How do you know when your rock’n’roll molotov is really exploding? When you come home from a lockdown busking session with £600 in your pocket? When Green Day start advertising your gigs on the radio? Or when you look into the wings at a show and see Sex Pistol Paul Cook offering to join you on stage?
It’s been quite a rise for incendiary London three-piece The Molotovs, who bring their own modern rock vivacity to the sounds of mod, punk and power pop. Formed by teenage siblings Issey and Mat Cartilidge during the pandemic, who, along with drummer Ice, began busking in parks and at protests.
“We’d go out and play Anarchy In The UK and I Predict A Riot, and that always got a really great reaction,” says bassist/vocalist Issey.
Article continues belowThe Molotovs cut their teeth at their own all-ages charity shows and at scooter rallies and mod events.
“Young people are really getting into it, the vintage thing – sixties, seventies and eighties,” guitarist/singer Mat says of the burgeoning new scene.
Their mod following grew.
“We were very much inspired by The Jam, The Undertones, Buzzcocks,” Issey says. “These were people who had seen these bands first time round. We harked back to their youth.”
Word of The Molotovs’ infectious new-mod sound and riotous gigs (“We often get bruised and battered,” Issey says) spread like burning gasoline. Within a few years they found themselves supporting Paul Cook’s The Professionals, Clem Burke’s Split Squad, then The Libertines, Blondie, Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols themselves.
“You’re getting that nod of approval from some of your idols, and them saying to you ‘the kids are all right’,” says Issey. “Pete Doherty said that I was a high-kicking acrobat crossed with Nico. I was very pleased with that.”
The Molotovs share much with their heroes: an unquenchable energy, a DIY attitude and a ferocious generational voice. Their infectious debut album, Wasted On Youth, is driven by the frustrations of modern teendom: the crushed individualism (Rhythm Of Yourself, inspired by industry figures telling them to change their haircuts and stagewear), the lack of direction (Daydreaming) and, on pandemic song Newsflash, the confusions of watching the country spinning towards dog-eat-dog authoritarianism.
“It was like a throwback to Nazi Germany,” Mat says. “People were calling out their friends, like the thought police. It was really a dangerous time.”
Mat’s songs, he says, are products of the world around him.
“It’s what I see on the news or just out and about, and how I interpret that,” he says. “I’m not like David Bowie who can write about Mars.”
Issey smiles. “Unless we’re on tour there.”
Wasted On Youth is out now via Marshall Records. The Welcome To Urbia tour of the UK and Ireland begins in September. For dates and tickets, check the Molotovs website.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
