Carl Barât

Carl Barât
Background information
Birth name	Carl Ashley Raphael Barât
Born	(1978-06-06) 6 June 1978 Basingstoke, Hampshire, England
Genres	Indie rock, punk rock, garage rock
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1997–present
Associated acts	The Libertines, Dirty Pretty Things, The Chavs, Client, The Jackals
Notable instruments
Gibson Melody Maker Gibson Les Paul Junior

Carl Ashley Raphael Barât (born 6 June 1978) is an English musician, best known for being the co-frontman with Peter Doherty of the garage rock band The Libertines. He was the frontman and lead guitarist of Dirty Pretty Things, and in 2010 debuted a solo album.^[1] In 2014 he announced the creation of his new band, The Jackals.^[2]

Early life

Carl Barât was born in Basingstoke, England on 6 June 1978, and spent most of his childhood in Whitchurch, Hampshire. In a September 2004 interview with Blender Magazine, Barât mentioned having a French, Russian and Polish ethnic background.^[3]

As a youth, Barât divided his time between his divorced parents. His father, a former artist, worked in an armaments factory, and his mother, Chrissie, was part of the commune-dwelling counterculture and a member of peace groups such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.^[4] Barât spent part of his childhood living with his mother on a commune in Somerset. He has one sister, actress-turned-singer Lucie Barât, who played Helen's handmaiden in the 2004 film Troy, founded publishing house and artistic organization Little Episodes, and is currently the lead singer of The Au Revoirs.^[5] He also has three half-siblings, one step brother and one step sister.

In 1996, Barât was studying for a drama degree at Brunel University at the Twickenham campus in St. Margarets, Twickenham. Although he dropped out halfway through, during his time he became well-acquainted with Peter Doherty's sister, Amy-Jo and through her, Barât met Doherty.^[4] They soon developed an intense friendship based on a shared interest in music and songwriting. Barât and Doherty also developed a shared mythology in which they were on a ship called 'The Albion' sailing to 'Arcadia'. After both dropped out of school, they formed The Libertines. The band in its final incarnation included bassist John Hassall and drummer Gary Powell. Barât and Doherty were co-frontmen, sharing songwriting, vocal and guitar duties.

Career

The Libertines

The Libertines' first album, Up the Bracket, was released in 2002 to critical acclaim. The band appeared on the cover of NME before the album was released and rapidly rose to fame in the UK. This was due in part, to their volatile stage performances, which were characterised by intense bouts of mic-sharing and play-fighting between Barât and Doherty. This paralleled their relationship, which by 2003 had progressed to verging on dysfunctional and abusive, with Barât and Doherty being equally competitive and possessive with each other. Referring to their relationship in a January 2010 interview, Barât said, '...it’s a deep love. Deep love does funny things to people'.

In 2003, Doherty's addiction to heroin and crack cocaine led Barât to ask him not to participate in the band's next tour. When Doherty discovered that The Libertines had left without him to perform in Japan he broke into Barât's Mayfair flat and stole various items, including an antique guitar and an NME Award. He was convicted and sentenced to six months in prison (this sentence was later shortened to two months). Barât warmly welcomed Doherty back to The Libertines on the day of his release, and they later performed an impromptu "Freedom Gig" at the Tap 'n' Tin club in Chatham, Kent on 8 October 2003. A photograph of the gig, taken by Roger Sargent, adorns The Libertines' self-titled second album, The Libertines, and the cover of Sargent's and Anthony Thornton's book, The Libertines Bound Together.

Doherty's drug addiction continued while the band worked on their second album (the aforementioned The Libertines) in 2004, which strained his relationship with Barât. Bodyguards were needed in the recording sessions, allegedly to prevent Barât and Doherty from physically assaulting each other (though this is claimed to be an exaggeration of the press in Bound Together) and to keep Doherty's hangers-on away from him. Before the release of the album in 2004, relations between Barât and Doherty reached a breaking point and Doherty was once again prevented from performing with the band before addressing his addictions. Doherty did not take the ultimatum well, especially as The Libertines continued touring without him to fulfill contractual obligations. Doherty admitted in a September 2005 interview that he had not spoken to any of his former bandmates since then.

What was intended as a short leave of absence turned into something more permanent, as Doherty formed a new band, Babyshambles, and the Libertines officially disbanded after their final gig in December 2004.

