This is true. There are numerous tabloid stories concerning the five victims of Zach Crystal who’ve spoken out: Sammy Williams, Mary Wooton, Gabrielle Martinez, Zofia Kowalski and Jennifer Rossi. All these stories describe them as ‘accusers’, speculate on whether they should be believed, ask questions about their motives. Their trauma is treated with suspicion.
—Did anyone ever think that now he’s dead, these women might simply not be so scared anymore? Believe me, the women I spoke to were scared.
—Were any of them…
—…Any of those five? Maybe. It’s not my place to tell you that. What I can tell you is that all of them had been fed the same bullshit by Crystal. They were all lost young girls who were offered the chance at touching divinity, of purification. They were all lied to. They were all coerced. These poor, confused young women would say yes to anything. They would tell Crystal what he wanted to hear, they would have their memories twisted and manipulated until they believed that they weren’t just saved by Zach Crystal, but that they needed him and always had done. They would say terrible things about their pasts, about the people who cared for them if it meant that they’d be seen by Zach Crystal, that they could spend time in that tree house in the forest. It wasn’t just that they said these things. It was that they were made to believe them.
—Zach Crystal’s ‘special girls’?
—These were girls who’d never been special to anyone before, not even their own parents. Now you’ve got a star leading them into the woods late at night.
—Why though? That’s something I just don’t get. What was the purpose of taking them into the forest?
—I wish I could tell you for sure. For me, it felt like the final stage of the brainwashing, the last part of giving your mind over. If you saw whatever he believed was there – you became his and you validated him. They were made to believe they saw ghosts in that forest. They were made to believe that their lives had been plagued with omens, that their tragedy could have been foreseen. All for one thing. His gratification.
—Jesus Christ.
—To coin a phrase: ‘not quite’.
It is almost like the pieces of this puzzle have slotted together in a hideous way. The magic of Zach Crystal and more importantly, the power of Zach Crystal overrode any sense of reason.
—He was clever. Never went so far that it was unbelievable. Those former ‘special girls’ said that they still had nightmares, that they were still confused and conflicted about what had happened to them. Some of them, man … he had them fully believing that they were being pursued by demons. Real, actual demons. Others he was more subtle with, made them believe that they were only capable of happiness when they were with him. Whatever it was, I recognised it from my own days back in that home in Aigburth. I remembered how they’d messed with me; I remembered how I’d believed for a long time that my real parents were true evil. All to suit an agenda. If what these women told me is true, it was the same with him.
—Why, though? Why did he do it? Was it not enough to simply have fans?
—That’s the thing about power, isn’t it? It corrupts, it consumes. Zach Crystal didn’t just want fans. He’d had fans since he was a little kid.
When I dated Naomi, she told me a bit about what it was like for them. Zach was the star and she had to look after him the whole time or face the wrath of her parents. Zach was used to getting what he wanted, when he wanted it. And what he wanted was teenage girls. He wanted them in his thrall and when he was done with them, he got rid of them. That’s the difference though, man. The difference between Zach Crystal and the rest of us. Like I said to you, I’m no angel. I’ve seen things backstage at shows that … let’s just say weren’t exactly great. All of it though was driven by want.
He was driven by need. And he made people need him. He couldn’t just be a person who wrote songs, he had to be more than that. All his life he’d been more than just that. He needed to be needed. To be worshipped.
—Did Naomi know this about her brother?
—I think she did, but we didn’t date for long, and it was a long way back. She certainly never knew about what I’d done for him. I didn’t tell her. I was as good as my word. I will tell you something though, she once asked me if I would help.
—Help?
—She asked me if I would talk to him. This was 2004, 2005? He was the biggest thing in the fucking world, man, and she felt like she had no control whatsoever.
—Did you try?
—I did. We met one time and … well, let’s just say he wasn’t the kid I met back in the nineties anymore. That kid who loved music, he was long gone.
—Where did that young boy go?
