I mean it's a whole different thing. Dirty Pretty Things were slaughtered from the start because people wanted it to be The Libertines, that was a very difficult thing to answer to.

K: So you met Pete (Doherty) through his sister?

C: Yes, his older sister.

K: Is it true he wrecked your flat while you went on tour in Japan?

C: Yeah, he did burgle it yeah.

K: And he stole a laptop and a guitar?

C: Thats not everything. Sorry I don't really like talking about that, it's quite a horrible time.

K: Sorry

C: But yeah, it's well known that thats what happened

K: Are you still fiends with him?

C: Yeah

K: Thats good

C: For life, for death, forever

K: Whats he doing now, is he music writing?

C: In a sense, he's in Paris. He's got a good life, he's got a bad life

(...then goes on to interview me)

K: So what did your parents do?

C: My dad worked in a factory and my mum was a hippie

K: Your mum was a hippie? Thats cool, in London?

C: No all around, in communes

K: What did she do?

C: Hippie shit...drumming, smoking. Anyway, enough about them

K: What do you think will happen in the future? A solo career, or join another band?

C: I really don't know, just music and following the right path!

(we then go onto the prospect of him having more kids, and discussing Fifty Shades of Grey)

By the time we were finished, all the bars in the arena had closed, so my friend and I offered him some Jack Daniels and coke from out tent, however Carl had a better idea, get the booze and hang out on his apartment balcony, who can resist that offer?! We ended up playing Libertines classics and any song of our choice with his guitar on his balcony until roughly 6.00am. I was one of the most exciting experiences in my life, and definitely something to tick off my bucketlist!