On 15 May 2009, Pete, Carl and Gary of the Libertines played on stage together for the first time since the split in 2004. The Libertines (minus Denmark-residing bassist John Hassal) came together for a tribute gig for their late promoter, Johnny Sedassy. The six song set, which included "What a Waster", "Up the Bracket" and "Death on the Stairs", was played after Babyshambles appeared on stage. Barât explained that the show was a 'one off', although he admitted that the likelihood of more shows could not be ruled out. Barât also expressed his desire to get on stage with Pete again, although perhaps not until 2010. Drummer Gary Powell also confirmed that he'd be interested in a full reunion, although he wishes to "readdress old ghosts first".^[6]

The Libertines delighted their fans by announcing that year that they would be headline artists at the 2010 Reading and Leeds Festivals. Their set and the characteristic chemistry between the pair, was for many people one of the highlights of the weekend.^[7]

Dirty Pretty Things

On 15 September 2005, it was announced that Barât was forming a new band.^[8] His bandmates included former Libertines drummer Gary Powell; Anthony Rossomando, who filled in as guitarist following Pete Doherty's departure from the group; and Didz Hammond, formerly of The Cooper Temple Clause, on bass. It was later announced that the band's name was "Dirty Pretty Things".

The group played their first shows in Italy and Paris, France in October 2005, before recording their debut album in November 2005 in Los Angeles, California. This was produced by Dave Sardy, who has also worked with Supergrass, The Dandy Warhols, Jet, Marilyn Manson, Rolling Stones, and Oasis. The album – entitled Waterloo to Anywhere – was released on 8 May 2006 in the UK and 8 August 2006 in the US.^[9]

Their first studio recorded demo, "Bang Bang You're Dead", was released on their website in the form of a flash video. Its sound has been likened to that of the early Libertines', mixing punk and reggae influences. This song was released as their debut single on 24 April 2006 and reached number 5 in the UK single chart. This coincided with the latter part of their first tour of the United Kingdom, which spanned from 26 February to 24 May 2006. Their debut album, Waterloo to Anywhere, was released on 8 May 2006, and reached number 3 in the UK album chart. They have since released "Deadwood" and "Wondering".

The band were forced to postpone their Real Fits fundraiser gig, which had been set to take place at the London Hackney Round Chapel on 20 June 2008 as Barât was rushed to hospital on 17 June with acute pancreatitis.^[10] He was released from hospital on 22 June.^[11]

The band released their new single, "Tired of England", on 23 June 2008, and their album, Romance at Short Notice, a week later on 30 June.

Their album failed to chart highly despite heavy touring schedules. Powell wrote in the band's message board that it had been a difficult year. On 1 October 2008, Dirty Pretty Things split up, though they finished their final tour which began in Glasgow on 4 October and ended in London on 20 December.^[12][13]

Solo work and contributions

In 2005, Barât and his friend, Adam Green of The Moldy Peaches appeared in a documentary following the pair on a night out in London.^[14] He also modelled for clothing brand J. Lindeberg, along with Juliette Lewis.^[15]

On 7 July 2006, Carl announced that he would become the fifth mentor in the Road to V competition,^[16] which involved a UK search for the best unsigned music talent in the UK with the winner opening V Festival in either Chelmsford or Staffordshire.

In 2008, he featured as actor in the film Telstar in the role of Rock'n'Roll singer Gene Vincent. The film premiered at the London Film Festival on 25 October 2008 and was released on 19 June 2009.^[17] He also featured in an advertisement for BBC Two's The Culture Show, being asked about British culture.^[18] A longer version of his interview can be found on the Culture Show website.^[19]

Tim Burgess has stated that he and Barât's supergroup The Chavs plan to record their debut album in August 2008.^[20]

In September 2008, Barât stated that he was set to play Gene Vincent in a new British film, Telstar.^[21]

Barât toured as a solo artist with Glasvegas, performing with them at Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations on 31 December 2008,^[22] and at the Popscene in San Francisco on 8 January 2009.^[23] On 14 January 2009, Barât supported Glasvegas with a solo show during their gig at the Los Angeles Troubadour .^[24]

Carl Barât played his first headline solo shows on 6 and 7 March 2009 at the Wakefield Escobar.^[25] He also played at the KU Bar in Stockton-on-Tees on 8 March. Barât also featured as himself in a pilot episode for Svengali, alongside former manager Alan McGee and Welsh actor Jonathan Owen, in May 2009.^[26]

