They’re just backing off from major tours. But first, they’ll finish off this year’s travels – which have taken them to Europe and Japan – by covering the length of North America.

The band is planning to stay on the road well into December, although just two shows that month – December 2-3 at The EARL in Atlanta – are confirmed so far.

The itinerary includes a November 11 charity gig at Chicago’s Metro / Smart Bar as part of booking agency Flowerbooking’s 15th anniversary celebration.

A recent press release set off a fury of speculation about the band’s future, but the AmAnSet folks are quick to emphasize that the band is “not breaking up.”

“We’re still friends and we still like making music together, but we’ve all got other projects that we’d like to concentrate on for a while,” the statement said.

“Sean’s book comes out in early 2006. Lee has been busy with Parts & Labour in Austin. Craig has his own music and more design work than he can do right now. Kenny is working on songs for a new project and also putting songs together for the next AmAnSet singles/unreleased compilation. Mark has a grip of cigarettes to smoke and FIFA 2006 just came out for PS2 so … .”

“We may play again here and there, but this is the last time we will get INTO a van in August and get OUT of the van in December. This is the last full-on tour in support of an album. Coast to coast … Europe … Japan … etc.”

American Analog Set is supporting its sixth album, the recently released Set Free.