Though the group's forthcoming album will be in stores later than originally expected, Modest Mouse [ tickets ] fans can take solace in the fact that the band is ready to get back on stage.

Several newly announced North American shows--two in Los Angeles, one each in Miami and Anaheim, CA, and three in New York City--will mark the group's first appearances with its new guitarist, former Smiths axeman Johnny Marr.

Modest Mouse hasn't issued a new album since its million-plus selling 2004 breakthrough set, "Good News for People Who Love Bad News." Their upcoming set, "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank," is now expected in stores in "early 2007," according to an Epic Records press release. It was initially scheduled for release on Dec. 19.

Earlier this year, Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock told Rolling Stone that Marr planned only to be a studio player for the forthcoming Modest Mouse album, but the guitarist found he was a perfect fit for the group.

"[Marr] made a cautious commitment to write and record with us, and then the tighter we got, he was like, 'OK, let's tour too,'" Brock said. "Then he was pretty much a member of the band--not pretty much. He's a full-blown member of the band. It's really f---in' nice."

The group called off a planned series of August shows in order to work on the new album, which was produced by Dennis Herring, who also oversaw "Good News for People Who Love Bad News," and was recorded in Oxford, MS, and Portland, OR.