"I'm kind of numb to all the mayhem now."

From the drug-fuelled early days of The Libertines, to the band's bitter fall-out and consequent demise and the crazy media circus surrounding ex-bandmate Pete Doherty, nothing ever seems to run smoothly for Carl Barat.

A point proved at last month's South By South West music festival (SXSW), in Austin, Texas, when the band's debut US gig was rudely interrupted.

Just as their high-profile appearance was gathering pace, police stormed the stage and closed down the gig - because the previous act, The Flaming Lips, had over-run.

Despite the drama, Carl's career is looking good. DPT are stirring up as much excitement as The Libertines and are tipped to be even bigger.

"I wanted to be in a band and not get involved in all that publicity game. I wanted to keep it about the music and not all the other nonsense," he says.

"That was my struggle - if that doesn't sound too self-rightous."

Ex-Libertines drummer Gary Powell and guitarist Anthony Rossomando, who filled in for Doherty following his departure from The Libertines, joined the fray, along with Didz Hammond on bass, who Barat lured from Reading rockers The Cooper Temple Clause.

With obvious Libertines influences, they've a shambolic but beautiful style, combining urgent, noisy punk guitars, reggae vibes and even a sea shanty or two.

Their current tour sold out in minutes and anticipation for their debut album, Waterloo To Nowhere, out in May, is huge. Current single Bang Bang You're Dead was topping download charts all over the place and is tipped to make the top five on Sunday.

"The song was written before Dirty Pretty Things got together," says Carl. "It's an introspective thing about taking stock of a part of life that ended, a song about changes.

"There's lots of things in it - it's not just about the end of The Libertines. It's not specifically about one person or one thing. It's about taking stock of a certain point in your life being over. It's a lament, but an optimistic one."

Things looked bleak for Carl when The Libertines ousted Pete Doherty for refusing to kick his drug addiction.

Doherty devotees accused Carl of treating his former best pal harshly. He won back respect, however, when they toured without Pete, when Carl stepped into the main spotlight alone.

"I felt I had obligations to the music and the fans," he says. "To me, the songs deserved it. It would have been horrible to have gone through everything we did and then not be able to play the songs.

"It was very difficult at first. I felt completely destroyed by everything that had gone on with Pete but it did get easier."

Nevertheless, the band wound up in December, 2004 and, after a break, Carl announced the formation of DPT a year later.

"It's the sensible way to go," he says. "I don't want to grapple with ghosts. It's a shame what happened to The Libertines but I'm happy with what I've got now. I want to carry on doing what I always intended to do.

"I made some mistakes but I was a novice back then. But now I've had training."

Starts 7.30pm, tickets cost £10 SOLD OUT.