Scheduled to be released August 21 on Dispatch’s own Bomber Records, Circles Around The Sun is the indie trio’s first album since 2000’s Who Are We Living For.

But you don’t have to wait until August to hear Dispatch. The band’s first upcoming date is May 19 in Gulf Shores, Ala., at the Hangout Music Festival. Dispatch will also play Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn., June 9 and San Francisco’s Outside Lands Festival August 12.

But it’s not all festivals. Come September Dispatch, will launch its Circles Around The Sun tour in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the Commodore Ballroom Sept. 20. Other stops include Seattle’s Paramount Theatre Sept. 21; Los Angeles at the Palladium Sept. 26; and two nights in Broomfield, Colo., at the 1st Bank Center Sept. 28-29. Other destinations include Toronto, Boston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Philadelphia, with the promise that more dates will be announced.

In Dispatch’s ongoing crusade to put tickets in fans’ hands while keeping tix away from scalpers, the group has set up a process where you can register for the presale running through April 25. On April 27, registered fans will receive a code that will allow then to purchase tickets starting on May 1.

The group is also recording each show on the tour. While the band will distribute the recordings via its website, ticket holders can redeem their bar code number on the ticket to download the show they attended. So make sure you keep the ticket stub.

The Circles Around The Sun tour is also helping a good cause by donating one dollar from every ticket sold to its Amplifying Education project that so far has involved more than 700 volunteers spending thousands of hours to improve schools in North America and Europe. Activities include collecting more than 10,000 book donations to support literacy programs though Better World Books and raising more than a $250,000 via ticket sales and benefit shows to support local education programs.

Yes, Dispatch has a lot on its plate for 2012. For more information, visit DispatchMusic.com.