A CROATIAN rock band obsessed with Cardiff have written a song dedicated to the city – despite never having visited.
Phone Cardiff by The Orange Strips has taken Croatia by storm.
It is currently riding high in the Croatian charts at number eight after being played five times a day on MTV.
Last year they played England and Scotland, but did not have time to get to Wales.
Singer Valdet Luboteni admitted the song title came about by mistake.
He said: “I have never been to Cardiff but it has been my obsession for years.
“The song was originally meant to be named Cardiff.
“Then one day when I was about to send the demo CD to a record label I was in such a hurry I started writing the name of the song with a letter P.
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“So instead of going home and burning the CD all over, I simply changed the name of the song into Phone Cardiff which remained as final.”
The group, from Croatia’s Istria region, have high hopes for hitting the top spot with the ditty, which features such odd lyrics as “Shoulder fighting ants with briefcases””
Manager Vjekoslav Kos said: “It’s going great. We have already had two singles before Cardiff, so people know about the band.
“They play all the big festivals in Croatia and they are probably going to plan another tour in the UK in the next year.
“It is a new entry in MTV’s chart, it has entered at number eight, so we’ll see what happens next.
“The previous single got to number six. It would be nice if we could get to number two or number one.”
The group are hoping to land a UK record deal following talks with a label in London.
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Mr Kos added: “I know there is an American band who have written about Croatia so there is no reason not to write about Cardiff.
“I think the song is pretty interesting because it has an accordion in the song. That is a pretty popular instrument here is Croatia as it is a traditional instrument.
“So it was good they got to use an instrument that does not usually get used in pop.”
Phone Cardiff is the third single from the band’s debut album Follow.