Superchunk will join its Merge Records labelmate the Arcade Fire to perform at "early vote rallies" next week in North Carolina for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. The shows will be held May 1 at the Greensboro Coliseum parking lot and May 2 at the Carrboro Town Commons.

Tickets can be picked up at a number of locations beginning tomorrow (April 24). For full details, visit MergeRecords.com.

"I don't think I've ever been particularly excited about a presidential candidate," Superchunk frontman/Merge co-owner Mac McCaughan tells Billboard.com. "While I've always voted for Democrats, none of them have ever seemed too different from any other politician."

For McCaughan, that has changed with Obama. "Hillary's main argument seems to be that she knows how to 'play the game' in Washington and that's not interesting to me," he says. "Obama seems capable of changing the game."

The shows aim to encourage voters to take advantage of North Carolina's "One Stop Early Voting" process, which allows non-registered voters to register and vote on the same day, at the same location.

Superchunk has played a handful of shows for each of the past few years but hasn't released a new studio album since 2001's "Here's To Shutting Up." Asked if the band has any interest in making new music, McCaughan answers in the affirmative.

"We do," he says. "In fact, we have about half a new album's worth of songs. We just have to find time for all of us to write the rest of the songs and record them!"