Helsinki, oh lord: It's not exactly a supergroup

Drew McConnell, Albert Hammond Jr and - oh, my - Fionn Regan have been working together on a side-project badged as Helsinki. Drew explains:

"I did four tracks a couple of months back with Albert Hammond, Jr. from The Strokes and Fionn Regan.

"I've had a few labels talking to me about the possibility of releasing it.

"We all needed it, Albert had been on tour with his solo thing and he was a little tired.

"It was good for everyone to get in the studio for a few days and have some beers and make some good music.

"When I play with Helsinki, it's more for fun. Not that Babyshambles isn't fun, but I take it more seriously."

"Not worrying if a label was going to be happy with it or whether an A&R man was gonna check if the chorus came in, in the first 40 seconds."

We wonder if Drew would like to add some sort of disclaimer lest we all get the impression that Doherty's muse actually plays second fiddle in shaping the Babyshambles sound to what the A&R think about the chorus. He doesn't, mind.