The Last Standing Libertine: Carl Barat - page 2

24 October 2009

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A: Yeah. I think it makes me sing in tune a bit better!

Q: You recently performed at the Jack Daniel's JD Set birthday concert in London with Brett Anderson, Jon 'The Reverend' McClure and veteran musicians The Silver Cornet Band. How was it?

A: It was fun, the old boys are lovely. It was quite a weird combination, me, The Reverend and Brett Anderson. It was very well put together. Singing without a guitar was scary though. It makes me feel naked. I thought I'd probably have to mime one! I sang some covers which I don't sing as well as the actual people, so it all felt a little bit 'X Factor'-ish.

Q: What are your big aims in music?

A: I still want to write songs that connect people and people can use and communicate with, that's what makes me feel a success.

Q: Do you think people read too much into your lyrics?

A: With music so many things are ambiguous and you put your own meaning into it and it is that for you. You know, something like, 'Back beat, the word is on the street...', you put your own idea into that don't you? There are so many things. It's good when people do that. Everyone gets something else and people like it if they can do that.

Q: You mentioned Oasis lyrics there, would you consider joining them if they asked you to replace Noel?

A: I don't think it would be the same would it, no.

Q: Are there certain topics you won't tackle in your songwriting?

A: Some things hurt to write, things you don't really want to explore, but you have to suffer for it and go for it anyway. I can only write when I'm happy, unless something really s**t has happened and I'm panicking. I can't move my body parts when I'm depressed, I have no reason to. I can definitely tap into the s**t stuff when I'm up and happy. Retrospective pain.

Q: Is it quite frustrating that you want to do your own thing but people only want to talk to you about the Libertines?

A: It's been the story of my life for years. I just get used to it. It's easy to get annoyed but I don't really care about it. I should really work on getting a valid, reasoned response for that.

Q: There were a lot of rumours surrounding The Libertines, do you ever read any of those ridiculous stories about yourself?

A: They all tend to be true. I once got asked what it was like being in 'Murder in Mind', which was weird.

Q: There was one about you having bodyguards in the studio...

A: No, that was true. It was a bit of an extreme time. It was to stop us fighting. I slipped the net one day though...

By Viki Waters

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