THE MOLOTOVS + THE LEN PRICE 3 – PATTERNS, BRIGHTON 22.8.25
This evening’s event at Patterns is part of the ‘Brighton Mod Weekender’ which runs across 4 nights and 3 days (21st to 25th August) at various local venues. This has expertly been put together by The New Untouchables which is an independent organisation that promotes 21st Century Modernist & Sixties inspired underground music culture with an international mindset, via club nights, events, books, records, films, fashion and they are producers of the NUTSMAG Magazine. This evening’s bash witnesses The Molotovs as headliners and support from The Len Price 3 and DJ’s Dave & Lee Grimshaw were on the twin Technics decks this evening in order to set the ‘Mod Mood’. They are from Spinout Nuggets which is “a record label releasing records you didn’t know you needed”. They have a Bandcamp page which you can delve into HERE.
Our gig ran from 7pm to 10pm, but many folk were also heading on afterwards to Komedia Brighton for the Chills & Fever special, where 4 DJ’s will be spinning the tunes whilst punters merrily danced away on the maple wooden dancefloor from 11pm to 3am. The ‘Weekender’ kicked off last night at the Komedia with live sets from The Rifles and Block 33. The party will continue tomorrow back here at Patterns where punters will be entertained by live sets from Mod revivalists Purple Hearts as well as Maze. After which the fun will again continue at the Komedia where there will be more dancing and live sets from New Street Adventure as well as Telecom, who incidentally I had the pleasure of watching at last weekend’s ‘DedFest’ with 21 other acts – Reviews HERE. There are also other events going on as part of the ‘Brighton Mod Weekender’ should folk wish to branch out.
There really is an increasing buzz going on at the moment with The Molotovs which have naturally filled the missing gap (for those of a certain age) that The Jam vacated back in 1982. The more the word spreads about those that were there during the days of ‘Quadrophenia’ and how much frontman Matt Molotov looks like ‘Ace Face’ (aka Sting), the more fans The Molotovs will gain. They were certainly winning a host of new converts two weeks ago when they played the Rebellion punk festival in Blackpool, we should know as we were there – Reviews HERE.
The one thing that I currently foresee is that the younger generation haven’t as yet totally cottoned on how fab the trio actually are! Yes I know their current 7” vinyl ‘Today’s Gonna Be Our Day’ release made it to No.1 in the UK Vinyl Singles Chart very recently, but it’s very likely that many of these were snapped up by those of a more mature persuasion. The youngsters seriously need to be locked into The Molotovs instead of the chart drivel that’s around at the moment! Maybe folk will cotton on when the band drop their debut ‘Wasted On Youth’ album on 30th January 2026.
This evening Matt Molotov (vocals, guitar), and his sibling Issey Carts (bass, vocals) and former stixman of now sadly defunct Brighton punk outfit Noah & The Loners, Noah Riley (drums) take to the Patterns stage at 8:51pm and blitz through a 17 song set across the next 55 minutes until 9:46pm. Eight of these tunes will be appearing on the forthcoming long-player. Noah arrives on stage first and is looking rather dapper in his gear, although by track nine his white shirt is absolutely soaked through with sweat, due to the nature of his energy. And that’s it, energy! The Molotovs trio literally have more energy between the three of them that arguably everyone else present this evening, oh the joys of youth!
They commence with their debut ‘More More More’ single release from earlier this year and the gauntlet has already been thrown down, and Issey gets some of the crowd clapping along. Of the trio, Issey is the most animated as she continually makes the moves as she throws her bass around. Not to be outdone, Matt gets the punters clapping along for song two, ‘Newsflash’, which is the first cut from forthcoming 2026 ‘Wasted On Youth’ album. They then segue straight into an absolutely blinding version of David Bowie’s ‘Suffragette City’ which thankfully has already seen the light of day in a live version recorded in London for the B-side of their debut single. The first of 6 unreleased tunes that won’t be included on the 2026 album is up next. This is titled ‘Wasting My Time’ and witnesses Matt doing the first of the day’s Pete Townsend windmill arms guitar playing. ‘Geraldine’ from the forthcoming album is up next.
