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Carl Barat plans to split The Libertines at the end of the year if Pete Doherty does not clean up and rejoin the band.
The star is currently working on plans for what he will do if Doherty is either unwell or unwilling to rejoin the band this year. The group isn’t planning any more tours or studio time beyond December, putting the band on ice for the “foreseeable future.”
Sources say Barat has a new found confidence and is considering either going solo or rehearsing with musicians for a new group next year. It is likely that any new band would feature some members of The Libertines.
Barat said that he still hopes more than anything for a reunion with a fit and healthy Doherty, but he can not see it happening in the immediate future.
Barat has to have an operation at the end of the year, which will stop him playing live for a number of months. No more shows will be scheduled in the UK before December, meaning the last time the band played live with Doherty was on the opening night of Barat’s London club Dirty Pretty Things before Doherty flew to Thailand for rehab in the summer.
The group has been touring North America without Doherty, which came as something as a relief for Barat. There are no plans to release a third single from “The Libertines.” However, Barat has been in the studio with the band Client, having co-written their new single “Pornography,” which is due to be released Monday, Jan. 10, 2005.
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The Smiths are the latest band to inspire a new musical. Following in the footsteps of Queen and ABBA, the band’s rise and fall is to be played out on stage at London’s Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.
Written by Smiths fans Andrew Wale and Perrin Manzer – who also created “Jacques Brel’s Anonymous Society” a few years ago – have promised something tasteful and not at all like a traditional musical.
According to The Independent, the title of the production will be taken from the Smiths track “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others,” and the show will feature more than 20 songs by the band arranged for a string quartet and sung live by a cast of six.
Producers have described the Smiths musical as a “film without a text,” and initial plans are more opera than theater. The show will be neither biographical nor set to a musical score. Rather, it will evolve through a loose pastiche of scenes linked to each of the songs. Video sequences may also be included.
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Yoko Ono has hit the top spot on the Billboard dance chart with a song she wrote over 25 years ago.
The track, “Every Man Has A Man Who Loves Him,” is a new version of the song “Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him,” which originally appeared on the “Double Fantasy” album. The song has been rewritten about gay marriage.
This is the second time that Ono has topped the charts, reaching the No. 1 spot on the dance charts last year with “Walking on Thin Ice.”
The track has a companion piece entitled “Every Woman Has A Woman Who Loves Her.” She is also working on a new version of “Give Peace A Chance” set for a future release.
