Charlatans Put Rivals to the Test : Pop music: The group has moved to the forefront of bands from the fertile English rock scene. Its on its first Southland tour.

Tim Burgess, singer of the Manchester, England, band Charlatans UK, insists that there’s no rivalry among the acts that have emerged from his hometown’s fertile rock scene.

But he seems ready to start one.

His target: the Stone Roses.

That band, Burgess acknowledged, seemed to be the most likely Manchester candidate for international stardom. But its failure to tour the United States and its tardiness with a follow-up to its acclaimed 1989 debut album killed its momentum.

“It’s quite strange in a way--a bit of a shame,” Burgess, 23, said of his scene-mates. “They should be (stars in the United States) now.”

But noting that his band--which played Thursday at Montezuma Hall in San Diego and will play tonight at UCLA’s Ackerman Ballroom--has been able to slip past the Roses in terms of U.S. radio play, Burgess said that it’s the way things should be.

“We are better,” he said as if stating a universally accepted fact, speaking from BMG Records’ New York headquarters before embarking on the group’s first Southern California tour. “We’ve got more of a focus, more of a newer sort of music. I think we have a fresher sound, and rather than trying to re-create something, we’ve taken some major influences and put something into it that’s very much our own.”

The Charlatans’ sound is a bit different from the other Manchester bands’, though it does share some of the psychedelic/hip-hop characteristics associated with that city for the past several years. But the quintet’s new album, “Some Friendly,” shows enough originality to mark it as an act that will likely grow beyond the scene, which is already dying a little.

A couple of years ago, Manchester looked like the contemporary answer to Liverpool and London all wrapped up into one--a city in which youthful boredom and frustration had launched a scene with its own vibrant music, fashions, drugs and attitude. To the scene’s boosters, the wide-eyed Stone Roses were its Beatles and the wily Happy Mondays its Rolling Stones, together poised to lead the charge of a new British Invasion across the Atlantic.

Manifest destiny, to hear Burgess tell it, has dictated otherwise.

“We had something from day one that we knew would take the world,” said Burgess, who joined the Charlatans in 1988. “We’d only written two songs, but we knew we were the best band going.”

In a thick Northern English accent, Burgess recounted the band’s march toward inevitable greatness: “We got a lot of respect early on. We played a lot of places no one really played. We were totally offended by the so-called rock circuit where every band goes down the same path. We thought that was boring. And we spent a lot of time on writing songs. Image wasn’t that important because we knew we looked really great anyway.” Nonetheless, the Charlatans are generally seen in the context of Manchester fashion.

“I’d be disappointed if the only reason people bought our record is because we’re part of a scene,” Burgess said. “We’re more important. But I’m just glad people have gotten to hear of the Charlatans.”

And Burgess wanted to be sure that his disparaging remarks about Manchester and his peers were presented in the context of his fond affection for both.

“The Manchester scene was really a good thing, because of what was going on with people in the street,” he said.

“The vibe was happening and groups started to emerge being influenced by similar things. And it opened people’s eyes and people were less put off by something new. People used to despise something that was different. But with Manchester it seemed people were waiting for something to happen and they said, ‘Let’s go for it.’ ”

To Burgess’ chagrin, though, one thing people went for was drugs, especially the vogue hallucinogen known as Ecstasy. Not that he’s against drugs.

“I like to smoke a bowl (of marijuana) sometimes,” he said. “It makes journeys seem shorter.” It’s the cultural context and consequences that concern him.

“Bragging about how many Ecstasy tabs you can drop is like bragging about how many beers you can drink or girls you can go out with,” he said.

“It’s a macho thing I don’t agree with. But it was something new and it came along with the music, and teen-age Angst was totally dropped when you took that drug, so it caught on. But I feel sorry for the people who follow the groups that are totally drug-inspired. What happens when the groups go away?”

In any case, the Charlatans are now here to conquer America, though Burgess seemed undaunted by the prospect of failing.

“I don’t really care,” he said. “Anyone who doesn’t get into our music, it’s their loss.”