They have a very short breather in which Matt informs us the next song is “about unity” and they set about playing ‘Is There Any Hope?’ which is another unreleased song. Another follows in the form of ‘Wasted On Youth’ which bears witness to a guitar solo from Matt to kick it off. ‘Daydreaming’ from the 2026 record is the trio’s next choice and Matt states that its title in this instance means “stagnant”. It’s a corker of a tune with a Nirvana style guitar intro. It was time for a couple more unreleased nuggets, the first of these being the simply titled ‘You’ which, for me, bore the similarities to the Undertones ‘Teenage Kicks’. The other unreleased tune is titled ‘Father Flag’ and this is a solid rockin’ tune. Talking of rockin’, when Matt isn’t delivering his vocal lines, he is constantly jerking his head to the beat. As the band are a hard working outfit who perform many gigs a year, I’m assuming that Matt’s neck muscles are quite possibly the strongest in the business.
‘Popstar’, which will be cropping up on the album, is very much in the early Jam territory with its repeated “Like a popstar” chorus and even has an abrupt ending. The unreleased ‘Johnny (Don’t Be Scared)’ is up next and is quite possibly the best tune that The Jam never wrote, if you catch my drift! This begins with Noah offering some drums action, followed by Issey adding some great rumbly basslines and it even has the vibe of a 70’s glam rock tune. Then Matt shouts “1-2-1-2-3” and they are away. However the musicians stop playing after about 90 seconds and stand motionless whilst some punters carry on singing “Still waiting here”, and then the trio get back at it. It’s clearly already a fans favourite! There’s another short breather as Matt informs us that the next track is going to be released as a single on 30th October and this is ‘Rhythm Of Yourself’. It’s a slower affair than the previous couple of numbers and reminds me of a cross between The Fratellis ‘Chelsea Dagger’, The Knack’s ‘My Sharona’ and several Blur tunes.
Track 14 showing on their setlist was ‘The Game’, but I’m 99% sure that they skipped this and went straight into ‘Get A Life’ from the LP, and Noah’s fast drumming action on this was some spectacle. The B-Side of their current single was up next, this being ‘No Time To Talk’ and there’s a Buzzcocks vibe going on in this one and this too ends abruptly and highlighted exactly how on-point the trio have become. There was more of a rock vibe on ‘Come On Now’ especially on its ending as Issey played the bass guitar over the back of her neck. Suddenly that was it, they vacated the stage, and were cheered back in order for them to give us a rendition of their current ‘Today’s Gonna Be Our Day’ which has a glam rock drumming style intro and then it heads off into White Stripes territory. It’s a real foot-tapping, head-bobbing tune which Matt even added “Give me just a little more time” lyrics a couple of times which was taken from Chairman Of The Board’s 1970 hit. At 9:46pm that was out lot, despite the setlist showing the possibility of ending on a ‘More More More’ reprise with the Housemartins ‘Happy Hour’ thrown in for good measure. It’s been another terrific performance from The Molotovs…nice one!
