Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore line up shows together and apart

Alt-rock veterans Sonic Youth have lined up a few Texas shows early in October, but not before frontman Thurston Moore kicks off his own solo tour later this month.

Moore, touring behind "Trees Outside the Academy," his first solo album in more than a decade, will kick off a headlining run Sep. 24 in Hoboken, NJ, with a backing band that includes SY drummer Steve Shelley and violinist Samara Lubelski, along with "some seriously heavy cats" as surprise guests, according to Sonic Youth's website.

The 12-city outing splits neatly between both coasts, with an Oct. 24 date in Seattle launching the West Coast portion of the schedule. All of Moore's solo dates are shown below.

Sonic Youth will also get in a few shows as a full band in October, beginning with an Oct. 5 appearance in Austin, TX. The group will play a free show the following day in Marfa, TX, as part of the Chinati Open House Weekend, a city-wide arts and food festival. The band is also scheduled to play Oct. 7 in Dallas. Recently revived alt-rockers Meat Puppets will open the Austin and Dallas shows.

Moore worked on "Academy," his first solo album since 1995's "Psychic Hearts," at J Mascis' Amherst Studio, with Mascis himself appearing on the record, along with Shelley and Lubelski, who comprised the core of Moore's backing band. Other performers making guest appearances on the album include Christina Carter, Andrew Macgregor, John Moloney and Leslie Keffer.

Sonic Youth's most recent studio album, "Rather Ripped," was released last June. The set, which was recorded in late 2005 in the band's hometown of New York, is Sonic Youth's first new album since 2004's "Sonic Nurse," and also the first since the Jim O'Rourke's departure from the group. O'Rourke had been a full member of the band since 2002's "Murray Street" CD.