Eclectic alt-rock duo Ween [ tickets ] will take a break from recording a new album later this month to hit the road for a few shows in late April and early May, with a few more scheduled for June.

Dean and Gene Ween--a.k.a. Mickey Melchiondo and Aaron Freeman--are scheduled to kick off a short leg of shows April 26 in Allentown, PA, with an additional leg beginning June 8 in Hartford, CT.

Including the duo's June 16 appearance at the Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, TN, the combined outings total 16 dates spread over six weeks. Details are included below.

The group has been working for more than a year on its latest album, which would be the pair's first full-length studio effort since 2003's "Quebec."

"We've been in the studio the past couple of months with our producer Andrew Weiss recording our new album," a posting on the band's website mentions. "It is going to be an amazing record. I'm very skeptical when anyone makes claims about their new music so I'll just say that I can't wait for the album to be released.

"We have a few more songs to record and we will hopefully be finished with the tracking by the time our gigs start at the end of the month. We started out with 50 or 60 demos and whittled it down to around 20 songs. We recorded the album to 24-track, 2-inch tape, so it sounds the way music was meant to be heard. In addition to the album, we are talking about releasing an EP this summer with completely different tunes than the album--we hope to have the album out by late summer/early fall. We have a lot of new material like I said."