The Molotovs:
Matt Molotov – vocals, guitar
Issey Carts – bass, vocals
Noah Riley – drums
The Molotovs setlist:
‘More More More’ (from 2025 ‘More More More’ / ‘Suffragette City’ (Live From London) single)
‘Newsflash’ (from forthcoming 2026 ‘Wasted On Youth’ album)
‘Suffragette City’ (David Bowie cover) (from 2025 ‘More More More’ / ‘Suffragette City’ (Live From London) single)
‘Wasting My Time’ (unreleased)
‘Geraldine’ (from forthcoming 2026 ‘Wasted On Youth’ album)
‘Is There Any Hope?’ (unreleased)
‘Wasted On Youth’ (unreleased)
‘Daydreaming’ (from forthcoming 2026 ‘Wasted On Youth’ album)
‘You’ (unreleased)
‘Father Flag’ (unreleased)
‘Popstar’ (from forthcoming 2026 ‘Wasted On Youth’ album)
‘Johnny (Don’t Be Scared)’ (unreleased)
‘Rhythm Of Yourself’ (a forthcoming single & from forthcoming 2026 ‘Wasted On Youth’ album)
‘Get A Life’ (from forthcoming 2026 ‘Wasted On Youth’ album)
‘No Time To Talk’ (from 2025 ‘Today’s Gonna Be Our Day’ / ‘No Time To Talk’ single)
‘Come On Now’ (from forthcoming 2026 ‘Wasted On Youth’ album)
(encore)
‘Today’s Gonna Be Our Day’ (from 2025 ‘Today’s Gonna Be Our Day’ / ‘No Time To Talk’ single & from forthcoming 2026 ‘Wasted On Youth’ album)
Support this evening came from The Len Price 3 who hail from Chatham in Kent on the River Medway. Interestingly, there isn’t a ‘Len Price’ or even a ‘Len’ or a ‘Price’ in the band, so I’m unsure how they got their name, I’m sure someone out there will be able to enlighten us. The band are a trio comprising Glenn Page on lead vocals and guitar,
Steven Higgins (or is it Huggins) on bass, and Neil Fromow on drums and vocals. Legend has it that they got their start at a bar in Maidstone where bands could pay for the privilege of rehearsing in front of the drinking customers. But that must have been over 20 years ago as their material stretches back that far. They have thus far released a half dozen albums and their next one will be arriving on 24th October. It’s called ‘Misty Medway Magick’ and the lads are performing an album launch gig at the Lexington in London on 18th October.
This evening we are in the guys company for 42 minutes, from 7:45pm to 8:27pm and during that period they offload an impressive number of tunes, even more than stated on their setlist which they added to during the performance. Thus we ended up getting no less than 18 compositions. It’s fair to state that none of their tunes outstay their welcome. But songs of old, even before the heady days of punk, would often be less than two minutes long. The Len Price 3 musically are as tight as the stripes on a mod’s striped blazer, they are very good at what they do.
The set begins with Glenn stating “Evening ladies and gentlemen and this is what we do” and they took it away with ‘Girl Like You’ which is found on 2007’s ‘Rentacrowd’ album. This rocked along nicely and before us punters knew it the lads had segued straight into their 2025 ‘Emily’s Shop’ single which had a whiff of The Clash’s ‘London’s Burning’ about it. They kept the beat going by segueing straight into ‘Weekend Hippies’ from their ‘The Strood Recording Co.’ EP from back in 2021. What I found most pleasing was that the venue was already full to bursting at this point and so the trio were able to play to as many folk as possible. Mind you, as they have been on the scene for more than 20 years, it’s rather likely that many were here solely for them, but stayed to see what the later young upstarts were all about. I spied a large number of head-bobbers in the audience at this juncture, and we are only three tunes in.
Glenn next introduces ‘Chav Squad’ from their 2021 ‘Ipdipdo’ album and this would have kept many fans of The Jam very happy, and the trio were really tight here too. Another track from the same album followed with the arrival of ‘She Came From Out Of The Sun’, after which they played their 2023 ‘The Grass Is Always Greener’ single. There was a brief hiatus as Glenn had to retune his guitar, and the lads were away again with the title song from their 2007 ‘Rentacrowd’ album. This reminded me of The Who’s ‘Substitute’ and the work of The Vapors, of ‘Turning Japanese’ fame. It’s a solid tune! After this Glenn then informs us about the forthcoming album and that the next track was written about where they live. The song is called ‘Misty Medway’ and it’s a good’un that benefits from the joint vocals of Glenn and drummer Neil.