—Music’s a funny thing, man. You start off as an angry kid, writing lyrics in the back of your school books, practising guitar in your bedroom on your own, jamming with other kids in a shitty church hall. Then suddenly you’re allowed to choose your rider, you stay in the presidential suites in hotels all over the world. You have legions of people who will wait up all night just to see your face. Whatever you want, you can pretty much have. You just have to pick up that instrument you spent so long practising in that bedroom. You have to scream out those words that mean nothing to you now but so much to those fans. All you have to do is what you love, and people, they turn you into something you’re not. They turn you into an idol. It’s hard to stay humble; it’s hard to remember where you came from.
I don’t think there was much humility in Zach Crystal. I’m not sure that was all his fault either. Look where he came from, and look what he became. Imagine when you were nineteen, twenty years old, being able to have anything you wanted, having an army of people who would say yes to your every whim, however crazy. If Zach Crystal wanted to alter his appearance, he had no one telling him it was a bad idea. There was no one to challenge him. So he ended up as this total enigma – in a mask or a veil. By the end, no one was sure what he even looked like.
—What do you think? Why did he become what he became?
—I think he lost himself entirely. I think by the time I met him, he was already half gone. Was that his fault? I don’t know, man. Maybe it was age? Maybe he couldn’t handle getting old? Maybe he was always like that. Maybe he’d always been ill.
Zach Crystal’s world was a crazy one. And no one ever curtailed that craziness. The world, instead, bent to his will. Imagine being in that position?
And the scariest thing is how many were willing to follow him into that world. Kids and adults were ready to believe in him. Whatever he did and whatever he said. Predators like Zach Crystal, with the power of Zach Crystal, don’t hide in the shadows and reach out to snatch people. They stand there, brazen and bold in the open, and invite you in. They open their hands and lead you into their fucked-up worlds. A few years ago you asked me who the black-eyed boys and girls are from my song. All of them looking for a place to call home. I told you that you weren’t asking the right sort of questions. But now you are.
—When was the last time you spoke to Zach Crystal, face to face? Do you recall?
Skexxixx thinks for a few moments as we sip water together. He shakes his head.
—Actually not long ago. Not long at all. The Lazy Dayz music festival.
—Really? You were there?
—I was there but I wasn’t playing. I’d produced Matthew Godfrey from Horaldo’s Head’s solo album and had come to watch, from backstage of course. My name still carried some clout with the young ones…
A quick reminder: this was the spring 2018 charity musical event in Hyde Park at which Zach Crystal was set to perform ‘World in Our Hands’ – his charity song written with Ed Sheeran. Zach vanished not long after.
—I didn’t think he’d give me time of day, really. To be fair to him, he was very pleasant.
Skexxixx was allowed into Zach Crystal’s backstage dressing room, which was twice the size of everyone else’s. He found Crystal in a vast, empty space with sofas, food, all the luxury anyone could want.
But no one else was there. At least that’s what he thought at first.
—We kicked back. Talked about the old days.
—How did he seem?
—Odd … distant, distracted. I wondered if he was on something. I didn’t ask. Then things got a bit … intense…
—What happened?
—From out of nowhere steps this … kid … all dressed up all like him, with the leaves and the antlers and all the makeup. Some kind of forest nymph. She sits down beside us. I say beside us, she drapes herself over him, and I think, no fucking way, I want no part of this. I’m about to leave when he says, ‘This is Bonnie, my niece. She’s a special kinda girl.’ The kid looked older, but man, she was a fucking child.
As if that made it OK, as if that didn’t make it any more weird, he tells me she’s performing with him onstage, dancing or whatever, and I’m nodding and smiling like it’s fine.
—Did you say anything to him?
—I knew there’d be no point. I knew you shouldn’t question Zach fucking Crystal man, but fuck that, I pulled him aside and I said, ‘Dude, are you sure that’s a good idea?’ I fully expected to be thrown out of there but he looks at me, with those fucked-up eyes of his, and for a moment, for a second, I feel like he’s heard me. He nods and I can see he’s thinking about it. All those allegations coming out, and he’s about to get onstage with his niece done up like a fucking elf hooker or some shit. But then he starts humming and mumbling to himself, his usual bullshit, wanders off across the room. I was gonna leave but … I just looked at her and I just couldn’t do it…
—So what did you do?
