Modest Mouse [ tickets ] returns to the road late next month for another round of dates in support of the band's most recent studio set, "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank."

The Pacific Northwest-based alt-rockers will play a Halloween show close to home, in Spokane, WA, to kick things off before heading out for the rest of a 20-city outing that runs through early December. Dates are shown below.

Presales for all of the band's upcoming shows begin today (9/20) and end tomorrow (9/21); full early ticketing information can be found at the group's MySpace page.

Modest Mouse [ tickets ]'s fifth studio set, "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank," hit stores in March. The record is the band's first since recruiting former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. Originally set for release last December, the album was delayed when Modest Mouse canceled some late-year shows to put in extra studio work.

Upon its release, the new album entered The Billboard 200 chart at the No. 1 position, making it the band's highest-debuting effort to date.

"It's great news, I knew we had written some really good songs and when we started recording I felt it was going to be a great record," wrote Marr on his own website earlier this year. "I really am enjoying playing the live shows. The songs have been going down so well even though people haven't heard them before. We're all very happy and looking forward to touring the world."

"We Were Dead ..." follows 2004's "Good News for People Who Love Bad News," which earned the band its first platinum-album certification and spawned the hit song "Float On."