Pete Doherty feared reuniting Babyshambles earlier due to addiction

15 September 2025, 17:07 | Updated: 15 September 2025, 17:16

The Libertines' Pete Doherty perform in Berlin in 2025. Picture: Frank Hoensch/Redferns/Getty

By Jenny Mensah

Doherty admitted that he was worried about the negative influence he and guitarist Mick Whitnall would have on each other.

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Pete Doherty has revealed part of the reason why Babyshambles took so long to reunite.

Earlier this month, the '00s indie rockers - completed by Mick Whitnall (guitar), Drew McConnell (bass guitar) and Adam Ficek (drums) - announced their plans to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their much-loved debut album Down In Albion with shows this November and December.

Speaking of the shows, which kick off on 14th November in Norwich and includes two homecoming dates at O2 Academy Brixton, frontman Doherty revealed they were always talked about, only became possible once he and Whitnall had both been clean for a number of years.

"There was always talk about it; there was always a desire to play those songs again,” he told NME. “but the centrifugal point of it was addiction really, and the danger that me and Mick would be an unhealthy influence on each other.

"So it was people around us not wanting to meet up and probably us both knowing that it wasn’t a good idea."

Read more:

Babyshambles 2025 UK reunion tour dates - How to buy tickets

Babyshambles 2025 press image. Picture: Barnaby Fairley

The band also told the outlet that the reunion was meant to include their late include guitarist Patrick Waldren, who sadly died earlier this year.

Doherty added that his unexpected passing was “a real trigger to get [the reunion shows] done”.

The Killamangiro singer went on: “My first thought was of just seeing his face up there while we’re playing and that’ll be an important part of it".

Doherty previously said of the band's live dates: “We were all thinking we should do a few shows and everywhere I go I get ‘what’s happening with the ‘shambles.’ It’s a no brainer for me, play some of the old tunes and have a little shindig.”

Final tickets for the band's live dates are available here.

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Babyshambles were formed in 2003 during a hiatus with The Libertines when Doherty was forced to step down from the band.

The rockers have released three Top 10 albums altogether: Down In Albion (2005), Shotter's Nation (2007) and Sequel To The Prequel (2013) and scored four Top 10 singles with Killamangiro, F**k Forever, Albion and Delivery.