Former Clash member Joe Strummer is returning to the limelight with a short tour of the States.

The outing kicks off later this month in advance of the release of a new album by Strummer and his new band, the Mescaleros, on the Rancid-affiliated Hellcat label. The record, tentatively titled "Rock, Art and The X-Ray Style," is due out this fall, and the first single is likely to be "Yalla Yalla.

Ex-Black Grape member Martin Slattery is a member of Strummer's new outfit, and former Sex Pistol Steve Jones reportedly guests on an instrumental track called "Ocean Of Dreams.

Strummer will land on American shores for a mini-tour starting June 29 in Washington, D.C. and winding up in Los Angeles on July 7. In addition to the U.S. shows, Strummer and crew are booked to play the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Amsterdam on June 13 and a handful of other festivals in Europe and Asia.

Strummer told Britain's "New Musical Express" that he'll be playing his favorite Clash songs including

"London Calling," "Rock The Casbah," and "(White Man In) Hammersmith Palais" on the tour.

After the Clash disbanded in 1986, Strummer helped out his bandmate Mick Jones by writing songs for the latter's Big Audio Dynamite; he scored and even acted in films; and he released one solo album, "Earthquake Weather," in 1989. He briefly joined up with the Pogues in 1991 and has been relatively quiet ever since, surfacing briefly as a contributor to Black Grape's 1996 U.K. hit, "England's Irie." The "NME" reports that Strummer has also been working on a long-awaited solo album by Happy Mondays' Bez, and that the two have been DJing together.

Also expected out in the fall, at least in Britain, is a double live Clash CD which the "NME" reports is currently being put together by Mick Jones and bassist Paul Simonon with drummer Topper Headon supplying the artwork. A spokesperson for Epic in New York says that the record, as yet, hasn't made its way on to any U.S. release schedules.

Meanwhile, with the long-awaited Clash tribute album, "Burning London," fresh on the shelves, two more tributes are about to debut over the next couple of months. "City Rockers: A Tribute To The Clash" features lesser known but louder and faster bands like the Dropkick Murphys, Demonspeed, and The Sick. And an even more obscure project called "Backlash: Tribute To The Clash" will follow, featuring thrashers like New York pulp rockers Jones Crusher and punksters Electric Frankenstein.

If you want to catch Joe Strummer and company during their mini-tour, here's where you can find them:

• 6/29 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
• 6/30 - New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
• 7/1 - Chicago, IL @ Metro
• 7/3 - Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
• 7/6 - San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore
• 7/7 - Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palace