On 9 June 2009, Barât debuted two new songs, "So Long" and "Monday Morning" at a solo show at Dunfermline's Carnegie Hall.^[27] On 25 August, a short video entitled "Two British Dudes" featuring Barât and fellow musician Har Mar Superstar was released on crappyholidays.net.^[28] On 2 September, Barât confirmed his intentions to release a solo album.^[29] Barât also produced the debut EP "Scapegoat" of London-based singer-songwriter Kieran Leonard which was released in October.^[30]

In January 2010, Barat appeared in the stage play Fool For Love alongside actress Sadie Frost. The play ran until March 2010 at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London.^[31]

Barât also narrated a new artist documentary, Mark Donne's "The Rime of the Modern Mariner". The film had its world premiere at St Anne's Church in Limehouse, East London, during the ninth East End Film Festival. Barât's former Dirty Pretty Things bandmate Anthony Rossomando composed the score for the film.^[32]

He released his self-titled, first solo album on 4 October 2010. In an interview with C.B.Liddell of Metropolis magazine he described the album as "the first album I've done that is kind of introspective rather than escapist."^[33] In the same interview, he also talked about "stepping away from big loud guitars" as the album is stylistically more diverse and less rock-oriented than previous work.

The release of Barât's first solo album also coincided with the release of Threepenny Memoir: The Lives of a Libertine, an autobiography documenting his years in The Libertines and Dirty Pretty Things.

In January 2013 Barât announced that guitarist Johnny Marr (formerly of The Smiths) and drummer Andy Burrows (formerly of Razorlight and We Are Scientists) would feature on his second solo album, due for release in 2013.^[34] Barât revealed demo versions of tracks 'War of the Roses' and 'Victory Gin' from his second solo effort online.^[35][36]

Also in 2013, Barât wrote the title "The dark, it comes" for the album "Love Songs" of French singer Vanessa Paradis on which both sing together.

He is part of the supergroup The Bottletop Band with Matt Helders (Arctic Monkeys), Andy Nicholson (Arctic Monkeys), Drew McConnell (Babyshambles) and Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals). The band's single, "The Fall of Rome", was released in December 2010.^[37]

In August 2013 Barât announced that his second solo album was complete and had finished recording it with Joby Ford of The Bronx. As of January 2014, a release date for the album is yet to be given, though Barât expresses that it is a return to guitar orientated rock stating "It would seem that my relationship with my guitar is all patched up."^[38]

In 2014, Barât contributed the song "Love Is Not on Trial", co-written with Davey Ray Moor, for Marc Almond's album The Dancing Marquis. He also contributed vocals and guitar to the track.^[39]

Carl Barât and the Jackals

In early 2014, Carl Barât announced that he would search for a new band online via Facebook. From over 1000 applications for the positions of rhythm guitarist, drummer and bass guitar, Billy Tessio, Jay Bone and Adam Claxton were chosen, respectively. The band was named the Jackals, their first live concert was on May 15, 2014 in London's XOYO.^[40] On 16 February 2015, Barâts previously recorded solo album was released through Cooking Vinyl with small changes, as the debut album of Carl Barât and The Jackals under the title "Let It Reign". It has a score of 67 on review aggregator Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[41]

Personal life

In 2005, Barât underwent surgery to remove a tumour behind his ear and spent several weeks recovering from the operation. The tumour and resulting surgery left the singer partially deaf.

Between 2003 and 2008, Barât had a relationship with DJ, TV presenter and actress Annalisa Astarita. His current girlfriend, Edie Langley gave birth to the couple's first child, a boy named Eli on 9 December 2010. Their second son, Ramone, was born on 26 August 2014.^[42] In 2012, Barât was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Winchester for his contribution to the arts.^[43]

Equipment

Guitars

• Gibson Melody Maker
• Gibson Les Paul Junior (Pickguard Removed)
• Gibson SG
• Fender Mustang
• Epiphone Dot

Amps

• Vox AC30

Pedals

• MXR Dyna Comp (sometimes replaced by a MXR Micro Amp)
• BOSS TU-2 Chromatic Tuner

Discography

Solo discography

• Carl Barât (4 October 2010) UK No. 52

Carl Barât and The Jackals

• Let It Reign (16 February 2015) UK No. 47

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carl Barât.

• Official website
• Carl Barât at the Internet Movie Database