Pete Doherty says Babyshambles are armed and dangerous after the reunion tour

Pete Doherty has called the Babyshambles reunion a roaring success measured against what the band expected of it, and admitted his main worry beforehand was that nobody would turn up. Speaking to NME ahead of the group's Dreamland headline show in Margate on August 30, he said he had not realised how much the band meant to people, and that the first proper night of the tour at Norwich UEA settled the question.

The reunion followed the death of original guitarist Patrick Walden, and it has been played with him in mind. Doherty said he tends to mention Walden before Fuck Forever or Pipedown, and that when he does he turns towards bassist Drew McConnell, who turns away. It is not constant sadness, in his account, but it arrives without warning. Doing justice to Walden's songs, he said, is hard work.

The tour ended at London's KOKO in December, where Carl Barat came out for The Libertines song What Katie Did and the band played Wolfman for the first time in 20 years. That night is the one being released: Live At KOKO arrives on October 9 through Doherty's own label, Strap Originals. He conceded it was probably the worst show of the run to record, coming at the end of four weeks on the road when the band were frayed.

New Babyshambles material exists in fragments. Beyond the single Dandy Hooligan there are ideas circulating, and Doherty said he is unsure whether to keep them or offer them to The Libertines, which he treats as a comfortable position rather than a problem. The band are signed to nobody, and he described them as an autonomous collective sitting in the middle of the music industry. Twelve songs would force the issue, he said; short of that, they will leave things as they are.

The Libertines, meanwhile, have a plan. Doherty admitted a previous claim of a tantalisingly gorgeous plan for the follow-up to All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade had been a lie, but said an emergency band meeting in a Manchester hotel before Kendal Calling produced a real one. He would not say what it is beyond hinting at the concept album format he has always resisted, and that democracy in the band finally overruled him.

What he actually wants to do next is retail. Doherty has moved a warehouse of records, clothes, typewriters, mannequins, books and trunks from Margate to Normandy and wants to open a second-hand shop that doubles as a small venue and cafe, with acts from Strap Originals playing it. He lives in Etretat and is weighing names, among them Etre Tat and Brocante Roll.

Babyshambles have festivals, a run in Ireland and the Margate show rather than another tour, and Doherty said the band are chugging along nicely. Their return sits alongside the wider indie reunion traffic MusicSuey has tracked this year, including Dave Rowntree's expectation that Blur will regroup again, while the October live album joins the autumn rock schedule on the release calendar.