When EXTC tours, the trio led by original XTC drummer Terry Chambers doesn’t go easy.

EXTC’s fifth North American tour is a 56-date marathon rolling through June 15. Every night, Chambers, singer-guitarist Steve Hampton and singing bassist Terry Lines faithfully perform two hours of songs by the classic British pop-rock band XTC.

“We’re not young guys anymore,” Chambers said from gig No. 11 of the tour, “but I’ve always believed that you can’t tour America and just do a dozen gigs — unless, of course, you’re the Rolling Stones playing for 100,000 people every night.”

Unlike the Stones, EXTC takes XTC’s music to relatively small venues in the communities where people live.

“At this level, mate, you’ve got to get into the provinces,” Chambers explained. “You’ve got to get to the people, because the cost of us coming here from the U.K. — the airfares, travel insurance, hire of the vehicle we drive around in and hiring a sound guy — to justify it, financially, we need to dig in.”

While the physical demands of playing drums make Chambers the hardest working man in EXTC, he deflects praise for his hard work, saying everyone on the EXTC bandwagon makes its wheels turn.

“Perhaps for the hours that we’re on stage (he’s the hardest working), but I don’t want to steal all the glory,” he said. “It’s a hardworking unit.”