ARTIST · INDIE / ROCK

The Libertines

Mythic London scrawl—trench-coat melodies, bondage straps, and Albion ache.

Indie rock
Garage rock

Updated 27 October 2026

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Biography

Doherty and Barât traded verses like feuding brothers who still finished each other's couplets.

Up the Bracket caught live-room fray before major-label polish debate.

Their reunion years proved songs outlast tabloid weather.

High-bitrate streams keep room buzz, guitar clang, and vocal strain palpable.

Pete Doherty and Carl Barât met in London and formed the Libertines with John Hassall and Gary Powell. Up the Bracket (2002), produced by The Clash’s Mick Jones, became a landmark of the 2000s guitar revival. Their romantic idea of Albion filled the songs.

The Libertines (2004) followed, then a split. They reunited in 2010 and released Anthems for Doomed Youth (2015) and All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade (2024), made in Margate.

The Libertines: recent news, 2020–2026

2024 All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade, the band’s fourth album, was released in April.

Interesting facts about The Libertines

01 English rock band formed in London in 1997.
02 Up the Bracket (2002) became a defining document of early-2000s UK guitar rock.
03 Influence on later indie acts who favour romantic fatalism over precision grooming.
04 Up the Bracket was produced by Mick Jones of The Clash.
05 All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade (2024) was made in Margate.