The early confirmed dates are limited to the West Coast, starting November 18 at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles.

On-sale dates have also been set for shows in Las Vegas, San Diego, Sacramento and San Francisco – with the rest expected to be announced soon.

The Offspring – who recently had a free album download idea scotched by their record company – are still thumbing their noses at the corporate suits with the promotion of the new release, Conspiracy Of One.

The band has made the record’s first single, “Original Prankster,” available for free download on its Web site. Surfers can sign up for a drawing to win $1 million, with the winner announced on MTV November 14, the album’s release date.

What makes this promotion so different than any other involving MTV?

The million dollar prize is being offered directly from the band – neither sponsors nor record company are paying a cent for the promotion.

“This money came directly to us from our fans. We feel it would be cool to redirect it back to them,” frontman Dexter Holland explained.

“We are trying to launch our album with promotions that are fan supportive rather than fan exploitative. We feel that giving them our music and letting them have back some of their money is a great way to show how much they mean to us.”

The Offspring and Sony Music faced off recently when the band announced it would make Conspiracy Of One available for free on the Internet a month before the retail release date. The record company objected and a brief standoff ensued, with each side prepared to sue the other.

A lawsuit could have sidelined the band for months, so The Offspring opted to back off and settled for the free MP3 release of just the single “Original Prankster.”

“The band and I felt that the bulk of what we were trying to accomplish happens off the single being downloaded, and to sacrifice our fan promotion, album release and tour was just too much,” manager Jim Guerinot said.