Big Head Todd & the Monsters [ tickets ] have made early headway into 2009 with a slate of headlining dates lined up over the first few months of the New Year.

The Denver-based alt-rockers kick off their next stretch of roadwork Dec. 11 in Vail, CO. The band will stay close to home for New Year's with a Dec. 31 show in Denver before mounting a late-winner headlining outing in late February that spills over into March and April. Details are included below.

The group continues to support "All The Love You Need," its eighth studio album and first since 2004's "Crimes of Passion." The set, produced by David Bianco (Tom Petty, Mick Jagger), features the tune "Blue Sky," which the band wrote for the members of the 2005 Space Shuttle Discovery mission.

The band, which parted ways with major-label distribution channels following 2004's "Crimes of Passion," gave away more than half a million free copies of "Love" by teaming with radio stations across the country to mail discs to fans directly. The album can also be downloaded free of charge from the band's website, or purchased with an additional bonus track and DVD for $15.

"We see the record as our main marketing tool," singer/guitarist Todd Park Mohr told the Denver Post. "It's no longer a source of income--not that it ever has been for me, given the way major labels work."