‘I was in a terrible alternate world': The tragic guitarist who rejuvenated Noughties indie-rock
Noel Gallagher may not have appreciated how big a compliment he was paying Babyshambles when he described the chaotic early 2000s indie band as the 'opposite of Oasis'. 'We were trying to make it big, and they are trying to make it small,' he said of a group intimately associated with the 'landfill indie' scene, and who are today mourning the death of their guitarist Patrick Walden at age 46.
Babyshambles were, as Gallagher intimated, best enjoyed in pokey clubs and dingy dive bars – where you could see the whites of their blood-shot eyes and lose yourself in their hedonistic energy.
But while they were regarded as the sole creative property of Pete Doherty, the troubled pied-piper of that decade's indie scene, it was Walden's dexterous and vulnerable musicianship that propelled hits such as Killamangiro and F--- Forever. He was also the member most uneasy in the spotlight, and they were never the same after he left in 2006, craving the privacy that he had to give up as a consequence of existing in the same orbit as the then outrageously famous Doherty.
Centred on Camden's warren of pubs, clubs and back alleys, the London indie circuit of the post-Britpop era was awash with hard drugs, and so it was no surprise that Doherty and Walden were united by more than musical chemistry. When Doherty formed Babyshambles in 2003, having been fired from his previous band, The Libertines, due to his unhinged behaviour, his substance abuse moved up a level – and Walden was with him all the way. For instance, when the guitarist failed to show up for a Guardian interview in November 2005, it was hinted that he couldn't leave the house because he owed his drug dealers money.
Walden was born in Islington, north London, in 1978. He first encountered drugs at boarding school in Surrey and started using heroin at the age of 18. In Doherty, he had a natural bedfellow – a fiercely creative spirit likewise in the throes of addiction. 'Pete is really charming, and I felt he had a romantic idea of drugs,' he would say. 'We would write songs for days on end with minimal sleep, propped up with heroin and crack. We wrote songs so easily together. Creativity was pouring out of him.'
But if a mess off-stage, under the spotlight, Walden's guitar playing was visceral and propulsive. It is a testament to his talent that he so effortlessly replaced Doherty's Libertines foil and musical soul-mate, Carl Barât. If anything, Babyshambles were a more complete package than the early version of The Libertines. Doherty's sensitive vocals and his William Blake-inspired lyrics made them famous, but it was Walden's guitar that held the whole thing together.
Unfortunately, not even a guitarist of his talents could compensate for Doherty's increasing unpredictability. Drugs were the unofficial theme of the group's 2005 debut, Down in Albion – a song called Pipedown was not a plea to lower your voice but rather a cry for help from Doherty, who rarely left the house without his crack pipe.
That dependency doomed Babyshambles even as they were building momentum. A show at London's Astoria in December 2004 ended in a riot after the group failed to show following a two-hour delay.
With 2am beckoning, the sell-out audience took their frustration out on the venue. 'The curtains were torn down, drinks were thrown, the drum kit was smashed and essentially the entire contents of the stage were destroyed,' an eyewitness told the NME at the time. 'The security forced the kids back to the other side of the barrier.'
Six months later, they blasted themselves in the foot a second time after doing the impossible and scandalising even Oasis with their bad behaviour. Babyshambles were famously set to support the Britpop heroes on a tour across the UK, only for Doherty to become marooned in America, where he was celebrating the birthday of his then-girlfriend, Kate Moss. Having missed the opening date in Southampton, they were unceremoniously fired by the Gallaghers.
However, even at the height of their notoriety (and peak of their bad behaviour), they were still an amazing live band. When I saw them play in Dublin in September 2006 – several months after Walden's departure – they put in a tight and polished performance, topped off with an unplanned cameo by The Pogues' Shane MacGowan, whom Doherty had spotted in the crowd and then called up for a song. The set ended with Killamangiro – minus Walden's guitar but with supermodel Moss popping out from the wings to sing backing vocals.
Life after Babyshambles was tough for Walden, who felt he needed to get away from Doherty for the good of his health. He was persuaded to come back in 2007 on the proviso that the tour bus would be drug-free. When that proved not to be the case, he dropped out again.
He struggled with addiction for years afterwards. In 2010, he was found guilty of receiving stolen goods and drug possession in Sutton in south London after a security guard spotted him acting 'suspiciously' in a pharmacy.
The court heard that he suffered from depression and had developed a dependency on methadone. Later, he turned to legal highs – but, if anything, they had an even more serious impact on his mental health. 'With the new drugs, there was no line between fantasy and reality. I was in a terrible alternate world. The sky would be playing songs at me, spelling out my name. I was so petrified,' he said in 2017.
As Walden fought his battles, Doherty moved to France, started a family and walked away from drugs. Having reconciled with Barât, in 2024 The Libertines put out perhaps their best album yet, All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade, followed this year by an acclaimed Doherty solo LP.
When promoting his new projects, Doherty was asked about the possibility of a Babyshambles tour to mark the 20th anniversary of Down in Albion. He said a reunion was 'on the cards' – but with Walden's premature death, the Babyshambles story has surely reached its tragic endpoint.
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