THE MOLOTOVS 2026 “WASTED ON YOUTH” – FROM BUSKING TO YUNGBLUD, ONE EXPLOSIVE GIG AT A TIME

Explosive, fierce, and impossible to ignore, I sit down with London’s rock’n’roll siblings The Molotovs who are already proving that their name isn’t just for show. Live? They’re explosive. Shifting 1,000 tickets without even having an album out? Effortless. Not too shabby for a band that began by busking and has garnered support from the likes of The Libertines, Blondie, The Sex Pistols and more…

It’s both a blessing and a curse that you only get fifteen minutes with a band that has the energy and the pace that The Molotovs do. Issey and Matt hop onto the call fresh off the heels of Paris, now sitting in a hotel in Blackpool, waiting for their gig at Bootleg Social. They’re still reeling with the excitement of their tour announcement and upcoming release of their debut album “Wasted on Youth” at the end of this month.

I’ve spent the past few days researching the band, and I’ve got to say there’s just something about them that hits me a little bit differently. Maybe it’s because bands like The Molotovs were such a big part of my mod roots, the attitude, the energy, that all‑or‑nothing spark. Or maybe it’s their insane work effort and enthusiasm. It’s not really nostalgia, more like a reminder to me why this genre and style that comes with the music mattered to me so much back in my teens, how it really did shape so many of us, and why this whole scene will never fail to influence generation after generation.

With the album landing just ahead of their biggest tour yet, I jump straight in.

I first mention Laurie Wright, the name that originally brought them onto my radar, and they light up instantly. “He first saw us play in London,” they tell me. “We were doing these all‑ages gigs to bring young people back into guitar music in libraries and little live venues. He turned up at one after hearing about us online. We were playing constantly in London, so people whispered about us a lot. The friendship kind of blossomed from that.”

It’s a friendship that’s lasted. They’ve toured together, swapped support slots, and built the kind of easy camaraderie that only comes from long nights, cheap venues, and the shared stubbornness of wanting to make guitar music matter again. “When he played Scala, we supported him,” they say. “Then we went on to do our own headline shows. He’s supported us a couple of times, too. It’s always been a really nice relationship… we’ve become really good mates.”

What has always caught my attention with The Molotovs, even before the music, is their visual identity. They look built for this and it’s impossible to ignore. When I ask about their style influences, the answers come fast and layered.

“Paul Weller, always,” Matt says without hesitation. “He still dresses amazingly to this day. And the Gallagher brothers, especially in the 90s and early 2000s. And the whole 80s football‑casual thing, they always looked brilliant.” He laughs about The Business with Danny Dyer: “The film’s not great, but the clothes are amazing.”

He’s loyal to one brand in particular: “Adam of London on Berwick Street, they do amazing suits. I pretty much exclusively wear their suits.”

Issey pulls from a wider palette. “Mine’s an amalgam of eras,” she explains. “I love the 60s Rudi Gernreich, André Courrèges, Mary Quant, you know, sharp silhouettes, A‑lines, bold colours, pop‑art, Mondrian vibes. Then the 70s and punk, Siouxsie Sioux, The Slits, Viv Albertine. Her autobiography was a huge influence.” Viv Albertine’s memoir Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys is a brilliant reference.“Then the 90s, a bit of Kate Moss, a bit of indie sleaze.” 

They talk about De Niro in Casino, Michael Caine in Sleuth, and the French New Wave, Godard, Anna Karina, and Breathless. Recently, Paris introduced them to a designer from Bank Robber, “very Bauhaus‑inspired,” and she raves about Sabine: “Their dresses are pure sex.” There’s also a nod to Stuart Trevor, founder of All Saints, who’s now reviving vintage clothes because, as they put it, “we’ve got too many clothes in the world.”

Their aesthetic has naturally drawn attention, but they’re clear about where it comes from. “We’ve met loads of people through the band,” Matt says. “People notice the image and want to get involved, and we’re always open to that, but it’s not why we started. The look came from us, not stylists or brands or being manufactured.”

Their debut album, Wasted on Youth, lands on 30th January, and I ask what the title means to them. They reference the quote “The problem with youth is that it’s wasted on the young. It’s about how when you’re young, you’ve got the most energy, ambition, passion, but also the least experience,” they explain.

“We don’t want that to happen to our generation. We want to seize the day, make change, not drift into our 30s and 40s complaining we never had the chance.”

