The band has been warming up with a handful of performances that will culminate in a pair of shows August 7 and 15 at the Viper Room in West Hollywood, Calif.

The tour gets rolling September 13 at the House of Blues in Atlantic City, and so far is scheduled to hit 12 clubs and theatres around the country, including Sonar in Baltimore, Md. (September 15), the North Fork Theatre in Westbury, N.Y. (September 21), Cain’s Ballroom in the band’s hometown of Tulsa, Okla. (October 3), and the Roxy Theatre in Atlanta (October 16).

Complete information about onsale dates for all shows is available through the band’s web site.

The Walk, which hit the streets earlier this month in the U.K. and is due out today in the States, is Hanson’s fourth album and their first in nearly four years. The disc is the first release on the band’s own label, with most of the tracks recorded in their Tulsa studio with production assistance from Danny Kortchmar.

The now adult brothers – Taylor and Zac, 21 and Isaac, 26 – recently told The Boston Herald recording and releasing the album themselves represents a big creative leap forward.

“None of it was recorded in an environment outside of our own control,” Taylor told the Herald. “The label we were signed to – it wasn’t that major labels on the whole are just bad – it was just that on the last record we were on a label (Def Jam) that was totally consolidated and that had become a rap label, so we were in an environment that was really contrary to what we were trying to do.”

While they were recording the album, the band took a break to get a firsthand look at the devastation being caused by AIDS in South Africa and Mozambique. The band told the Herald they felt the journey was something they needed to do.

“We felt like this record wasn’t going to be finished until we made that trip,” Taylor said. “Our real interest came from the fact that we’re from the Midwest.

“There’s a real generational and geographic call to action. If this group of people in this part of America said, ‘This is important to us.’ That psychologically could change the entire approach and attack for what’s going on with AIDS.”

While in Africa, the brothers made recordings of a pair of children’s choirs that found their way onto several tracks on the new album, as well as a charity single “Great Divide.” Proceeds from downloads of the single will benefit a South African Hospital.