BabyShambles

Babyshambles are an English indie rock band established in London. The band was formed by Pete Doherty during a hiatus from his former band The Libertines, but Babyshambles has since become his main project. Babyshambles draws inspiration from the punk and ska genres, and has released two albums, one EP and a number of singles. The band has received a great deal of attention from the British tabloid press as a result of interest in Doherty's personal life.In mid- 2003, Pete Doherty was banned from playing with The Libertines until he could overcome his substance abuse problems. As a response, Doherty formed an alternate band, and recruited former Libertines line-up man, Steve Bedlow as vocalist. Initially, Doherty planned on calling his new band "T' Libertines", because of the band's Yorkshire connection - the line up of the band at the time consisted mainly of Yorkshiremen. On the night Babyshambles' first gig was scheduled to take place, Doherty was arrested for burgling Barât's flat. After he was charged and released, his friend Dean Fragile organized a new gig at the Tap'n'Tin. The performance received mixed reviews.Doherty was sentenced to six months imprisonment for his crime. His sentence was later reduced on appeal to two months. When he was released from prison, Doherty rejoined The Libertines[1] and sidelined the Babyshambles project. However, he found time to record the band's first single "Babyshambles", which was released in April 2004 on High Society Records. The single was limited to 2000 CDs and 1000 7" vinyl copies.[2]In the early summer of 2004, Doherty once again found himself cast out of The Libertines because of his drug use.[3] As a result, Doherty brought Babyshambles to the fore with Patrick Walden on guitar, Gemma Clarke on drums and Peter Perrett's two sons, Jamie and Peter Junior, on guitar and bass respectively. Doherty organised several gigs and the band began to gain respect in their own right, even though Doherty missed a number of appearances. The band's line-up underwent several changes before stabilizing during the late summer of 2004 with Doherty on vocals, Patrick Walden on guitar, Gemma Clarke on drums and Drew McConnell on bass.In January and February 2008 Babyshambles played their biggest European tour to date. Babyshambles are due to play at a lot of festivals this Spring and this Summer, especially in France. In June they will play at Hove Festival in Norway. In August they will headline the RadioOne/NME Stage of the Reading and Leeds Festivals. However, a large amount of their scheduled tours may be cancelled due to Doherty's recent imprisonment. On April 8th, it was announced that Babyshambles was going to release A CD/DVD live untitled "Oh! What A Lovely Tour" on June 2nd. The concert was recorded during the winter leg of the UK arena tour at the SECC Glasgow on the 2nd of December. Growning speculation suggested that Babyshambles would be unable to make all tour dates for 2008, but in a recent interview with NME "Doherty added that he will honour all his booked live commitments with Babyshambles, but will not book further gigs until his solo album is finished". The band is heading into studios to record 9 demos for their third upcoming album.