It’s cover tune time next as Glenn teases us that the next one is a single word Link Wray track. Look out, surf’s up, as it’s ‘Comanche’, which The Len Price 3 covered on their 2005 ‘Chinese Burn’ album. We are then informed that the next composition will be turning up on their forthcoming long player, its title ‘Margate Sand’ and its earworm vocals state “I know where I stand down here on the Margate Sand”. There are more The Clash vibes on the next track, ‘Billy The Quid’ which is another from the ‘Ipdipdo’ album. The vocal chorus here too is memorable with “Stick ‘em up stick ‘em up Billy The Quid” three times. Their final offering from the forthcoming album is next in the form of ‘Gypsy Magick’ which we are informed dropped as a single this very day and it surely went down very well indeed and it shared a passing resemblance to The Monkees ‘(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone’.
The title track from their 2010 ‘Pictures’ album came next and this reminded me of The Clash’s ‘Garageland’. According to their setlist the following number should have been ‘My Grandad Jim’, but after a swift conflab, the trio added ‘Ride On Coattails’ from 2017’s ‘Kentish Longtails’ album, and this benefitted from great harmonies between Neil and Glenn. A quick merch plug came next and then they added another unscheduled track. This was, we were told, about drugs, cocaine to be precise, and it’s called ‘Charlie’. As far as I can tell it’s an unreleased tune, and possibly not to be confused with their ‘Charlie’s War’ from the ‘Ipdipdo’ album. They now set about offloading ‘My Grandad Jim’ from 2014’s ‘Nobody Knows’ album, which had an intro like ‘Denise’ by Randy & the Rainbows, which was renamed ‘Denis’ by Blondie and became a megasmash.
The lads worked out that they still had a few minutes left and so inserted another tune as the penultimate number, it was a short one called ‘Shirley Crabtree’ from their ‘Chinese Burn’ 2005 album, and we are told that it’s about sweaty wrestling introduced by Dickie Davies. For those that aren’t aware, Shirley Crabtree was the real name of English professional wrestler Big Daddy, and Dickie Davies was the presenter of ITV’s ‘World of Sport’ programme from 1968 until 1985, and who a year later was immortalised by Half Man Half Biscuit on their ‘Dickie Davies Eyes’ single, which might have had its inspiration from Kim Carnes 1981 ‘Bette Davis Eyes’ single. The Len Price 3 signed off with ‘Chinese Burn’ which can be found on both their 2004 ‘The Spencer Fabian Appreciation Society’ Extended EP & their 2005 ‘Chinese Burn’ album. For their efforts the trio were awarded by a full house hearty applause. Job done! Off to the merch stall now then lads…..
The Len Price 3:
Glenn Page – lead vocals, guitar
Steven Higgins – bass
Neil Fromow – drums, vocals
The Len Price 3:
‘Girl Like You’ (from 2007 ‘Rentacrowd’ album)
‘Emily’s Shop’ (a 2025 single)
‘Weekend Hippies’ (from 2021 ‘The Strood Recording Co.’ EP)
‘Chav Squad’ (from 2021 ‘Ipdipdo’ album)
‘She Came From Out Of The Sun’ (from 2021 ‘Ipdipdo’ album)
‘The Grass Is Always Greener’ (a 2023 single)
‘Rentacrowd’ (from 2007 ‘Rentacrowd’ album)
‘Misty Medway’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Misty Medway Magick’ album)
‘Comanche’ (Link Wray cover) (from 2005 ‘Chinese Burn’ album)
‘Margate Sand’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Misty Medway Magick’ album)
‘Billy The Quid’ (from 2021 ‘Ipdipdo’ album)
‘Gypsy Magick’ (a 2025 single & from forthcoming 2025 ‘Misty Medway Magick’ album)
‘Pictures’ (from 2010 ‘Pictures’ album)
‘Ride On Coattails’ (from 2017 ‘Kentish Longtails’ album)
‘Charlie’ (unreleased)
‘My Grandad Jim’ (from 2014 ‘Nobody Knows’ album)
‘Shirley Crabtree’ (from 2005 ‘Chinese Burn’ album)
‘Chinese Burn’ (from 2004 ‘The Spencer Fabian Appreciation Society’ Extended EP & 2005 ‘Chinese Burn’ album)
