The Smoking Section spoke with Pete Doherty just before his most recent drug relapse and return to rehab. At that time, however, the Babyshambles leader was proudly clean and sober: “I’m still a bit wobbly,” Pete Doherty tells the Smoking Section. “Like a newborn horse. But I’m getting there.” Two weeks out of rehab — where he addressed his well-documented addictions to crack and heroin — the Babyshambles frontman is holed up in a quaint cottage in Marlborough, England, with his bandmate and sober-buddy, guitarist Mick Whitnall. Though Babyshambles’ new album, Shotter’s Nation, is a fantastic work, recorded in the haze of the past two years, Doherty attests that “we’ve been more creative since we’ve been clean.” In addition to constant guitar picking, the two have been taking morning walks through the British countryside, where Doherty traded in his syringe for a fishing pole. “I caught two dogfish and three haddock,” Doherty says cheerfully. And even though Amy Winehouse spent a night with them, working on a new tune called “1939 Returning,” Doherty’s still on the wagon, gearing up for an arena tour in the U.K. “We’ve got to be on the ball for that,” he says. Then maybe America? “I’d come tomorrow if they’d let me in.”
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Back in 1975, Mick Jones and Tony James started a band called the London SS. “Fate stopped that band from success because of the bad karma associated with the name,” says James. So the pals wished each other well and went separate ways — Jones formed the Clash, James hooked up with Generation X. Twenty-seven years later, astounded at their ability to share music on the Web, the pair rekindled their musical bond, forming Carbon/Silicon and releasing free music on their site. “People kept saying, ‘When are you going to have a proper record out?’ ” says Jones. “So we’ve done one now, by popular demand.” The disc is called The Last Post, and it’s so fuckin’ hip. The cut “Caesar’s Palace” (containing the perfect line “I tried to give up smoking weed, but I have to walk the dog”) could have worked on London Calling, and jams like “The News” are dripping with optimism. “Music should lift people’s spirits,” says Jones. “I haven’t put out a record in twelve years — I don’t want to bum anyone out.”

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If you haven’t yet, we urge you to check out Solomon Burke’s 2006 masterpiece, Nashville. Therefore, the Smoking Section was delighted when Mr. Burke told us he’s reteamed with genius producer Buddy Miller for a new gospel record called The Truth. “It’s praising God in the highest, in words and wisdom and truth,” says Burke, an ordained minister. “When you hear the song ‘Dirty Water,’ you’ll understand what I’m talkin’ about.” We can’t wait.