There’s a thin line between homage and pastiche and you can make your own mind up about teenage siblings The Molotovs.

I’ve been hearing a lot of noise about this trio, whose debut album has just been released. And they’re happy to wear their primary influence on the well tailored sleeve of their mohair suits.

But while they may get the youngsters excited with their throwback sound – and look – us older folk may find it hard to see past the slavish copycat element of both those elements.

Matthew and Issey Cartlidge are teenage siblings – he’s 17, she’s 19 (or so they claim) – but apart from the gender discrepancy it seems like a pastiche to me.

The hair. The suit. The shoes. The moves. The Estuarine snarl. The guitars. The choppy chords. The rolling basslines.

It’s as if they’ve studied every video ever made of The Jam – because they’re far too young to have seen them – and spent hours in front of the mirror aping every single aspect. 

And it’s not just Matthew’s impersonation of Weller; Issey’s stage moves and bass playing uncannily recall Foxton.

As for drummer Noah Riley, who for some reason is not credited as part of the band, he gives a good approximation of Buckler’s cool insouciance too.

So it comes as no great surprise to learn that the Cartlidges’ dad was a big fan of The Jam and saw them several times, as well as soundtracking their childhood with his Kinks and Small Faces and XTC records.

Having said all that… (deep breath)… they are very very good at what they do, even if they are essentially a tribute band who write their own songs; or at least assemble them from well chosen source material.

The Molotovs have been gigging since 2020, when they were 12 and 14 and at secondary school, and have apparently played more than 600 shows, a lot of those busking on the streets. And by all accounts they are incendiary in live performance – which I can believe.

I would probably be thrilled too if I hadn’t spent much of my own teenage years watching the actual Jam in pubs, looking and sounding pretty much exactly the same as this. I was at their last one, too, at the Rainbow back in 1980.

So old codgers like us are bound to raise a sceptical eyebrow (even though they’ve been given The Modfather’s own blessing) but the inevitable criticism doesn’t deter Matthew, especially when it comes from anonymous online trolls. 

“All the time, being told you’re fucking Poundshop Weller and everything like that. I don’t care because it’s always wankers with zero followers and numbers at the the end of their name,” he says.

“It’s usually some old gammon on the internet or some failed musician having a go at young kids for just trying to start something. You just think: is that all you’ve got to do with your time? 

“At the end of the day I’ve got influences and I’m not gonna hide them. Noel Gallagher’s ripped off everyone under the sun and everyone tries to take something from somewhere else.”

Fair point, well made – though I can’t help feeling talk of another Mod Revival is not just premature but wide of the mark.