The Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti goes solo for Little Joy tour

Fabrizio Moretti has been keeping the beat for The Strokes for more than seven years, but the musician will be playing a different tune when he hits the road with his side project Little Joy. The recently formed trio will launch the first leg of its debut tour on November 7 at Station Four in St. Paul, MN.

With 17 dates currently booked along the East Coast and across the Midwest and South, the trek’s first stage wraps on November 29 at The Parish in Austin, TX. Highlights for the jaunt include a November 8 show at Subterranean in Chicago, IL, a November 13 gig at The Mercury Lounge in New York, NY, and a November 21 concert at Exit/In in Nashville, TN. The Portland, OR-based band The Dead Trees will open on all 2008 tour dates.

In a recent e-mail update, more performances will soon be announced for the South, West Coast and Northwest. Trips to Europe and Brazil are also in the works for the group, though such an outing would need to be completed “before The Strokes re-group next year,” according to the statement.

The Little Joy tour will support the band’s November 4 eponymous debut, which was largely written and co-written by Moretti. Along with new bandmates Binki Shapiro and Rodrigo Amarante (of Los Hermanos), Moretti plays a bevy of instruments on the new album and shares vocal duties.

The Strokes have been on an unofficial hiatus since the release of their third studio album “First Impressions of Earth” in 2006. However, according to published reports, the garage rock revival act has plans to release an as-of-yet unnamed follow-up record early in 2009, potentially supported by a tour.

In the meantime, a number of the band’s members have pursued solo careers in addition to Moretti. Most notably, guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr., who just returned from Coldplay’s European tour, recently released his second studio album “Como Te Llama?”

Little Joy itinerary:
(Dates subject to change.)