5 #3
Monica gave a gurgle of laughter and then sighed, the smile quickly falling away.
‘Of course, we didn’t know how things would turn out later – how could we?
That bloody awful traffic accident, and Micky losing all his money to that rotten lying bastard, like he did.
And Racey, drinking himself into an early grave .
. .’ She took a long, fortifying gulp of her drink, then shook her head and put another determined smile on her face.
‘But why remember the bad times, when you can remember the good ones, eh? That’s what I say.
Whenever I look back now, I think only of the good things – the big hits, the riding around in fancy cars, the boys buying their parents homes and drinking champagne for the first time – and eating an avocado! ’
Here Monica grinned hugely. ‘Would you believe, we’d none of us ever heard of an avocado before.
It was a big deal, eating one. Racey hated the taste but pretended he didn’t.
Bless him! Mind you, all the boys tried to pretend they were sophisticated and that the money and fame was just one long yawn.
But they loved it. Why wouldn’t they? Wouldn’t you? ’
Lyssa nodded. ‘I’m sure I would. Tell me, who actually got the band together?’
‘Oh, that was Glen and Micky, the drummer. Micky brought in Racey – him and Racey worked in the same factory, that’s how they knew each other, and Artie Lowell was in the pub when he overheard them all talking about forming a band, and sort of auditioned himself into it.
Not that they were anything to write home about for a while – just four good-looking lads, singing songs in pubs for the price of drinks and enough petrol money to keep them going. ’
‘Until Amelia Montrose came along? She financed them, didn’t she?’
Monica slowly nodded. ‘Yeah – I’d almost forgotten; that’s why you’re here, right? Because of Monty.’
‘It’s her biography, yes, but she died so young, and the Lucky Cuckoos were the biggest event in her life, so they’re bound to feature prominently.
That and her relationship with Glen, of course.
From what I’ve been able to tell, he really was the love of her life.
’ She paused. ‘Or was all that so much moonshine?’ she asked softly.
‘Sometimes, legends can build up that have little basis in reality, and it’s hard to tell fact from fiction. ’
She was watching Monica’s face closely as she said this, for if there was one thing that Lyssa had learned whilst writing for – or about – other people, it was that everyone liked talking about themselves, and they also loved it if they could put you right if you made a mistake.
And she was curious to see how her interviewee would react to the bait she’d just cast upon the conversational waters.
Monica slowly frowned. ‘No, I don’t think you’re wrong about them,’ she said cautiously, maybe even a little reluctantly.
‘I know I was just a young teenager back when Monty and Glen were around, but I had eyes in my head, and I could see she was genuinely crazy for him. Whatever else Racey thought of her, even he had to admit that she loved Glen.’
Lyssa felt her heart rate rise but made sure none of her excitement showed. ‘What do you mean? You make it sound as if Racey and Monty didn’t see eye to eye.’
At this, Monica snorted inelegantly. ‘You might say that, yes.’
‘What did he have against her, then, do you think?’ Lyssa prompted mildly.
Monica shot her a shrewd look, then smiled. ‘Don’t worry – I won’t hold back on you. Why would I? They’re all dead and gone now, aren’t they? Nothing can hurt them any more.’
‘I’m so glad you see it that way,’ Lyssa said, relieved that she wasn’t going to have to use all her skills to drag information out of someone who was becoming reluctant to talk, now that things were getting really interesting.
‘And if you’ve read my books, you’ll know that I’m not a sensationalist. I don’t go out of my way to drag reputations through the mud – but I don’t flinch from looking things in the eye either. ’
She made sure she was maintaining good eye contact with the other woman as she continued to talk.
‘Monty’s relatives have commissioned the book and, obviously, they want a truthful but mostly affectionate account about those days and times.
For myself, I also want my readers to get to know the real people behind the myths and icons.
For instance – Monty’s Wild Child image.
I’ve seen some of the newspaper reports, and to me they seemed to be way over the top. ’
‘Oh, hell yes,’ Monica said, nodding vigorously.
‘The press really had it in for her. And, to a certain extent, the band as well. But you’re right, she seemed to get the brunt of it.
I never thought it was fair, even back then, as a self-obsessed teenager who was only interested in getting and winning her man!
She got a raw deal, no two ways about it. ’
‘Perhaps because of her background?’ Lyssa suggested. ‘It’s one thing to see working-class lads making the big time, but the establishment doesn’t like it when their well-brought-up daughters go rogue.’
Monica grinned widely. ‘Sod ’em, is what I say.
And good on her too! Give the woman her due, Monty never wavered in her commitment to Glen and the band, though some of the things they said about her in the papers must have hurt.
I can remember her laughing it all off, but still .
. . Pity. They got her in the end though, didn’t they? ’ she mumbled.
‘Got her?’
‘Well, you know, dying young the way she did. I suppose drinking and whatnot was a way of blotting it all out for a bit. She was only human, after all, and it must have got her down, secretly like.’
‘Yes. In a way, though, it sealed her status as a legend, didn’t it? Dying young and still so beautiful,’ Lyssa said, playing devil’s advocate.
Monica sighed. ‘I suppose so. But I’m glad I got out with my skin intact,’ she said, with another of her cheeky grins.
‘I was one of the few associated with the Lucky Cuckoos who did!’ Then she instantly sobered again, and Lyssa began to wonder if the reason behind her swift change of moods might have something to do with the fact that the jug of Pimm’s was already half empty when she, Lyssa, had first arrived.
‘My poor Racey never recovered from losing the band, I know that for sure,’ Monica said now, sounding mournful for the first time.
‘They finally split up just before 1970, didn’t they?’ Lyssa clarified.
‘Yes, they limped on for nearly four years after Glen died, but they never could get themselves sorted out without him. Racey was absolutely livid about that. He felt that they should have gone on and become an ever bigger smash without him.’ Monica reached for her glass of Pimm’s and took a long swallow.
‘And he always said that the reason they didn’t was Monty’s fault. ’