HIM Scraps Fall Tour To Work On New Album

Finnish rock outfit HIM has cancelled a two-week North American tour and will instead hit the studio to record a new album, with an eye on a 2007 release via Sire. The trek was to begin Oct. 18 in Lowell, Mass., and wrap Oct. 31 in Universal City, Calif.

In a statement, the band said its nonstop touring schedule in support of 2005's "Dark Light" had not afforded it enough time to develop new material. "We just want to keep it fresh for you and stump you with new material," singer Ville Valo says. "I didn't feel that I could do that without rehearsing some of this stuff that's stuck in my heart."

"Dark Light" has sold 475,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The single "Wings of a Butterfly" peaked at No. 19 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart and No. 20 on the Mainstream Rock tally.

Here are HIM's canceled tour dates:

Oct. 18: Lowell, Mass. (Tsongas Arena)
Oct. 19-20: New York (Hammerstein Ballroom)
Oct. 21: Camden, N.J. (Tweeter Center)
Oct. 23: Rochester, N.Y. (ESL Sportcenter)
Oct. 24: Toronto (Ricoh Coliseum)
Oct. 25: Chicago (Aragon Ballroom)
Oct. 26: Des Moines, Iowa (Val Air Ballroom)
Oct. 29: San Jose, Calif. (SJSU Event Center)
Oct. 30: San Diego (San Diego State University)
Oct. 31: Universal City, Calif. (Gibson Amphitheatre)