"it's unhip to come from Wales

and it's very hard to attract people. We've tried to run everything like a business. We record and live in Cardiff because it's cheaper that way, but we've based all our work and meetings in London." Phil Cilia, Waterfront's guitarist, is explaining how he and singer Chris Duffy have made the transition from the biggest band in Cardiff to a position in the American Top Ten.

"We didn't fancy the slog up and down the country playing a different town every night", he continues, "so we decided to go into a local 24-track studio in Cardiff and concentrate on songwriting for the best part of a year. When we had a four song set that we were happy with, we took it to all of the companies in London. Eventually we got signed worldwide to SBK Productions on four songs and no photo and then we got the deal with Polydor. We were lucky because it was very quick, once we actually made a conscious effort to get a deal."

The deal in question is a long-term eight album contract that should serve as a basis for a long and fruitful career in the music industry. Although the band's first three singles each narrowly missed out on mainstream chart action in this country, in America it's a different story. 'Cry', an immaculately conceived ballad featuring the strings of the London Symphony Orchestra, has been in the American Top 40 for several weeks, and at the time of writing is outselling the new singles by Paul McCartney, Queen and even Madonna. Phil is happy to have broken the American market first, following the tradition of artists such as A Flock Of Seagulls and Thomas Dolby.

"As songwriters, to break America first gives more credit to the act", he explains. "I don't like the way bands are broken in this country. Here it all depends on your haircut and getting your face into teen magazines. That's something we've felt uncomfortable with, because we're not 16, and we were signed long term on an eight album deal. I don't really understand the British market to tell you the truth."

To back up the American success, Waterfront are shortly going "on the road" in the shape of a 10-piece live band, with no sequencing or drum machines. Despite initially preferring to stay in the studio rather than play live, touring has now assumed a much greater importance.

"Originally our only wish was to make an album we were happy with", Phil begins, "but now we've done that. Having done PAs and TV mimes up and down the country, we've come to the point where we thought that we should become a real band again. We haven't got a permanent line-up, Waterfront is definitely just the two of us, but we're lucky because all of the musicians we got to play on the album were all friends as well as session musicians. To take that format into a live situation is a very easy thing, because it's like going away with your mates."

"it's unhip to come from Wales

Phil is currently in the process of setting up a Kramer guitar endorsement, mainly because he's a huge fan of the discontinued Kramer Carrera. If successful, and Kramer still have the original moulds, he plans to twist their collective arm to make him a new one from scratch. Having the right endorsement can also be a godsend while on promotional tours of far-off countries.

"Our drummer's got an endorsement on his drums and it makes it really easy, because if we go somewhere like Japan, the kit is there waiting for him. It makes travelling so much easier. It's not so much for live work, because it's always nicer to have your own personalised equipment, but to do videos, TVs and PAs it makes it so much easier if you don't have to worry about transporting equipment, getting it damaged in transit, and making sure it ends up at the right destination."

Waterfront have had offers to write songs for other artists, such as Pepsi and Shirlie, Sheena Easton and Randy Crawford. Writing is by far the most important aspect of the band's work, and most of it takes place at home, in Cardiff.

"We write on a guitar or a keyboard and record it onto a ghetto blaster", Phil explains. "That's as far as it goes at home, because we've got this theory that as soon as you start to get involved in home taping you become a reasonable studio engineer but a bad songwriter. We take the songs to a studio when they've got complete melodies and rough arrangements. I would advise everybody starting out to keep writing your own songs because songwriting is a craft, and you should get better the more you write. On top of that, get a really good lawyer as soon as you get a record company involved. Take care of the business because it won't take care of itself. You can't neglect the musical side of it, but you also have to be very aware of the business."

Waterfront have a refreshingly professional outlook and enthusiasm for what they do. There are no pretentions, and few hidden meanings. "I look at this album as a strictly pop album — there are no heavy messages, it's just a showcase for two songwriters", Phil concludes. In a world of here today, gone tomorrow record company hype, it makes a pleasant change to come across musicians of genuine talent who view the industry as a career rather than an opportunity to get rich quick. More of the same wouldn't go amiss.