I'm sitting outside a north London pub with The Libertines' Carl Barât, who has arrived with his enthusiastic new band, The Jackals, in tow. The four-piece are releasing their still untitled debut album early next year, which at times sounds more pop than the Libertines' indie rock – one song, "War of the Roses", has an Oasis feel. He formed the band in February, after a lengthy auditioning process, taking on a mentoring role, with the winning three band members.
"We tried to make it as un-X Factor as possible but it was the same process," he says, having chosen the band from 90 applicants, who had been whittled down from thousands.
He says that The Jackals, with whom he has done "fast track bonding" with, offer him stability after the unpredictability of The Libertines, who broke up in 2004, when Pete Doherty's drug addiction spiralled out of control. But they have been somewhat ambushed by the fact that Doherty is back on the scene, just as the new band is about to take off.
Now Barât, 36, is off to Thailand to write the new Libertines album with Doherty, which is also due out next year, after a series of sell-out reunion gigs at London's Hyde Park in July and Alexandra Palace in September, as well as a more recent tour of Europe. But while the "love affair" between Barât and Doherty, which Barât describes as, "completing one another", has seemingly been reignited, after not being in touch since reforming at Reading and Leeds festivals in 2010, the Jackals bass guitarist, Adam Claxton, tells me that Barât "has stressed to them that The Jackals is as important to him as The Libertines", which "gives us the confidence we need".