THE MOLOTOVS, WASTED ON YOUTH

Let me get this out of the way up front, Wasted On Youth blew me away. I still don't know if it was more from the music itself or learning that siblings Matthew and Issey Cartlidge are 17 and 19, respectively. Regardless, youth has not been wasted on these two youth. Credit their dad. Early on, he noticed a growing pull toward music with the two of them and responded by opening up his own records. The Jam, Small Faces, The Kinks, XTC, and The Specials introduced the language of British guitar music at home, songs treated less as history lessons than as part of their daily lives. Later, The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys introduced them to music that carries a sense of urgency and economy. Issey frames it as inheritance rather than discovery. Taste, she says, travels through families, shaped by what plays in the house and the stories that follow.

Early on in their playing together, their aim was simple, they wanted to play music where they could, which led to consistent busking around London. That experience not only forged their musical cohesion, but essentially became the first chapter of the band’s existence. By the time their band, The Molotovs, and their debut album, Wasted On Youth, began taking shape, their sound and look were fully formed.

Matthew has described Get A Life as drawing from groups they “love,” including Buzzcocks, The Libertines, The Horrors, The Jam, Sex Pistols, and The Undertones, bands that captured a youthful energy rooted in the pure joy of rock-and-roll-leaning guitar music. You can hear the band drawing on this heritage of British punk and guitar culture in The Molotovs’ animated songwriting and playing. Get A Life, for example, is described by Matthew as a “punk song,” with influences that reflect the duo’s roots in the punk and post-punk canon, its rawness suggesting a broader album intention to articulate identity and youthful defiance through concise songcraft.

Infused with the spirit of 1960s–70s British rock and Mod influences, mixed with a more contemporary take on punk and Britpop leaning guitar music, Wasted On Youth is an absolute treat to listen to. These kids are onto something here. Something pretty special.