It’s a theme that runs through everything they do, especially their commitment to grassroots scenes. When I ask why guitar music hasn’t broken through in recent years, they don’t hesitate.

“The industry finds bands harder to deal with,” Matt says. “It’s easier to manage one person, Ed Sheeran, Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift; they’re easy to package. Bands are rowdy, chaotic, and harder to control. The industry likes control, especially over creative decisions. A lot of pop artists have eight writers on a song. Bands don’t work like that.”

But they’re quick to point out it’s not just the industry. “Venues have been closing, pubs, clubs, everything,” they say. “We became ambassadors for Music Venue Trust. Young people couldn’t get into venues. How can a new generation of guitar music exist if they’re not exposed to it?”

Their solution was Youth Explosion, all‑ages gigs in a library in Southwest London.“£3 tickets, accessible, all ages,” they say. “At first they didn’t come for the music, but over months their tastes changed, their clothes changed, they got into the whole lifestyle. It was lawless, 600 kids in a library, drunk, high, throwing up, but it felt like what young people should be doing.”

And here’s where their activism for new, fresh music deepens. Their work with Music Venue Trust isn’t a footnote, it’s central to who they are. They’ve watched the grassroots circuit shrink in real time, shuttered pubs, disappearing stages, and entire towns losing the places where scenes are born. Becoming ambassadors wasn’t a branding move, it came from the heart and was a response to a crisis. Youth Explosion wasn’t just a series of gigs, it was a rebuilding project, a way of giving young people access to the culture the industry had quietly allowed to erode.

They’ve played over 600 gigs since they were 14 and 12, building a fanbase the old‑school way. “We didn’t want to release music before we were ready,” they say. “We’d seen too many bands release songs into the black hole of DSPs. So we built real connections through live shows.”

It’s earned them the respect of some serious names, Iggy Pop, Blondie, and Yungblud.“Their advice is always, keep going,” they tell me. “They like what we’re doing, the ethos, the music. Before we even released any music, we sold out Scala in King’s Cross because of our live reputation.”

“The tour this year is big,” Matt grins. “We kicked off on January 6th at King Tut’s in Glasgow, then snake through the UK with stops like Manchester’s Gorilla on the 8th, Sheffield’s Hallamshire Hotel on the 21st and wrapping the first leg in Southampton at The Brook on the 26th. Come April, we’re supporting Yungblud at Liverpool’s M&S Bank on the 12th, Belfast SSE on the 14th, all the way to Manchester AO on the 25th. There’s more dates. Then Spain in June, Aguere Cultural on the 5th and festivals like Bearded Theory in May and Belladrum in July.”

Supporting younger bands on the tour is equally important to them. “We pick bands we like to support us,” they say. “If we can give someone a good opportunity, we want it to be someone who deserves it. We want good music to be at the forefront instead of crap. We want to nurture scenes in every town.”

They’ve been called the future of British rock, a label they take with a pinch of salt.“A bit of pressure, yeah,” Matt admits.

“At what point are you edgy and at what point do you become part of the establishment? I suppose that’s the ideal really, becoming the establishment so some younger band can come along and go, ‘I don’t like The Molotovs,’ and shake it all up. That’s what keeps it fresh. That’s the mod mentality: keep moving, keep progressing.”

Matt’s view is very grounded, self‑aware and almost philosophical, like the goal isn’t to stay underground forever. The goal is to get big enough that the next generation has something to push against, just like they pushed against the generation before them.

Before we wrap, I ask what track they’d choose to introduce themselves to someone new. They don’t hesitate. “Today’s Gonna Be Our Day. Our second single. Strong lyrically, a bit soul‑sweet, we’re massive soul fans. Sharp, jagged guitars, machine‑gun drums, rumbling bass, good melodies. It’s bombastic. And the lyrics speak to young people, it leaves them feeling energised, like they can change something.”

And now, with Wasted on Youth landing in just a few days, following a tour which saw a lineup hand‑picked rising bands to champion, everything feels like it’s accelerating. For The Molotovs, the tour isn’t just promotion, it’s a travelling manifesto. A chance to prove that guitar music emerging from the youth still has teeth, it still has urgency, and it still has a lot to say.

The Molotovs’ will continue their SOLD OUT UK tour dates throughout the month before their debut album Wasted On Youth lands on 30th January.

Missed the tour? Catch the band on their upcoming record store tour which begins at Kingston’s Banquet Records on 30th January.

Pre-order & pre-save Wasted on Youth here.