Dirty Pretty Things: 2005-2008 | News | NME.COM Dirty Pretty Things: 2005-2008 
Dirty Pretty Things, Oxegen Festival 2006, Ireland
A look back on the life of Carl Barat's second band
Earlier today
NME.COM exclusively announced that
Dirty Pretty Things have split up.
Rising from the ashes of
The Libertines in
London, the four-piece formed in September 2005.
Carl Barat, along with former
Libertines drummer
Gary Powell and
Pete Doherty's former replacement guitarist
Anthony Rossomando, "poached"
Didz Hammond (bass) from
The Cooper Temple Clause to complete the line-up.
Under the helm of
Alan McGee, the band signed to
Vertigo Records and began to assemble the songs that would eventually feature on their 2006 debut album,
'Waterloo To Anywhere'.
They made their live debut with a series of low-key European gigs in October 2005, shortly before announcing a UK tour which sold out almost immediately.
With
Pete Doherty's
Babyshambles already achieving critical and commercial success, anticipation about what
Barat would do next saw the band's debut single,
'Bang Bang You're Dead', shoot straight to Number Five in the UK charts. It would be their highest entry for a single.
NME called the song a "terrific, spiky guitar insta-classic", adding that
Dirty Pretty Things' comeback had been "planned to perfection".
The band released
'Waterloo To Anywhere' to generally positive reviews in May 2006. Not sounding dissimilar to the songs
Barat wrote during his time in
The Libertines, it went in at Number Three in the UK charts.
Two further singles from the album were released:
'Deadwood' (which reached Number 20) and
'Wondering' (34).
The band toured the album around the world, despite
Barat having to be replaced on guitar-duties for a North American and European tour by
The Paddingtons'
Josh Hubbard after he broke his collarbone falling off a motorbike.
The band, playing with their original line-up, also opened for
Muse at their
London Wembley Stadium gigs in June 2007.
Throughout their three-year existence,
Dirty Pretty Things supported a number of charities, including
Make Roads Safe and
Love Music Hate Racism.
One of their first new songs to be officially released since
'Waterloo To Anywhere' appeared on a
Love Music Hate Racism CD given away free with copies of
NME in October 2007.
The song,
'9 Lives', showed a slight change of direction for the band, and they were to embrace change even further during the recording of second album
'Romance At Short Notice'.
Although the band could never really escape the shadow of
The Libertines, the album gamely incorporated samples and featured more intricate tempos, along with songs penned and sung by
Rossomando and
Hammond.
Recording of the album was apparently fraught, with the band relocating to
Santa Monica with producer
Nick Leman.
Released on June 30, 2008,
'Romance At Short Notice' reached Number 35 in the UK album chart.
Lead single
'Tired Of England' charted at Number 54. The band continued to tour, playing well-received mid-afternoon
Main Stage sets at this year's
Reading And Leeds Festivals.
Carl Barat appeared onstage with Pete Doherty at Camden's Prince Of Wales pub earlier this month, where the duo played several
Libertines classics.
The occasion was the first time they had played together in public since their high-profile reunion show at
London's
Hackney Empire in 2007.
The members of
Dirty Pretty Things plan to continue musical projects separately.
So short lived. 
Linear Mode
