For the English band James [ tickets ], best known for '90s-era hits "Laid" and "Born of Frustration," its mission is simple: Give people the best experience they've ever had live.

"That's the intent every night, really," said frontman Tim Booth during a recent interview with LiveDaily. "That's what's in our hearts and in our minds when we step out on stage is to try and literally have an amazing experience between us and the audience. We change the set each night. We improvise on quite a number of songs."

James--which also includes bassist Jim Glennie, guitarist Larry Gott, violinist/percussionist Saul Davies, keyboardist Mark Hunter, drummer Dave Baynton-Power and trumpeter Andy Diagram--is touring this time in support of its album "Hey Ma," its first release since 2001's "Pleased to Meet You." Booth quit the band the same year "Pleased to Meet You" was released, but was wooed back a year and a half ago by the powers of Glennie and Gott.

"We were still very creative," Booth said, calling from Brighton, England. "Creativity's never been a problem in James, but relationships had had some rocky periods. But, over a 20-odd-year lifespan, you'd expect that. A lot of us had had kids. People had gotten better at communicating and more appreciative of each other. I agreed to come back and the whole idea was to make a new album. It was never to play old hits. It was always about moving forward and trying to make an album that was better than we ever made before."

However, he clarifies that the band does play the hits live. Booth just did not want to reform the band with the goal of only playing older material.

"The idea of just playing the old catalog would be depressing," Booth said. "We still believe we're incredibly creative. We have material to move forward on and we're still learning. You stand still and it's not a good idea, really. It's boring to us. We like the idea of not knowing what we're going to make next--what kind of album, what kind of song."

He strongly believes the band is at its peak, but there's always room for improvement.

"At the moment, I think we're playing the best we've ever played and our concerts are the best we've ever had. We want to keep on moving forward with that. We're very proud of our longevity. There are some people who can keep going for years and still be creative. Most bands or individuals burn out after a couple of decent albums. But there's people like Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, [Bruce] Springsteen who can still carry on moving forward, Patti Smith, who you go and see now and they still have the spark, which was the initial appeal that drew you to them. That's what we believe we have and intend to keep fanning and fueling in our lives."