TORONTO - Lounging on a well-worn couch in the forward cabin of their band's tour bus, Charlatans UK guitarist, Mark Collins, and drummer, Jon Brookes, admit that Birmingham's longest-lasting cult band might just now be getting the hang of it.

Singer Tim Burgess certainly agrees. Moments after having blitzed through a sound check that included a raucous instrumental of "NYC (No Need To Stop)" and "The Architect" (both from last month's "Simpatico"), the tambourine-happy frontman announced, "Those drums sounded f***ing amazing," before heading off to do a radio interview.

"So far on the tour, we've played something off every record," Collins says, offering yours truly a Corona. "And what we're finding is, we can play stuff from 1990 right next to songs from 2006 and it doesn't sound out of place to us."

"We're actually playing more songs in our set than we've ever done before," he adds incredulously. "Nowadays, we're up to the two-hour mark. People used to complain that we weren't playing long enough, now they're saying, 'Get off ya bastards. Go home.'"

"Last night we played "Then" (from 1990's "Some Friendly") for the first time in about 10 or 12 years and it sounded great," Brookes interjects. "And even though it isn't, it feels like we're playing our shortest set in years."

In the midst of a rugged North American tour, before they head back across the pond to play the European festival circuit and open a handful of shows for the Rolling Stones, Collins recalls the giddy, schoolboy approach he and Burgess had when they started thinking about where to take the band after 2004's traditional "Up At The Lake."

Holed up at Burgess' home in the outskirts of Los Angeles, the sounds of the Clash's "Sandinista" and old Specials threading its way through the halls, the chiseled Collins says that by the time the band (which is also comprised of bassist Martin Blunt and keyboardist Tony Rogers) convened to record "Simpatico," they definitely wanted to be out on a limb.

"Tim and I wrote a song with a slightly different feel than normal (the reggae-flecked, "City Of The Dead") and we got excited about it," he says. "So, we phoned the rest of the guys and said, 'How's this? We hope you like our new direction.'"

"We knew some people would freak out about it," he offers with a sly grin. "But I don't mind being adventurous. We're not scared sticking our necks out and we're not scared of having our heads chopped off."

It's the late-'70s hybrid of the Clash-meets-the Police-meets-Bob Marley that "pricks up people's ears," Brookes interjects.

Recounting the call in which Burgess and Collins played snippets of the sunbaked number, he says the song "sparked off a whole new direction for us."

From that track, others with a similar feel started emerging. Playing like a slowed down version of The Police's "The Bed's Too Big Without You," "For Your Entertainment's" arrangement features plucky strings and mid-tempo beats that dance around Burgess' maudlin lyrics: "Try not to die, try not to die/ Hold me tight/ I know there's something wrong tonight," while the instrumental "Sunset & Vine" recalls Massive Attack's hypnotic, reggae-tinged electronica.

"To us," Collins says with a broad gesture, "the album sounds like the Charlatans because we all play on it. But it's got a different feel to it than our other stuff."

And with America and Britain soldiering on in Iraq, the disc started taking a decidedly political edge as well. Collins' straight-up rhythm noodling its way in the background, Burgess spits lines like, "Born on the 4th of July/ Born under strange, strange skies/ There will be no free kind of advice/ Security walls you better be tight," on "Road To Paradise."

Then terrorism hit a little too close to home. The streets still smoldering after last July's attack on London's public transportation system, Burgess scribbled words to the disc's most haunting track - "When The Lights Go Out In London."

"Some of the lyrics were certainly influenced by the fear that was being created," Collins admits. "But you write about what's going on in your life, don't you? And with bombs going off in the tube just as we're starting to record, I think it's only natural."

"I don't think there's any preaching going on," he clarifies. "I don't think Tim's being preachy. A lot of this record is really about close relationships. Rather than trying to say something about our government's foreign policies, and how they should be changed, it's more like, 'Shit, I wish I was back home with me wife.'"

Slightly turning his head from the harsh smell of a Marlboro Light trickling its way down from the back of the bus, Brookes sighs. "It did feed, or rather, fan the flames a bit."

But just days before Taylor Hicks would be crowned the next "American Idol," and years after the implosion of contemporaries like the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, the pair, who've been handed crisp twenty-dollar bills for dinner, have trouble qualifying the Charlatans amidst today's one-hit wonders.

"Look mate, we live in an age of consumerism. Instant gratification. Everything is about right now," Collins says emphatically.

"For young bands starting out, there's a lot of pressure. If your first record goes huge and your second doesn't come anywhere near it, the attitude from the labels - who are run by accountants, not people who love music - is: 'There's the door.'"

Stroking his chin, pondering what to say, Brookes gives a mild shrug. "Success is a double-edged sword. If you become too successful, too early, you have to really follow it up. Otherwise it's, 'You're not making any money boys, so you gotta go.'"

"That's the thing about when we first started," Collins interrupts. "Our first record was massive. I think we tried to be a bit more experimental with our follow-up (1992's "Between 10th and 11th") and people didn't buy it in the same quantities."

"If we'd been on a major label in today's climate, we wouldn't have made a third record." Glancing around the band's fairly decadent tour bus Collins smiles. "We wouldn't be sitting around here now. And we wouldn't be talking to you."

The Charlatans UK play Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom tomorrow night (June 3).