Veteran rock act Cheap Trick [ tickets ] has fortified its 2003 touring schedule with new dates, and will be on the road when its first new studio album in six years lands in stores.

Titled "Special One," the new set is scheduled for a July 8 release. The group recorded the disc last year, and used several producers. Chris Shaw (Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, Super Furry Animals) was the primary producer; Dan the Automator (Gorillaz), Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, John Lennon) and Steve Albini (Nirvana, Bush) also pitched in.

According to Cheap Trick frontman Robin Zander, the band broadened its musical horizons on "Special One."

"This is probably the most musically diverse record we've ever recorded," Zander said in a statement. "We love all sorts of music and there is a little bit of everything on this record."

The group will issue the album on three-year-old indie label BIG3 records, with whom the band's own Cheap Trick Unlimited label recently signed a new licensing deal.

"The band is a big fish in a small pond [at BIG3] and I am confident that every effort to promote this record and the group will be executed," Cheap Trick manager Dave Frey said in a statement.

"Special One" is the group's first new studio set since its self-titled 1997 release, which Ian Taylor (Psychedelic Furs, Scorpions) produced. Taylor also produced the group's most-recent release, last May's "The Greatest Hits."

In 2001, Cheap Trick released "Silver," a two-disc set that captures the band's 25th-anniversary performance in Rockford, Ill., on Aug. 28, 1999. The show, which was also released in DVD form, features guest appearances from Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Slash (Guns N' Roses) and Art Alexakis (Everclear).

Cheap Trick--vocalist Zander, guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson and drummer Bun E. Carlos--formed in the early '70s and released its self-titled debut album in 1977. The band's most commercially successful release is the 1979's "Live at Budokan," which spawned the hit "I Want You to Want Me."