There is a fantastic vision in every daydreamers head of what it must be like to tour with a band — moving from city to city, teasing screaming fans, living on the edge.

Cool For August is no exception — the group just does everything to the exceptional extreme.

“I’m sorry about the noise here,” drummer Shane Hills hollered from a venue in Salt Lake City, Utah. “We’re doing a sound check for tonight’s show.

“[The venue] is kinda like playing in Wally World, it’s kinda crazy,” Hills continued, speaking a little louder. “It looks like a fun park in the middle of nowhere. Can you hear me? I can hardly hear you. Maybe we can do this tomorrow. Hell, I don’t even know where I’m going to be tomorrow.”

But he knows where he has been.

Four years ago when Canadian born Hills and guitarist Trevor Kustiak decided to move to L.A., they had no idea what was on the road ahead of them.

After Hills and Shives met guitarist Trevor Kustiak, the three put an ad in the Los Angeles Times: “Band seeking singer with influences Peter Gabriel, early David Bowie, Stone Temple Pilots. We have management and attorney.” Lead singer Gordon Vaughn auditioned thinking it was too good to be true — it was.

The truth was that Hills, Kustiak and Shives couldn’t even afford food, let alone an attorney.

“We moved to L.A. because we wanted to get a world-wide record deal,” Hills said the next day from a venue in Denver, Colo. “Most companies don’t distribute outside of Canada.

“It was hard to find work when we got here because we weren’t legal,” he continued. “We had to find people who would let us work under the table. We were movers, construction workers and waiters. We could never keep a job for very long though because we are rock ‘n’ roll musicians. We are unreliable.”

After the group formed, little changed. The four were living together — rarely working, not eating and continually making sacrifices to create music.

“We would load up on food from food stamp money and that would keep us going for a month and a half,” he added. “But we still had a lot of good times. It was fun.”

A long way from food stamps, Cool For August is now enjoying the success of its first CD release, “Grand World,” and its appearance on Billboard’s Rock Charts.

During the last two years, the band has also received a lot of road exposure with the likes of Collective Soul, Better Than Ezra, Tonic and Our Lady Peace.

Cool For August has also been a part of some smaller road tours where the band’s sound may have been “too fresh.”

Playing at a children’s Christmas benefit show in Memphis, Tenn., with Jimmy’s Chicken Shack, Hill witnessed something he’d never seen from the stage — a riot.

“The people there basically just didn’t want to hear us and a riot began,” Hill continued. “We weren’t going to take that shit so we starting throwing shit back and left the stage. We basically told Memphis to fuck off — but we’ve been back since then.

“It was just the weirdest shit I’ve seen in my 25 years on this planet, he continued. “It reminded me of a Jim Morrison thing. It was neat shit.”

Fortunately, for the sake of the band’s equipment, riots are few and far in-between.

Touring with Matchbox 20, audience participation comes in forms of standing ovations.

“Doesn’t anyone with anything get somewhere?” Hill asked. “But we are the creme of the crop and the creme always rises to the top. We’ll go to the top. We put our heart and soul into our music and people will sense that. We get standing obviations every night and we’re just the opening band for Matchbox 20.

“But I’m pretty content for now,” Hill said. “Maybe another 10 to 12 years more. Playing is my being. I’m in my element when I’m on the road and recording. I would eventually like to produce, get into some industrial and be creative, but I’m just a drummer and they ain’t much.”

But that depends on who you ask. In some eyes, Hill may be an everyday hero.

“Last week in Gainsville, Fla., I took down an attacker,” Hill said. “He was harassing a girl and we told him to leave her alone. He went back and got a knife and as he walked by me, I took him down. It was a 7” knife. I didn’t even realize what I did until my friends told me.

“Just another part of the day,” he added.

Cool For August will be opening for Matchbox 20 Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Stephens Auditorium. The concert is sold out.