One evening in August 2015, at the end of the Rock en Seine festival, Peter Doherty took the stage with a wavering step, his complexion pale, his pupils dilated.
Behind him, a large flag bearing the image of the Libertines.
The legendary British group, founded in 1997 by the singer and guitarist with his sidekick Carl Barât, has just reformed.
The fans are exultant, however his voice is frail, more childish than usual.
The figure is heavy, the hat is askew, and while he tries to grab a bottle of red wine placed on the ground, the singer's gaze wanders into space.
An unease crosses the room: like the strange sensation of being face to face with Amy Winehouse, a few years ago, shortly before her heartbreaking epilogue, in 2011. Heroin, crack, cocaine and alcohol took over dandy rock with a Rimbaldian feel.
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The singer remembers these moments today as his season in hell: “In the past, if I remember correctly, my life was a feast where all hearts opened, where all wines flowed,” he whispers. he reciting the verses of Rimbaud.
Despite the many times he came close to death, Peter Doherty survived his excesses.
He released a series of records, with the Libertines, as well as in new groups, including Babyshambles.
His autobiography, entitled
A charming boy
(1), has just been published and on March 8, he will release a joyful new album with the Libertines (2).
Also read: Pete Doherty: what does his new life look like far from excess in Normandy?
Peter Doherty is much more than the "black prince of highs", a sacrificial victim who could have faded away at the age of 27 under the eager eyes of the tabloids, then been buried under hundreds of photos illustrating his escapades with the law or his love story with Kate Moss, 2005 and -2007, broken by fame.
Virtuoso guitarist, performer with an intense voice, poet and painter, Peter Doherty, 44, is above all an artist.
At no stage of his hellish descent into drugs, which lasted almost 20 years, did his artistic quest fail him.
Hundreds of songs and notebooks filled with words and drawings bear witness to his journey.
Directed by his wife, Katia deVida, who filmed him over a period of ten years, a documentary entitled
Peter Doherty, Stranger in My Own Skin
(3) traces the journey of a musician now free from drug addiction.
This thrilling testimony reveals the extent to which an artist is condemned to a profound solitude when creating.
Now based in Étretat, in Normandy, with his wife and Billie May, their granddaughter born in May 2023, Peter Doherty is starting a new life.
While passing through Paris, the musician tells his story at the table of a small café in Saint-Germain, next to Katia and Gladys, their dog, a mix of Saint Bernard and Bullmastiff.
Madame Figaro.-Your songs, as well as your interpretations, are shot through with a skin-deep sensitivity. It can't be easy to deal with such a flow of emotions...
Pete Doherty.-
It's a constant overflow.
I have always been an extremely sensitive person, empathetic to everything around me.
I constantly feel in a state of urgency, of demand, and I have often given in to temptation.
This is probably my weakness.
But temptation is also a facet of curiosity.
And I'm very curious.
Your wife, Katia deVidas, racked up 200 hours of footage for the Peter Doherty documentary,
Stranger in My Own Skin
.
How did this adventure begin?
Katia came to film my band, the Babyshambles.
I invited her to come on other tours and she came into my life.
At first, it was strange to be filmed in very intimate moments, but I trusted him.
I was asked several times to make a documentary about my life, but it was often a question of big productions and difficult staging - lights, frames, makeup sessions... Katia's more underground idea, filming me on camera the shoulder, I liked it immediately.
I gave myself up and, in this journey, we fell in love.
Amy Winehouse predicted it.
One day when we went to see her together, she said to me “You are in love, you are going to get married.”
However, we hadn't kissed yet.
Read alsoThe photos of Pete Doherty's wedding with Katia de Vidas, black suit and white dress
This film is both poetic and merciless in its vivid rendition of difficult moments. What did you feel while watching it?
It was difficult to see myself losing touch with reality.
Some images are very crude.
Perhaps I would have used more filters, told the same story through visual metaphors, more mystery.
But I am convinced that a director must be given total freedom.
My view of this film doesn't matter, I don't have much to hide anymore;
it's too late for that.
The thing I struggle with the most is giving interviews talking about my personal life.
But I tell myself that my journey can perhaps help those who suffer from addiction.
What does it mean to be a rockstar?
When I was young, the writers, poets, painters and musicians I loved represented divinities in my eyes.
People like Jean Genet, George Orwell, Jarvis Cocker... Society needs a pantheon of founding heroes.
That said, I hate the phrase “rockstar.”
I prefer the term "rock'n'roll star", because the sound is more syncopated, it loosens the tongue.
“Rockstar” makes me think of an energy drink ad, of Michael Bolton or Elton John – even if I have nothing against them.
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In the documentary, as well as in your book,
A Charming Boy
, you talk about your demons.
Can you name them?
Yes, but I won't.
If I name them, they show up and that's exactly what I want to avoid.
They are the same ones that inhabit each of us.
One thing I understood during my addiction treatment is that the brain records everything we transmit to it.
We must therefore say goodbye to these fearful thoughts, not calculate them.
We cannot control them, but we can take away the control they have over us;
then they disappear.
You have lost control at several times in your life, but never control over your work as an artist. What role does discipline play in your creative process?
I come from a very rigid upbringing.
My mother was an army nurse and my father an officer.
He always explained to me that he embarked on a military career because, contrary to what people say about the 60s in England, those times were dark.
That said, my parents passed on to me a great sense of discipline, a work ethic and religious values which have served me well.
I've never been totally lost.
I have always moved forward, even in the most chaotic moments.
You have also managed to maintain a solid friendship with Carl Barât (co-leader of the Libertines,
Editor’s note
)…
Yes, because our relationship has been based on instability from the start.
When we met in London at university, Carl and I didn't immediately get into music.
Our conversations revolved around reading, the meaning of a word.
The songs arrived after two years, through a series of haphazard clicks.
Every Libertines song was a victory.
We have made a lot of sacrifices to keep our friendship intact.
All our frictions and arguments have been made public, even the ones that never happened.
But music has always been a place to find ourselves.
Everything I write, really, is for Carl.
What does the title of the Libertines' new album,
All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade, refer to?
Easter Esplanade is a waterside road in the heart of Margate, a town in Kent, southeast England.
With the Libertines, we decided to open a hotel there in an old Victorian house (The Albion Rooms
Editor's note
).
We also built a music studio and a bar.
This is where the songs for the album were recorded.
All are new, but some are the culmination of sketches begun twenty years ago.
The writing of The Libertines has always been Carl and I in tandem, but for the first time the four of us composed together (with John Hassall and Gary Powell, the other members of the group) and the result is astonishing.
We are very proud of it.
Also readTrailer:
Back to Black
, the tragic destiny of Amy Winehouse recounted in a biopic
You were very close to Amy Winehouse. What memory do you have of her?
I always have trouble expressing myself when I have to talk about Amy.
When I think of her, I imagine an abstract painting.
His interpretations resembled action painting.
Amy was an extraordinary singer, but also a great guitarist, which is less said.
She was also the cheerful young girl who liked to play pool in a bar.
We often tried to make music together, but she was always very critical.
I played her the beginning of a song and she said “No, that’s shit!”
(It’s rubbish!,
Editor’s note
).
She was extremely demanding.
Amy to me is a goddess.
She joined the pantheon, like Billie Holiday.
Are you proud of your extraordinary journey?
You know, quitting drugs - and any addiction in general - is not so difficult after all.
The hardest part is finding life interesting without being in a drunken state.
I'm working on it.
(1) A Charming Boy
, Le Cherche Midi 480 pages – €22.50
(2) The Libertines:
All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade
(Universal)
(3) Doherty, Stranger in My Own Skin,
available on Canal +