Jonathan Geddes

The Libertines are all set to headline T In The Park tonight - but they reckon the festival will have to go some to top two wild nights at the Barrowland last year.

The group stormed through a double-header in Glasgow last June, as they hit the comeback trail.

And the rejuvenated band loved the experience, which saw them treated like conquering heroes.

“My five year old kid was at the gig, and he still talks about seeing shoes being thrown onstage,” recalls their bassist, John Hassall.

“I mean, there were smartphones being thrown around too, it was wild… Barrowland last year was a bit special, so we’re hoping the Scottish festival atmosphere will be the same.

“We were about to do some pretty big festivals last year, and we wanted to do something that was a contrast, something that was a bit more raw. It was maybe for our own benefit because we just love playing there.”

These are happy times for the Libertines and their loyal fans, and that’s not something you’d have expected even a few years ago. Their two albums and sometimes shambolic, sometimes brilliant shows over a decade ago had a huge influence on a generation of teenagers looking for guitar heroes.

But the band always teetered on the brink of collapse, and eventually they completely disintegrated, with co-frontmen Carl Barat and Pete Doherty falling out, and then back in, several times, while Doherty’s well-known drug problems and run-ins with the law saw him go off the rails.

A reunion in 2010 for the Reading and Leeds festivals went down well, but seemed a one-off. Then came last year’s return, shows in front of crowds far greater than when they were first around, and now a new album is on the way this September.

Anthems For Doomed Youth saw the band head to Thailand, where they worked with producer Jake Gosling.

“It captures that time that we were there and the highs and lows there,” says John.

“It’s got some different grooves to it, but it’s still pretty Libertines with the lyrics and melodies. There’s character from Thailand in there, but more than anything it’s the fact that we were together so intensively for six weeks that gives something to the album.”

Being cooped up together did run the risk of cabin fever creeping in, but the bassist feels it created a cohesive sound that comes across on the album.

“The fact that you’re living together and fairly isolated in a foreign country far away, that does make quite a big difference rather than clocking in and clocking out in a studio in London every day,” he says.

“As a band, when you’re spending so much time together, it makes you into an entity, a unit, and hopefully you can hear that on the record. The nearest civilisation to our studio was a 7/11 about 10 minutes away, and there wasn’t much going on there, either. It was a little bit of that cabin fever, but we had a great time.”

The band as a whole seem re-focused, and to actually be enjoying things this time around. John believes that having some added experience is why they’re relishing it so much more this time.

“I think we’re enjoying this more than we ever have done before,” he say.

“There’s a lot of reasons for that, but everyone’s a little bit more appreciative of everything, and having played so much more as a band and as individuals helps with that feeling.

“There’s a very good atmosphere in the band just now. We’re very positive about everything with the new album, it’s new beginnings.”

They’ll hope that good vibe carries into T tomorrow. The group’s comeback is seeing them play huge crowds, something that eluded them even at the height of original fame.

“We’re going to try and pull out all the stops for T, and we might try and have a few surprises up our sleeves for it,” adds John.

“It’s been quite an experience coming back and finding yourself playing to more people than where you left off. I think we’ve all taken to it quite well, and we’ve been enjoying playing live again.

“It is a different thing from doing small sweaty venues when you’re at Glastonbury, or T In The Park, but I think that, ultimately, you’re just trying to engage yourself and engage other people. That’s all that we’re trying to do.”

The Libertines headline T In The Park tonight.