65daysofstatic is trying to be good. Honest.

The English outfit plays epic-sounding instrumental post-rock, not too far removed from Godspeed You Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky, with some impish, Aphex Twin style electronics tossed in for variety. Opening for The Cure finds them warming up enormo-domes of Robert Smith wanna-bes, most of whom have never heard the band.

“Until recently we tried to be disciplined,” says guitarist Paul Wolinski. “We were sort tof doing song, pause, song, pause, like a normal band would.”

Normalcy proved troublesome for the group, which also includes guitarist Joe Shrewsbury, drummer Rob Jones and bassist Simon Wright.

“The past couple of shows we’ve kind of started with loads of beats and loads of noise,” Wolinski says with a laugh. “We needed to let off lots of steam. The sets were full of weirdness.”

God love those Cure fans, though. Rather than being appalled, the noise-fests “went down really well,” Wolinksi reports. “As it turns out, the crowds seem to be incredibly open-minded.”

In fact, the band has had some notions of the U.S. disabused.

“America is a constant surprise to us,” Wolinski says. “Everyone we meet is brilliant. The attitude here is very different to the way your government behaves, which is really nice to know.”

Not all of the surprises are quite so enlightening, though.

While scouring a strip mall for a guitar store, the band encountered that bane of parental existence, Chuck E. Cheese.

“We’d never heard of it,” Wolinksi says. “We’re looking for guitar gear and we run into this crazy, giant mouse from space.”