A Likely Lad

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The main issue I had with the story is that it’s missing a lot of his current life; most is focused on his time in the 200s and early 2010s, but air of his recent work is his best and should have been a deeper cut. In an incident that saw him imprisoned for burglary, he “started shouting and then booted the door in” of a flat in which he mistakenly believed band mate Carl Barat was hiding. His friendship with Carl was so pure and powerful, but perhaps the complex emotions Pete attaches to it are best borne out in his/their music.

Phil the landlord was an East End fella who used to clean windows in the morning and introduced The Libertines co-frontman to the drug which would plague him the rest of his life.Felt like he was trying to set some records straight although as a book about recovery I was saddened to hear that Pete had fallen into using after the Libertines was formed. There are the Kate Moss years, from the start of 2005 to the end of 2007, when he was all over the papers, in and out of rehab (“I wasn’t into it – you have to stop taking drugs for a start”) and moved to a country pile, “a mashed-up, skaggy version of Graceland”, where Amy Winehouse, Peaches Geldof and others would come and get high. Like his friend Amy Winehouse, he was a fixture on tabloid front pages, whether in disrepair or ducking out of a courtroom. Loved reading this as Pete is a fascinating bloke and it was good to read some of the stories he has and how he started e. A classic example is when he mentions the birth of his daughter in passing, the way someone would mention eating a Mars bar: 'Oh yeah, my daughter was born around then.

His lack of reflection then is perhaps understandable given that he likely doesn’t remember a whole lot of what happened. In the main he offers a fairly unvarnished recounting of his life, and if some of the exploits are carnivalesque, his narration, at least, is free from self-pity. By the end of the parched expanse of The Likely Lad, the reader will not be shocked to learn that the title of his biggest hit is Can’t Stand Me Now.With his trademark wit and humour, Doherty also details his childhood years, key influences, pre-fame London shenanigans, and reflects on his era-defining relationship with Libertines co-founder Carl Barât and other significant people in his life. At the time, it was such a big scandal that Mullord appeared on the front of the Evening Standard claiming he was innocent. With astonishing frankness - and his trademark wit and humour - he takes us inside decadent parties, substance-fuelled nights, prison and his self-destruction.

With his wildest days behind him, Doherty candidly explores - with sober and sometimes painful insight - some of his greatest and darkest moments, taking us inside the creative process, decadent parties, substance-fuelled nights, his time in prison and tendency for self-destruction. A synopsis of the book promises “Doherty’s version of the story – the genuine man behind the fame and infamy.Hard drugs, tiny gigs on the hoof, huge stadium shows, collaborations, obliterations, gangsters and groupies, Doherty has led a life of huge highs and incredible lows.