Cut Copy, courtesy.

This story originally appeared in the Oakland Tribune.

Australian dance-pop trio Cut Copy has a secondary mission as it embarks on its largest headlining tour of America and Mexico: Drink as much good coffee at as many different coffee shops as possible.

Singer/keyboardist/guitarist Dan Whitford, bassist Tim Hoey and drummer Mitchell Scott all have an addiction to the black stuff.

“Now that we’re in America, we’ve gone online and looked up great coffee places in each city we’re going to,” said Hoey from his hotel room in Denver. “That’s the first thing we do when we get off the bus.

“We’re going to write a book about it; ‘Cut Copy’s Coffees of the World’ kind of writing.”

The Melbourne band already has a San Francisco joint picked out. They can’t remember the name, but it’s just across the street from the Mezzanine, where the band will be playing a sold-out show Sunday in support of its second record, “In Ghost Colours,” with fellow Aussie electrorockers the Presets.

Hoey and Co. will probably not find their favorite caffeinated beverage — the “flat white,” a cross between a latte and macchiato — in the states. What they will find is more fans than they did four years ago on their first U.S. tour.

Cut Copy completed work on its second album, “In Ghost Colours,” in March 2007, but its release was held up until a year later.

“We were proud of it and thought we had made a great record, but in that long time between finishing it and getting it released, you start to doubt and get really anxious,” Hoey said. “When it finally came out we were just really happy that our fans liked it, and it seemed to get a whole new audience, especially here in the States and in Europe.”

In Australia, the album debuted at the top of the music charts in March. In the United States, it cracked the Billboard 200.

“(The band) has grown very organically; through releasing records it got bigger and bigger,” Hoey said. “As opposed to having a breakout record and then disappearing, which happens a lot these days.”

The band got its start in 2001 with Whitford, a graphic designer. He eventually recruited Hoey, who was in school working toward a fine arts degree; Scott, a Web site developer; and bassist Bennett Foddy. Foddy left in 2004 to go back to school.

It’s easy to peg Cut Copy as an ’80s synth band, but Hoey said his band has many influences, from krautrock and early ’90s indie guitar rock to French house techno.

“We really respect people who are so committed to what they are doing; people like (My Bloody Valentine frontman) Kevin Shields, Sonic Youth, (Electric Light Orchestra and Traveling Wilburys co-founder) Jeff Lynne and Brian Wilson,” he said. “Those are people who have a total commitment for pushing their kind of sound.”

Cut Copy can fit in onstage with traditional rock bands as well as electronic acts. The band was viewed by many as a headliner at this year’s Download Festival, playing with the likes of Brand New. The trio has also opened for Daft Punk.

“We’re constantly on the search for new music, and we use touring as a means to find records and new music and inspiration,” he said. “We absorb as much as possible.”

Cut Copy’s debut album in 2004, “Bright Like Neon Love,” was moderately successful; it was enough for Hoey and Scott to set aside their day jobs. In the ensuing few years, dance music exploded in popularity in the land Down Under.

There are several “competitors” now blending the line between pop and electronic music, including tour mates the Presets and Midnight Juggernauts.

“It was hard at first for dance to make a mark in Australia,” Hoey said. “You kind of had to go overseas. (Now) there’s a whole new audience there, a younger audience.”

Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter.