Think of No Time for Later -- the latest from East Coast quartet The Trews -- as the band's equivalent of "a little bit country, a little bit rock 'n' roll."

Oh, don't worry. The disc is still jam-packed with the polished, slightly psychedelic radio-rock jams the group has become known for.

But there's a distinct heartland vibe to a couple of the tracks, suggesting the bandmates have been broadening the scope of their influences since their mostly classic rock-inspired early days.

"When we started off, we wanted to make another heavy rock record, but then we realized there were lots of elements of roots and Americana in there with the rock 'n' roll," explains frontman Colin MacDonald from a tour stop in New Jersey. "In the end, we have kind of a mixture. There's lots of heavy stuff ... but also some stuff that sounds like CCR or R.E.M. We wanted to try and evolve into places we'd never gone before."

That desire led The Trews (who hail from Antigonish, N.S., but are now based in Toronto) to adopt a drastically different recording strategy. Having worked with legendary producer Jack Douglas on their last disc (2005's Den of Thieves), they instead enlisted newbies Gus Van Go and Werner F. this time out.

MacDonald says the duo were as "hungry to prove themselves" as The Trews were to break new ground, so the musicians logged 20-hour days recording each of their parts separately.

"We tried to put our best foot forward on this one, so we spent a lot of time on production and arrangements," he explains. "The first two albums were live-off-the-floor studio albums, but with this one, we did everything separately. And then, oddly enough, it came out sounding like a really great live record ... I jokingly refer to it as our Rumours."

Now, the band may not have reached Fleetwood Mac levels of competence just yet, but they are already seasoned live players, and their status as a prime concert draw is one of the things that helped them get noticed in the first place.

That said, MacDonald doesn't believe it's always necessary to be quite as meticulous onstage as in the studio.

"With the live show, it's all about the energy and making a connection with the audience, and that can happen even with your sloppiest, most f--ed up performance," he says. "People want to feel like what's happening that night can only happen that night. It brings the audience in, like a drama happening on stage."

The band (MacDonald's brother John Angus, bassist Jack Syperek and drummer Sean Dalton round out the roster) got plenty of time to make connections while opening for former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley on a recent U.S. tour.

"People warned us the KISS army would be pretty cold to the opening acts," says MacDonald. "And we were unknown, just a bunch of scruffs from Canada. At first, you could see it in people's eyes that they were skeptical. But they warmed to us, and we ended up selling a lot of CDs."

Safe to assume, then, that when the group returns to the U.S. to resume touring this summer, they'll be coming back with even more converts. Just don't expect MacDonald and clan to rest on their laurels until then.

"I don't think we've made our definitive album yet," he says. "But we came pretty close."