Credit: Found On Internet

Pieced together from the remains of several Cardiff bands, The New 1920 are a South Wales indie-rock outfit currently turning heads here and in the US, with single ‘Torpedo Libido’ winning ‘best of the week’ accolades from New York radio stations and XFM alike.

With tours alongside Lostprophets and Kids In Glass Houses leading them into the New Year, Beren Neale spoke to lead singer and songwriter, Colin Francies, about finding himself in the midst of a community of musicians, his preference of Jack Bauer to Darth Vader, and why his band doesn’t translate well into a cocktail. 

Your single Torpedo Libedo and B-side Tidy Ride echo At the Drive In as much as the American pop punk of Blink 182. What made you go for the incredibly lucrative indie-rock direction?

“Ha! Well, I was playing in a punk band Douglas for years and when they dispersed in 2004 the new tunes I had were written on an acoustic guitar, so I didn’t have a plan for a particular sound and didn’t think about going in any direction. It’s only when the guys started building on top of that we got our sound. They’re just straightforward tunes - It’s not breakthrough stuff, but I’m not at that level of songwriting.

“You’re always going to have people comparing bands and how they sound, and we’ve been compared with everyone from Ash to McFly to At The Drive In. Some of the best songs that I know, like AC/DC songs, are all chord progressions, but as long as you’ve got enough creativity people will like it and you won’t be known as ‘just another indie band’.”

Is there a story behind the band’s name?

“I used to work in a cocktail bar and I found a cocktail menu from back in the 1920s and flicked through it and found the name.”

Is it any good?

“It’s disgusting. There are a couple of ways to make it, one of them is with Absinthe, but it’s like a Manhattan - whiskey-based, with Orange Curacao. It’s for the seasoned pro. Flicking through old cocktail menus is brilliant if you’re ever short of a song title. I’ve named songs after them in the past.”