(EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW):The Molotovs discuss their debut album
The Molotovs, made up of Matthew and Issey Cartlidge, are a sibling fronted band that have embraced mod revival stylings to produce refreshingly vibrant guitar rock.
Their debut “Wasted On Youth” manages to capture a snapshot of their utterly electric live shows that have earned them support slots for iconic names like Iggy Pop and The Sex Pistols.
In support of the album the band have undertaken an extensive headlining tour that has seen them perform to rabid crowds that are eager to experience the rock revival. During a rare minute of peace the band were able to catch up with us to discuss their long awaited debut.
SpinVybe: Your debut album “Wasted On Youth” is set to release on January 30th, What are you most excited about for this era?
Mathew: I’m most excited about is how the fans react to the album and to see what the album does for our band.
Issey: Also in how it sits in the wider indie music scene. There are bands that offer more optimistic takes on things, rather than fallout from the grunge era the we have seen dominating mainstream guitar music so if we can see those sort if bands being spotlighted in the wake of this album.
SpinVybe: For a band that has such vibrant stage performances, was it difficult to translate that energy to a record in the studio
Mathew: Yeah I think it was, as the process of recording the album was quite stagnant, it was sort of 4 days on 3 days off and scheduling everyone was tough. So stuff like that when you haven’t got the flow of a session is quite difficult but I think we did the best we can with it and I think that people will like it.
Issey: I think, as much as possible, we really tried to capture that live energy. For example, playing and setting up the equipment as if we were playing a stage show with all of it kind of in a triangular format as we would in a live show so we can try tp recreate it to put us into our comfort zone
SpinVybe: Was there any difference in working on a full LP as opposed to smaller EP’s?
Mathew: We recorded our singles all together and we recorded our album all together , with some of the B sides we recorded them separately but the whole album was done in one session.
Issey: We’ve had other experiences before this release, we’ve been going for six years where we’ve focussed on gigging going down this old fashioned route on the live circuit and building a fanbase that was. It seems like gigs have more meaning rather than just being reduced to numbers on a screen and followers and likes etc.
We had been in the studio but postponed releasing anything, so I think working on an album we could sit with it longer and could think about the sonics and how we wanted to put our stake in the ground for what The Molotovs’ sound is.
Photo: Aoife Hyland via Outside PR
SpinVybe: Do you feel albums are still relevant in the streaming landscape?
Mathew: Well in the streaming thing I don’t really know , I don’t listen to a lot of new records that have come out recently from front to back or new records in general. But I do know that when I listen to older records via streaming I like to listen in full like it’s a physical album. I think a lot of our fans will probably do the same if that’s the way they dig it. But yeah they want to hear it like a record.
Issey: I don’t think it’s quite helpful when gen-z and this new era are painted as kind of goldfish minded with short attention spans as if they can’t consume a whole album and just want nippy pop songs that are frivolous.
I think people do want more than that but if we tell them that this is all there is then they’ll come to accept that. People are more complex than that.
Mathew: One thing is, when pop-stars like Sabrina Carpenter released “Man’s Best Friend” or “Short and Sweet” people were getting passionate not just about the singles but about the album in general as a collective piece. So I think that there is a thing of young people embracing albums
Issey: Its not something we intended to set out that we were going to have a strong visual identity to be successful, that just came naturally to us and we know it was important. We’ve always been into aesthetics, fashion, visual art and cinematography. So stuff like on the album cover we’ve got this distinct geometry on both the alt sleeve and the original sleeve and that’s kind of a reference to French New Wave posters from the 60’s. And those kind of pastel colours, still quite bold and usually in primary colours are also a kind of reference to that. As well as our use a lot of royal blues, red and whites in our art as a bit of a reference to the union jack and British music heritage
SpinVybe: What music are you currently listening to ?
Mathew: I’m currently listening to a lot of The Specials but I found a song called “It’s a Shame” by The Spinners - a kind of 70’s soul group. When it first comes on it sounds really modern and then it’s got that really nice retro feel about it. They sound quite ahead of their time, not a particularly grainy sound but still very raw.
Issey: I’ve been listening to a lot of The Primitives who seem to suffer from their own success, as their big song “Crash” might be their eleventh best song so it doesn’t do justice to the quality of their songwriting ability. It’s a male and female and they switch vocals but is mostly Tracey Tracey the front woman who leads it. And they’ve got a kind of Smiths-y sound with a kind of 80’s jangle pop but still there’s very much a bite, you’ve got a bit of Blondie in there as well. Just really great songs , good pop tunes,
but also I’ve been going back to the 60’s listening to The Shangri-Las and also an album done by Johnny Thunders with a collaborator of his Patti Palladin and the y did an album of covers mostly form the 60’s and there’s a The Shangri-Las cover on there along with a song by the seeds “Can’t Seem to Make You Mine” that’s just an all round great album too.
SpinVybe: You’ve already played massive tours in support of musical legends , how do those shows compare with your current headline tour in support of Wasted on Youth
Issey: I think obviously it’s always amazing to play to a new audience and especially to support such incredible figures like Iggy Pop like The Damned like The Libertines and like The Sex Pistols. The godfathers of punk in a way, covering all the eras we draw influence from. But when we did those support tours and came back from America where we were supporting The Sex Pistols, when we came back and played our show at the Electric Ballroom Camden and played our biggest headline show to date that did really feel like we’re arrived. It felt like being the first men on the moon, planting our flag into the soil or moons crust. It really felt like our night, and it always means a lot more when it’s your fans in the audience, your people and you can see their faces and it’s a history of what you are as a band which leads up to now .
Interview By: Sam McNaughton
*This interview has been amended for readability
