LIVERPOOL SOUND CITY ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: The Molotovs

Words: Izzi Glover

Mod is back. Mod is alive. And it is being kept alive by two people; Mathew and Issey Cartlidge. Rising up from their busking days, London-based outfit, The Molotovs, reached top 3 in the charts after the release of their debut album: Wasted On Youth. They are starting their own revolution, preaching uniformity, community and love. 

Q: How did you feel when you found out Wasted On Youth was so high in the charts?

M: It felt great, even better when we found out we were in the top 3. It’s really nice to see all the encouragement from our fanbase, to see how much they support us and how great they are.

I: Matt was the buzz word of 2025, with cool nonchalance, you kind of just sat there like ‘oh cool, oh right.’ I yelped! We’ve been going for 6 years and it’s all been working up towards that album. We built our audience through live and playing over 600 gigs, so all those people that we’d met through that and kind of doing it through an old-fashioned, hard graft route, it meant a lot more to have that, and realise that people had spent their hard-earned money on the album, and they still believe in a physical record, and also guitar music, and that’s really encouraging, it shows there’s still an audience for it.

Q: How does it feel to be so young and have all this buzz around you?

M: People might think there’s all this buzz around us, and they may be right, but that’s not something we really feel.

I: And if one of us starts walking around and carrying that with them, especially because we’re siblings, it’s like ‘who the fuck do you think you are? Pipe down! I’ve known you since birth. I’ve seen you in nappies mate!'

Q: What is it like being able to go through all of this with your sibling?

I: There’s enough tension and energy to create something that feels incendiary and spontaneous, and easily combustible. Our parents are happy to see we’ve found something that we both really enjoy. 

M: That’s not how she really feels about it. No, it’s fucking horrible!

Q: There’s been a huge resurgence in mod culture. Why is that genre so special and important to you?

M: It’s just what we like. People who dress grunge-y, they’re not really into style or anything like that. For me, if you’re not into style, you’re not into pride, in a way. How you present yourself to the world is important. More importantly, it’s how you feel about yourself. When you look in a mirror, how do you feel? If you look and think ‘yeah I look fucking great’, because if you know that you look good and feel good about yourself, it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks. That’s why mod is so brash and unapologetic and abrasive, it’s because they don’t care and they don’t care what people say.

I: It feels like a very prideful movement, one that’s looking to the future, with optimism and hope. We go out with other young people to clubs that are playing retro-sounding music, and there’s people who aren’t just wearing typical mod gear, but who are dressing in a more punk way, or new romantic and all those kinds of styles. And, it’s all people that just want to find their tribe and be part of something, and feel confident in who they are. We kind of need more of that sociability, especially now that everything is being put onto the digital realm. We need to be at these clubs together, chatting to more people, finding our similarities rather than our differences, and that’s what music does. It’s the great unifier.

Q: What is the best thing about Liverpool?

M: The Jacaranda. Never had a bad night in there.

Q: Why should people come and watch The Molotovs at Sound City? 

I: Nothing will be left in the dressing room; that is factory guaranteed!

M: No one should have to, but if they want to see a great, young, honest band, who are on the up before they make it, they should go see us, they don’t even have to be into the music. We’re a band with a vision, an attitude, and a purpose.

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