The Smashing Pumpkins just don’t stop. In the midst of recording a 44-song free album, the band has just announced a U.S. tour of intimate venues scheduled for July.

The band will be touring for the first time sine 2008, and lead singer and guitarist Billy Corgan says the band will play a “a balance of classics, a few obscure ones, and new Teargarden By Kaleidyscope material.”

Corgan and his band – guitarist Jeff Schroeder, drummer Mike Byrne and new bassist Nicole Fiorentino – plan to invite select fans to hear the band’s nightly soundchecks of almost entirely new material, though more information on that is still to be released.

Following the 14-show run, the band will head to Japan for four shows, including headlining dates in Tokyo and Osaka.

The band has been recording and rehearsing in Los Angeles and recently broadcast a full live session here.

Last week the band released Teardgarden By Kaleidyscope Vol 1: Songs For A Sailor EP, the first of 11 specially packaged EPs, each featuring four songs. The music is being released for free, but fans can also purchase collector’s editions of each EP containing a 4-song CD, a vinyl 7” and a hand-carved obelisk from the shadows of the Incan ruins in Machu Picchu.

As if that wasn’t enough, the band plans to tour South America and Australia in 2010 and the U.S. later this year.

The Smashing Pumpkins tour dates are as follows:
7/6 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues
7/8 – Grand Rapids, MI – Orbit Room
7/9 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall
7/10 – Louisville, KY – Forecastle Festival
7/12 – Baltimore, MD – Rams Head Live
7/13 – Richmond,VA – The National
7/15 – Norfolk, VA – The Norva
7/16 – Charlotte, NC – Fillmore
7/17 – Charleston, SC – Music Farm
7/19 – Orlando, FL – House of Blues
7/20 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Revolution
7/21 – Tampa, FL – Ritz
7/23 – New Orleans, LA – House of Blues Howlin Wolf
7/24 – Memphis, TN – Minglewood Hall
8/7 – Tokyo – Marine Stadium / Messe
8/8 – Osaka – Maishima / Summer Sonic Site
8/10 Tokyo – Tokyo Studio Coast
8/11 Tokyo – Tokyo Studio Coast