Everything Everything is still getting used to American culture, but both singer Jonathan Higgs and guitarist Alex Robertshaw are fans of the overeager waiter at Tenmasa, a sushi spot on the Sunset Strip.

“I don’t know what’s up with him, but I love his enthusiasm,” Higgs says between bites of a softshell crab roll.

But the duo can’t spend too long focused on the spicy avocado and salmon rolls that sit between them. They’ve got their first show of a tour opening up for the Joy Formidable across the street at the Roxy in just a few hours, which means introducing a new batch of fans to their new record, Get to Heaven.

“The record came out in the UK in June of last year, so for us it’s been out for quite a long time,” Robertshaw says. “It’s been pretty amazing what we’ve managed to achieve for this record after the last two. For the first time, I think we made a record where we managed to do whatever we wanted to do. You get to your third album and you’re kind of like ‘Fuck it.’”

Robertshaw mentions that the Manchester-based band wasn’t sure how fans would feel about the experimental pop-rock band’s latest work while chomping into a tuna roll, but he feels many people appreciate the authenticity of a band making a record that they can be legitimately excited to play. It’s the kind of music that defies genres for the most part, and that’s exactly how the group likes it.

“It was kind of a conscious decision at first just not to fall into any of the crap that was around in the UK at the time,” Robertshaw explains. “There were a lot of indie bands, and it was just how could we use guitars and tools in a way that wasn’t being done. A lot of the music that comes out of Manchester is different, but then there’s so much left in its wake that sounds the same. New Order and Joy Division were new-sounding bands, but then everyone sounded like them. I can imagine the same thing happening with Oasis after Oasis came out.”

“We were more into math rock and things like picking muted notes rather than big open chords like Oasis,” Higgs adds. “We hated all that and we wanted nothing to do with it. We came from the same city that’s responsible for Oasis, and we wanted to do something different. I liked them as a kid, and I like them now, but I hated them at the time.”

But while the quartet hasn’t even been around for a decade yet, they’re already well on their way to being the next legendary band out of Manchester. With their 2010 debut album, Man Alive, scoring a Mercury Prize (the award for the best album from the UK and Ireland) nomination, Everything Everything was automatically on many people’s radars on both sides of the Atlantic. Over the last five-plus years, they’ve all grown far beyond their musical abilities from the first record.

“I don’t think the first album was a breakthrough success for us, even though we had good critical responses to it,” Robertshaw says. “The second album, we didn’t want to be one of those bands that made one album and then just kind of fucked off. We were much more conscious of writing real songs. Coming to a third album, it was just sort of anything goes. We know what we do now, and we’re very comfortable.”

That’s not to say Robertshaw, Higgs, and their bandmates have forgotten how excited they were to be nominated for one of the UK’s biggest music trophies so early in their careers. The two recount the excited last-minute phone call after being told of the nomination as they wash their sushi down with a couple of waters. Of course, six years ago, they might’ve opted for something a little stronger to go with their raw fish, as they did at the awards show so many years ago.

“We absolutely smashed it,” Robertshaw says. “We had some very unhappy label phone calls the next day about the bill we’d managed to accumulate in the hotel room. It was really good fun though. As a young band, everything is just big bright lights, and it’s just exciting.”

“We’re older now, but I think we’re also less tight about music than we were back then,” Higgs adds. “We used to worry what people would think of us back then, but we don’t care about that half as much now. I think we’re a much better band because of that. We’re more comfortable and playful and relaxed making music now. I still think the first album is kind of weird and guarded. We’re easier to get along with now.”