Babyshambles have cut short their current tour, to give Pete Doherty more time to undergo his drug rehabilitation.
The band's management used the tried-and-true blanket excuse "exhaustion" to explain the cancellation of their date last Friday in Liverpool. It was later announced that Babyshambles will not play any more dates on their FROG club tour, which were to include shows in Glasgow, Nottingham, Manchester and Newcastle.EMI said that the cancellations were to ensure Doherty continued his "excellent" progress in recovering from heroin and crack addictions. We are also guessing that the label are hoping to avoid any future reuniting with the prison system.
Meanwhile, Doherty has given an insight into how he dealt with life in prison. Speaking to 'The Guardian', Doherty explained that he invented a character called Lonely Verlaine whilst incarcerated.
"It's a role I had to go into when I went to prison at Wandsworth the first time," he said. "I had to go into something. I didn't really know who I was and I certainly didn't know what I was doing there. For f*** all, I ended up in Wandsworth and really, really, I was a bit green, y'know what I mean?"
He went on to declare that prison life presents an opportunity to catch up with one's reading, explaining, "I've got a shelf full of books with HMP Pentonville, HMP Wandsworth on them, smuggled 'em out, yeah. 'Crime and Punishment' I read! Except my cellmate at the time kept on pulling his shorts down and getting his knob out, and going, 'Is this normal, Pete?' And I'm trying to read."
