DOHERTY BAFFLES SPIN JOURNALIST WITH SOBER TALES

Troubled rocker PETE DOHERTY's pre-Christmas (07) desperate efforts to stay drug-free and sober are to be recounted in the upcoming issue of America's Spin magazine.

Reporter Nick Duerden spent three weeks with the Babyshambles frontman as he attempted to rebuild his reputation as a reliable rock star through twice-a-week rehab sessions.

Doherty told the journalist that rehab was helping to make him a better songwriter.

The British rocker, who is more famous for his drug troubles than his music and poetry, told Duerden that therapy sessions were turning him into the artist he always dreamed of becoming.

He told the reporter, "I'm only just now starting to enjoy making music, I'm only just starting to be allowed to.

"What drove me to drugs in the first place is still there - I'm still a bit raw, I think - but this is the happiest and most positive time of my life."

He also bragged about a novel he started writing at the height of his drug use.

He revealed, "It's a sizzling gypsy tale, a rambling, shambling, melody of a of a novel that came about when I was still on the old fighting juice. (It's) fascinating stuff."

But the Spin expose's positive start tails off as Duerden attempts to complete his interview with a tired, haggard Doherty, who dismisses him from his tourbus and falls asleep during a car ride.

And all the time new stories about his drug use, various illnesses and legal woes pile up.