Babyshambles, an indie rock band established in London by Pete Doherty during a hiatus from his former band The Libertines, draws inspiration from the punk and ska genres. Doherty is the lead singer, guitarist and main songwriter for the band, which has had a few line up changes in it's short life, but currently boasts Mick Whitnall (a former roadie who replaced Patrick Walden) as lead guitarist, Adam Ficek (who replaced Gemma Clarke) on drums, and Drew McConnell on bass.

Halfway through 2003, Pete Doherty was banned from playing with The Libertines until he could overcome his substance abuse problems. In response, Doherty formed an alternate band, and recorded the first single "Babyshambles", released in April 2004 on High Society Records. The single was limited to 2,000 CDs and 1,000 7" vinyl copies. However, the Babyshambles project was sidelined as eventually Doherty rejoined The Libertines.

Doherty found himself cast out of The Libertines for a second time in early summer 2004, so turned again to Babyshambles, organising several gigs which helped the band gain respect in their own right (despite Doherty missing some of the shows). Embarking on a sold out British tour in autumn 2004, the band received critical acclaim, even though there were fears that Doherty's performance would not be consistent, and second single "Killamangiro", released in November 2004 on Rough Trade Records, reached number 8 on the UK Singles chart.

Babyshambles spent several weeks of the spring of 2005 in a recording studio in Wales working on their debut album with Mick Jones of The Clash, who had also worked with Doherty on the production of The Libertines' albums. Fellow British rock group Oasis had booked Babyshambles to support them on their UK tour in July 2005, however due to other commitments, Doherty unable to make the band's first appearance and as a consequence Oasis cancelled Babyshambles' support for the rest of the tour. The much anticipated "Down in Albion", was released in November 2005, reaching the Top 10 on the UK Albums chart, and the first 2 singles from the album, "Fuck Forever", and "Albion" reached number 4 and number 8 respectively on the UK singles chart.
Babyshambles announced 4 small club shows in London, Liverpool, Sheffield and Stoke at the start of 2006, and performed without guitarist Patrick Walden, with Doherty on guitar instead. Walden returned for a gig in Cambridge and a UK tour, however he played his last gig with the band at the Shepherds Bush Empire during the tour, and has not appeared with Babyshambles since. Undeterred, the band were still able to record a cover version of the Clash song "Janie Jones" (which was released through B-Unique Records and was a contribution to raise money for Joe Strummer's charity foundation Strummerville) and also, with new guitarist Mick Whitnall on board, released "The Blinding" EP in late 2006.

Babyshambles released their second album, "Shotter's Nation", through Parlophone (who they had signed with at the start of the year) in October 2007. The first single from the album, "Delivery", reached number 6 in the UK after its first week on general sale, and the album set the band up for a successful arena tour, at venues including the Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, MEN Arena in Manchester, the Nottingham Arena, Bournemouth International Centre, London's Wembley Arena and Birmingham's National Indoor Arena.