Nearly a decade since the legendary alt rock group’s last album, The Libertines are back on the scene – Miriam Balanescu catches up with drummer Gary Powell
After their raucous career beginnings, The Libertines have been quiet for close to ten years. Now, they’ve come roaring back, their fourth album All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade rocketing to number one in the charts – the first (and second only) time since their self-titled album earned the same accolade 20 years ago.
Gary Powell, the four-piece’s long-standing drummer, describes the whole experience as ‘very odd’. When The Libertines gained the top spot in 2024, the group wasn’t informed by management and Gary happened to discover the information accidentally on a trip to HMV. This time around, their celebratory performance schedule was packed: “We did everything under the sun – and I still ended up just going home,” he notes.
“With our first album, it was full steam ahead. It was a massive sucker punch to absolutely everybody.”
The Libertines’ latest is an homage to the band’s newfound home in Margate, otherwise known as The Albion Rooms (the Eastern Esplanade is the location of this hotel of sorts). “It’s about a slice of what community actually is,” according to Gary. “If you listen to the lyrics, all the characters you see on the album cover are indicative of the characters in all the songs.
“We have always prided ourselves on being more akin to community than to anything else.”
So, apart from gamboling around Margate, what have the band been up to the past nine years? “I’m sure no one else in the band would actually say, but I’ll say it – Covid-19 was good to us,” confesses Gary. “It was a horrific period of time, but allowed us the state of grace to actually sit back and concentrate on us as individuals, as opposed to the sum of the parts.
“I spent my time writing, trying to get my record label into a sustainable manner. Peter was unable to get any substances from anywhere in the entire world, so he essentially sorted himself out.”
The break has served them well. While critically revered, he explains that their last studio album Anthems for Doomed Youth was a gruelling experience for all involved. “It’s coming from a completely different mindset,” Gary explains of the time recording in Thailand. “We were so far away from any form of assistance whatsoever. We’d all fought so hard to maintain our friendship, our sanity, our musical integrity. This is much closer to where I personally believe we’ve always wanted to be.”
In spirit, this album is possibly most akin with their first full release Up the Bracket, sharing its unabashed rebelliousness. “With the first album, it was full steam ahead, guns blazing, backs against the wall, smoking furiously – all those analogies. It was a massive sucker punch to absolutely everybody.”
There’s no doubt that the band holds its own in the face of a fluctuating music industry – but they’re open to change. “We’re not going to try to become a modern-day variation of what people think we should be like,” affirms Gary. But, pointing to The Beatles, he says the best bands progress. (After asking bassist John Hassall how The Beatles would sound today, he responded: “Sgt Pepper.”)
“If we had failed with this recording, it may have brought the end of libertinedom,” Gary reflects. Yet Cool Britannia appears to be back – although Gary is ‘not that bothered’ about Oasis reuniting.
Set to play at the Corn Exchange this month, Gary recalls his last visit to Cambridge being derailed by a storm, no trains and ‘a Hells Angel on a motorbike to come and get me’. Touch wood, this trip can only go better.
