The Libertines are an English punk revival band that formed in London in 1999 and disbanded in 2004. They reformed in 2010 to play the Reading and Leeds festivals and work on new material.The band released two full-length LPs, both produced by Mick Jones of The Clash. Centered around the song-writing partnership and chemistry between Peter Doherty (vocals/rhythm guitar) and Carl Barât (vocals/lead guitar), while backed by John Hassall (bass) and Gary Powell (drums), the band were one of the cornerstones of the English independent scene in the early 2000’s.

Championed by NME, the band’s first single What a Waster charted at number 37, despite being banned from Radio 1 and commercial radio due to an overabundance of foul language; this set the trend for steadily increasing returns, culminating in a #2 single and #1 album in the UK Charts. However, the band’s music was often eclipsed by its internal conflicts, many of which stemmed from Doherty’s considerable drug use, and it was mostly because of this that after a final show in Paris (without Pete) that the band was disbanded at the end of 2004.

The former members of The Libertines have gone on to form three splinter bands, with varying degrees of commercial and critical success. These bands include Peter Doherty in Babyshambles, Carl Barât and Gary Powell in Dirty Pretty Things and John Hassall in Yeti. One-time bassist Johnny Borrell has also had considerable success with his Razorlight band.
Pete and Carl recently came back to work on Babyshambles’ charity cover of The Clash’s ‘Janie Jones’ for Strummerville. Carl and Pete also performed 13 songs together in April 2007 as Carl appeared on stage at one of Pete’s shows. On the 29th of March 2010 the Libertines announced they had reunited to play the Leeds and Reading festivals in August.

Their sound and aesthetic has been cited as an influence to several contemporary bands, including Arctic Monkeys, The Holloways, The View and The Pigeon Detectives.