An interview with the somewhat sane one from The Libertines

Going solo. It frequently requires a lot of tissues, but not so for Carl Barat, who's shedding no tears as he finally goes it alone after being the other guy in The Libertines, heading up Dirty Pretty Things, and forming the not-at-all-tellingly-named supergroup The Chavs. Here are his thoughts on many, many things:

So how come you're going solo? It's so much easier. I never really had the confidence before to do it, and I've got to a stage now where I can't be dealing with bands, and egos, and all the baggage that goes with it. It's easier to write what's in my head, for any instrument, than to think "What's the bass player going to do"? I mean he can't do nothing.

Who was more badass: Lord Byron, or John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester? I'd say Rochester. Took the piss out of the king. I mean, how badass was Byron? More than Tennyson, sure... but he wasn't dangerous. He wrote stuff for the monarchy. Him and Keats. Was Keats badass? Oh no, that's Shelley. Shelley was a sort of badass sidekick to Byron, wasn't he? And he had a very badass daughter, Mary. Yeah... I'll go with Rochester.

You've had some pretty cool band names -- how'd you come up with them? We're mostly talking about Dirty Pretty Things, by the way. With Dirty Pretty Things, I was going for the rough diamond kind of idea. It's a little bit pretentious to call yourself a rough diamond, but it seemed a thing at the time. That's the funny thing about band names -- people tend to forget, and you cease to make the association. There are some real humdingers flying around, like Oasis. That's a terrible name. An oasis of something in a desert? I guess? They were probably outside a corner shop in Manchester having a drink, thinking "What can we call our band..."

So how much would your organs fetch if they were stolen, and sold on the black market by Audrey Tautou? Specifically the liver? Apparently, it's back to normal! Don't know what normal is, but the normal price for a completely healthy, doctor-certified liver.

You apparently went partially deaf after an operation. Are you pissed off that people are only NOW comparing you to Beethoven? No, they've always done that. Only in looks though, mind you.