Turnpike Glow is just another local band that wants to make it big in America. Their biggest problem is that they are a local band in Rome, Italy. But that isn't stopping them from trying to get you to listen. Despite their locale, their songs are in English. They even work on their accents to sound more American. And they'd kill to play at a local American bar. The strangest thing is, they're not alone.

Young bands have long seen the United States as the gateway to international fame. For decades, performing artists from non-English-speaking countries have sung in English in hopes of one day attracting a wider listening audience. America's influence on worldwide popular culture is undeniable, though the reality may seem strange to average American listeners. It's very possible to walk into a club in Berlin, Prague, Amsterdam, or Rome, only to hear a band that sounds like it came from Portsmouth, N.H. And now the Internet has put that dream within reach.

We spoke with Sandro Schiena of Italy's Turnpike Glow about his dreams of breaking out of an oddly familiar local music scene.

Tell us a little bit about the music scene in Rome.

First of all, bands have very few places to play. The best venue right now is the Circolo degli Artisti, which recently hosted Broken Social Scene and Graham Coxon. There is a group of people who come to almost all the shows, but not too many. You always have to pray that there will be more than 50 patient listeners when you play. As I said, the music scene is pretty small, so the bands know each other...

So what do you guys do to attract listeners? Do you have a street team?

We are our street team. We're doing everything by ourselves, from promotion to sending out CDs. Right now we're collecting reviews from different webzines and magazines, and we're sending our CD out to lots of independent radio stations. Basically that's the way we hope to attract a label's attention.

Have you sent your demo to American labels?

We haven't sent to American labels yet, because if people start knowing who we are and what music we play, then this will save a lot of promotional work for labels. Our aim is to tour the U.S.A. to show labels that we're good enough for them. We often open for bands coming from abroad to get a bit of press attention but in the end there aren't big opportunities over here for bands playing our kind of music. We are very excited about our first American and U.K. reviews. They make us aware of our possibilities to create uplifting music. They bring us confidence that we will get a deal.

How will you put together a tour here?

Our plan is to tour the States with some cool American band, as soon as possible. We can't organize a tour sitting in front of our computers and sending demos. We're seriously looking for guys who fall in love with Turnpike Glow and help us out to do some nice shows, maybe on the East Coast. We don't have perfect plans. We could meet the right guy by accident.

Do you think it's possible to get signed without playing here?

Nobody will sign you just for a demo. You need to show them how good you are in front of an audience, prove how much positive feedback you can get. Minds can be changed completely after hearing a band live. Even if people love a record, they will feel a bit betrayed if the live band disappoints the crowd.

All of this sounds pretty familiar. I see you have a Web site to attract fans, but there isn't an Italian word on the whole site. It's all in English. All your songs are English, too. You guys are from Italy. Am I missing something?

The site reflects our desire to reach as many people as possible, but we'll eventually make an Italian version of it for the Italians who do not speak English. It's not that we want to sound American or stuff like that, we just sound exactly the way we feel, the way you would want your favorite band to sound like. We all grew up with music coming from the U.S.A. and the U.K., so it's really natural for us to sing in English. The truth is we haven't got a close relationship with the traditional Italian music culture.

We are convinced that the passion for music in your country is unconditional. An American music label would give us more visibility than many Italian labels, and this would give us the chance to play in more venues. That's exactly what we want to do... let our music touch as many innocent hearts and minds as possible.

Though it may seem strange to an American listener, many non-English speaking bands are in the same situation as you. Can you shed some light on how we got here? Is there some kind of cultural lesson to be learned?

Singing in English gives us the possibility to speak to a much wider audience. American and European cultures have a lot to learn about one another. We like the American way of approaching music and art in general. Beginning in school, you guys give a lot of importance to all the artistic talents that a student may have. This is the only way to build a florid music culture. People should be exposed to and appreciate all kinds of music. Whereas, in Italy you learn to play an instrument only if you take the initiative. This doesn't help the Italian music industry.

That's a great argument for the funding of school music programs. I'm afraid to tell you that those programs are often the first to go in a budget crunch. Maybe what we need over here is a little perspective from Turnpike Glow. So what American bands do you guys like?

Turnpike Glow's dream is opening one day for The Flaming Lips. We're totally in love with this outstanding American band. No explanations really, they just make the most creative pop in the universe. Also there is a cool scene in Canada right now. The Toronto based collective Broken Social Scene is another one of our favorites. Their live show here in Rome blew our heads and hearts totally away!

Fresh melodies and a heart-filled will to get you singing in the shower or while you're stuck in the traffic. Our live shows are built so that people who come and see us go back home saying, "Hey, that was some great show!" It's very important to get feedback from people who come to the shows. They really can tell you if you've hit the spot or if you've just taken the wrong job. The point is we have great songs. That's what matters in the end.

Music samples from Turnpike Glow's self-released debut album, Rush Home, can be found at their Web site, www.turnpikeglow.com.