Crowded House singer Neil Finn’s is set to release a solo album sometime next year. Some guest on Finn’s new album will include former Smiths‘ guitarist Johnny Marr, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien and Phil Selway.

Marr, O’Brien, Selway along with multi-instrumentalist Lisa Germano were all guest on Finn’s last solo album, 2001’s ‘7 Worlds Collide‘, and will all return again for the follow-up.

According to the Crowded House‘ official website, other confirmed guests include, Wilco members Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche and Pat Sansone, KT Tunstall, along with NZ musicians Liam Finn, Don McGlashan and Bic Runga.

Babyshambles‘ Adam Ficek has mapped out a solo UK jaunt.

Ficek solo project, Roses, Kings, Castles, will be touring the UK early next year.

Kicking off January 5, the tour will see Roses, Kings, Castles play several major cities including Cambridge, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.

Ficek is touring in support of his recently released self-titled solo album.

Johnny Marr is among guest featured on Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante’s new album, ‘The Empyrean‘.

The forthcoming album, which is due out January 20, will also see an appearance by fellow band member Flea.

‘The Empyrean‘ is the follow-up to 2005’s ‘Curtains‘.

Babyshambles‘ frontman Pete Doherty has entered the studio with Blur guitarists Graham Coxon to collaborate on the frontman’s forthcoming new solo album.

The collaboration was pretty much confirmed by Babyshambles‘ drummer Adam Ficek who told XFM that although he was not allowed to give any details about the forthcoming album, he can say that Doherty is working on the album with a guitarist whose name rhymes with “Layham Hoxon”.

Coming off the heels playing a handful of West Coast gigs The Strokes drummer, Fabrizio Morretti, is taking his sideproject on the road once again.

Morretti’s band, Little Joy, has announced dates for a forthcoming tour that will now include stops in Chicago, New York, St. Louis and Houston, TX among others.

The jaunt kicks off November 7th in Saint Paul, MN.

TVOTR’s Kyp Malone is set to release an EP for his sideproject band, Iran.

The three-track EP, entitled ‘Buddy‘, will be released in digital-only format on November 4th.

Fans who pick-up ‘Buddy‘ via iTunes will get a discount on the band’s forthcoming full-length album, ‘Dissolver‘, due out February 03, 2009.

The Arctic Monkeys‘ Matt Helders is set to release the ‘Late Night Tales‘ series October 13. The compilation album features tracks that have inspired the drummer, including songs by: Roots, Manuva, The Stooges, The Black Keys, Mos Def, The Rapture and many more.

The album also includes a special spoken word piece written and read by Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner, entitled ‘A Choice of Three‘.

Helders‘ has released the first single from the forthcoming album which sees him cover 90’s dance song ‘Dreamer‘ by Living Joy. Featured on the b-side is Alex Turner’s ‘A Choice of Three‘ spoken word piece.

The Strokes‘ drummer Fabrizio Moretti is on track to release the debut album for his side project band, Little Joy, later this year. The 11 track album, which is due out in the US on November 4, was produced by Noah Georgeson who also produced Devendra Banhart’s ‘Cripple Crow‘, and ‘Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon‘ as well as Joanna Newsom’s ‘The Milk-Eyed Mender‘. If you want to catch Little Joy live they are set to tour the West Coast later this month with Devendra Banhart’s side project band Megapuss. The six date tour will kick off September 24 in San Diego, CA.

Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard is teaming up with guitarist/producer Chris Walla and are headed for the Democratic National Convention in Denver next week. The duo is headed for the DNC for a private acoustic performance taking place August 26. The performance will not be for Democratic nominee Barack Obama but rather for a private educational event called “Concert for a Cooler Planet” presented by the League of Conservation Voters.

Which artists doesn’t have a sideproject these days? Weezer’s Brian Bell sure does and his about to debut it. Bell’s band, The Relationship, is set to perform their first formal show this Saturday (August 23) in Los Angeles. The Relationship have also lined-up three dates in San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego opening up for Weezer, meaning Bell will be pulling double duty.