Shotter's Nation barely worth a shot

Former Libertines frontman's new band does not live up to his reputation.

By Kelsey Whipple

Published Nov. 13, 2007

Pete Doherty is half his own man, half his habit's. This is, after all, a man who dresses like a chimney sweep and does crack with his cat, a man whose fractious history and general godlessness make Britney look like Barney. In the nonstop haze of v-signs and after parties that is the black sheep of Britrock's waking life, drugs come first, the music comes second and sleep, it would appear, never comes. If his teammates on the Britscape speak for the everyman, Doherty's reppin' the everyadddict.

And he's not giving up. Even after the band's tragic first album, Down In Albion, went asunder, Pete and his post-Libertines outfit Babyshambles are back with the album Shotter's Nation, an admirable, if undercooked, attempt at a comeback for a band that is a comeback. Sure, there's game, but it's as though the band had a brainstorming meeting and the result was, "Let's try this time, guys, just not too hard." Gone is the raw emotion found briefly on "Fuck Forever;" it's been replaced with predictably vulnerable lyrics on predictably sympathetic topics: wasted opportunity (read: heroin addiction) and tainted love (read: Kate Moss).

Lesson number one: Pete Doherty is messed up. On the punchy "You Talk," Doherty's lilting voice lets listeners in on a secret: "I never ever said it was clever, I just like getting leathered." Shakespeare, he is not.

In the past, lyrics like these have established Doherty as the poet laureate of the street corner, but you get the feeling he's not content with staying there. The smoldering lines of "Lost Art of Murder" prove although he doesn't do it often, Doherty is capable of getting his shit together. Doherty's regret is palpable as he mutters over an acoustic guitar, "Get off your back/Stop smoking that/You could change your life". (Note to self: Do what he says.)

Lest Doherty's self-loathing steal the spotlight, it has to be said that Shotter's Nation is very much a group project. Carl Bar†