The Fall of the Fainthearts

Track Nine: On Top Of The World, Don't Fall Off

Bentley: Jade Cash was an incredible, incredible woman.

Vince: She really knew her stuff. It was interesting, we'd never even heard her name before, but she was behind a lot of Kian's top charting records.

Kian Cash: My daughter was... remarkable. She was so young when she started taking an interest in my business. She'd say, "Daddy, I want to make music." She'd sing and perform to me and Larissa every night. Almost every night, she'd ask me whether I really would press her record for her when she was old enough. I would always say yes, and tell her she should get a head start on writing.

She'd spend hours in her room scribbling down songs about how she was going to be a pop star one day. When she got older, she lost interest in writing which was a huge shame. She was so, so good at it. But, she started to compose, which she was just as impeccable at.

Larissa Cash (wife of Kian Cash, mother of Jade Cash): Jade had such a real talent and flair for the arts. She was twelve when she picked up her first guitar, fourteen when she started the keyboard, fifteen when we bought her her first drum kit. She just wanted to create music in what ever form she could get her hands on. All day long we'd hear music, whether it was her dad listening to his client's work or Jade composing what she wanted to that day.

Oh, we always had noise complaints.

Axel: When we got to the studio, Jade was there to welcome us with a big grin and a firm handshake. She introduced herself as just Jade, we wouldn't know she was Kian's daughter until later down the line.

Kian Cash: When Jade got old enough to start getting serious about music, she told me she wanted to come and work for me. My gut instinct was to welcome her with open arms. The pride I felt was immense. But I tried to talk her out of it.

Larissa Cash: Kian wanted the best for her and he didn't think being known as 'his daughter' would benefit her career. He saw such promise in her, he wanted her to find her feet all by herself. But Jade had been dreaming of working alongside her father since she was that high - nothing was going to get in the way of that now. She got her determination and stubbornness from her mother.

Kian Cash: My only condition was that she wouldn't be known for having my name, she would hold her own. And that's exactly what she did. After a while, she was running that studio as her own.

I decided to pass London Revival onto her. They were fresh, had some edge - they were exactly what Jade was looking for.

Dahlia: Jade was the reason the album was such a success. When we'd record a song and then listen to it back and something just didn't quite work she always had the solution. She was a musical genius.

Axel: We recorded the album and it blew up. Even I didn't expect the response it got.

Bentley: It took a few weeks but then it started climbing and it just didn't stop. Kian's marketing team did an amazing job and we were featured in every small music magazine you could get your hands on in a supermarket. It wasn't long before we were on the radio.

Vince: Hearing our song on the radio for the first time... it's a moment I'll never forget. Sometimes I still daydream about it. Me and Bentley went on a booze run one night and Simone East introduced us.

Bentley: "And now for the audience choice for best upcoming artist, it's London Revival with 'Escape Me'." Or something like that. It felt so dramatic in the moment, it was awesome.

Vince: Audience choice. People were voting for us, some way or another. We leapt out the van and ran up the steps to the house and ended up dropping the beer cans everywhere.

Bentley: One of them just exploded, we were soaked!

Vince: Good times.

Bentley: Really, really good times.

Axel: The next few months after we released the album went by in a blur. We hit number one, booked our first short tour, printed t-shirts.

Dahlia: It was quite funny actually, we hired a merch designer with the extra cash that was flowing in from the record sales. My favourite design was one where Axel's head was all inflated, it was bigger than our logo!

Axel: That one was my favourite design. It wasn't exactly fair on the others, because we all contribute equally I'd say, but I felt like the real face of the band. That solidified it. It felt good.

Dahlia: It was so obviously a play on his massive ego. And, brilliantly, his ego was so big that he didn't even notice that!

Bentley: Oh, the one where he had the giant head? That was too funny. I think she made it as a joke to feel out our sense of humour, but it went right over his head. Ironic.

Axel: Then it was time for us to hit the road. We hadn't sold out many venues yet, but our numbers were growing by the day. I was feeling great, I had something to focus on and my head was in the right place for once. Yeah, of course I was nervous about the atmosphere while we were touring and having to steer clear of anything that would set me back but I was feeling stupidly optimistic.

Florence: I couldn't let him go away without telling him. I'd kept it in for so long. I wanted to tell him, I really did, but every time I was going to bring her up he'd do something that made me stop.

One time, we were lying together in bed and I stewed myself up to tell him. I opened my mouth, took a breath; but then he looked at me with these doe eyes and said, "I love you, you do know that, don't you?" It was the first time he'd ever said it.

Things with me and Axel moved slowly around his busy schedule but we were steadily becoming more than just a little fling. I held the burden of Figgy on my shoulders for all of it. Even after he'd left her, she was living rent free in my mind, and I hated her for it.

As he was leaving for tour, I realised it was now or never. He was about to be gone for a month and halfway up the country and I didn't want to blindside him any longer.

Axel: I had my foot on the step to the tour bus. I'd made things official with Flo. My new life was just about to start.

And then she said, "Axel, I need to tell you something.

It's Figgy. She's back."