Rock veterans Cheap Trick [ tickets ], whose first new album in six years landed in stores on Tuesday (7/22), supports the release with a series of headlining dates and a stint on an eclectic package tour.

The group, which has been on the road for most of 2003, has scattered its headlining stops through early October, and will spend much of September on the bill of the Unlimited Sunshine Tour, an outing headed up by alt-rock outfit Cake.

Cheap Trick's new album, titled "Special One," is its first new set since its self-titled 1997 release. The new disc includes a limited-edition DVD that features videos for "Say Goodbye," "Woke Up with a Monster," "Hard to Tell," and "Hot Love," as well as a recording of the previously unreleased 1976 track "He's a Whore."

The group recorded "Special One" 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," he said in a statement. "We love all sorts of music and there is a little bit of everything on this record."

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."