For two frantic years, The Libertines were the most exciting rock act on the planet.

Their volatile punk energy, fanatical following and the open tension between charismatic figureheads Pete Doherty and Carl Barat made for a fascinating spectacle but one which was doomed to implode.

The rollercoaster predictably ran off the tracks all too soon. With his fondness for Class-A pick-me-ups and his supermodel girlfriend, Pete found himself unfairly caricatured as the nation's favourite rock 'n' roll bad boy a cartoon villain familiar to millions of celeb watchers, many of whom had never even heard his music.

Carl stayed true to The Libertines' ideal: struggling along without his limelight-hogging partner in crime, even when it was clear the wheels were coming off.

While Pete came back with the anarchic Babyshambles, Carl set about rebuilding The Libertines, with a more stringent recruitment policy. The result was Dirty Pretty Things.

Pulling in former Libertines drummer Gary Powell, and stand-in guitarist Anthony Rossomando, Carl also succeeded in recruiting one of the biggest names in the Thames Valley friend Didz Hammond, bass player with Reading band the Cooper Temple Clause, whom he first met at a festival in Ireland.

In February, they kicked off their UK tour in Oxford, selling out the Zodiac in minutes. And they are back already, with a show tonight at the rather more spacious Oxford Brookes University Student Union which sold out in seconds.

Didz is acutely aware that the band are benefiting from the hype generated by Carl and Pete's troubled relationship.

"We have to step out of the shadow of The Libertines and show people what we are about," he told The Guide this week, while partying at his girlfriend's parents' house in Cheshire.

"We are willing to put the work in, which is why we are coming back to Oxford so quickly.

"We played the first night of our British tour in Oxford, which was a landmark occasion, and I think it went quite well. Since then we have been around the UK and Europe, so we're a bit more polished."

So are The Dirty Pretty Things simply The Libertines Mark II? Didz insists not: "It's not fair to say that, but it's a natural assumption for people to come to without hearing anything.

"We're just hoping it is a short time before that dies down. I wouldn't have done it if I thought I was stepping into Doherty's size 10s."

But he insists there is no conflict between the band and its former guitarist. However, with Carl having had his fingers burned, he appears to have created a more harmonious group second time around.

"I have known Carl and the boys for five years, and we are pretty similar and get on splendidly," says Didz.

"We write together, tour together and are a band of brothers. Like all brothers there are occasional bust-ups," he laughs.

"But, like The Libertines, we are singing off the same page and heading in the same direction."

The album Waterloo To Anywhere out next month on Vertigo, is full of songs which tell real stories, such as the three-part Last Of The Small Town Playboys an observation on the state of England (a recurring theme), and their cathartic new single Bang Bang You're Dead, which harks back to the break up of The Libertines.

"It all happened at a supernatural pace," adds Didz. "There were many drunken nights in the back of the bus knocking out ideas."

But when it comes to more detailed accounts of life on the road, he turns uncharacteristically shy.

All of which is reassuring for fans hoping to find some vestige of The Libertines' propensity to party.

Does he have a message for those fans tonight?

"Thanks for last time," Didz says. "See you later for more."