—I spoke to her. I walked right over and I said, ‘You shouldn’t do this, you know. You should run, as far and as fast as you can.’ I just fucking said it. Her answer just fucked me up, man. I didn’t know what to do.
—What did she say?
—She looks at me, man, and she’s got eyes like his, all big and blue, and she just nods, like she knows, and I think, yes, at least she gets it, you know? At least she understands. But that was so far from the truth, man.
—How so?
—I’ll never forget what she said next. ‘I saw it too,’ she said. ‘Last night. Seeing it means something terrible’s going to happen.’
Then she looks at me and I see, I dunno man, I see pure fucking madness in her eyes. I see whatever’s in him is in her too. Whatever the fuck they were talking about, they weren’t listening to me. I thought, to hell with you both. Then Naomi comes in and starts going crazy. She wants me out of there, she wants the kid, Bonnie out of those clothes, and I think, at least they’ll listen to her. At least there’s someone there to keep that madness in check.
Just a few hours after this meeting, there was an explosion in the lighting rig over the main stage and two of the technicians, Peter Williamson and Gavin Jermaine, fell to their deaths. Crystal’s performance never went ahead.
—That was a fucking tragedy; a horrible accident. He vanished after that didn’t he? Zach Crystal. Disappeared for a whole year.
There’s no way of proving these claims, no way at all. However, I’m finding it hard right now to disbelieve what I’m being told. For me, there’s no reason why Skexxixx would lie.
—Did you ever feel a sense of responsibility? I mean, there were songs you had written together? Songs that gave Zach Crystal his power.
—I wish that it was as simple as that. I wish I had acted quicker. Perhaps if I’d come out and spoken about it, something could have changed. I’m guessing you’re wondering why I didn’t. Why did I wait? Why did I sit on all of this for all this time? Why haven’t I joined the chorus of voices against him?
To be honest, I’ve always felt like I’d do more harm than good. Trust me, you don’t want Skexxixx to be on your side. I’m King Satan aren’t I? I’m the antichrist. The other reason is that I was never a victim of Zach Crystal. We wrote some songs together. I sold those songs to him. Everything was legit, above board. He was careful to keep it that way too. That was another thing about him, I suppose, man. He was meticulous, he was smart. He made sure he wouldn’t get caught out. Can you imagine what the media would have thought of someone like me speaking out against the great Zach Crystal? I worried about what would have happened to me and my career. I worry about you, Scott, when this goes out. Dead, he might be, but man, the guy has a fucking army of seething, dedicated, maniacal fans. They would have torn me to shreds. Zach Crystal didn’t just seduce those few young women, man, Zach Crystal seduced the fucking world. But now he’s gone. Now he’s finally fucking dead, we can start poking through the remains, we can start…
—…Raking up old graves…
—Right.
There’s something deeply unpleasant, almost frightening about all of this, and it leads me on to what is, however much we don’t want to see it, the esoteric angle to this case.
—I’ve talked to many other people involved with Zach Crystal, and there are consistent, disturbing elements that I cannot explain. The most powerful of these are the strange sightings of some being. The women involved with Crystal saw it, Crystal himself claims to have seen it. His own security have seen it. Now you say his niece mentioned it. What do you make of that?
Skexxixx contemplates this for a long time.
—Man, I’ve asked myself this many, many times. What I can tell you is that Zach Crystal had some strange beliefs. He’s always said that there’s been something after him, all his life.
—What about the video – the one from the forest, the one with the two girls?
—If that video is real, I’d suggest that it came from Crystal himself, and was made by his people.
—Why, though? Why do that?
—Maybe in some fucked-up way he wanted to be caught. Or maybe it was part of his need to control the narrative. If people are gonna believe in that beast, that phantom, he has to be the one to make them do it, perhaps…
—Is that what you think?
—His world’s a crazy one … we just live in it.
It was easy for us to sling mud at Skexxixx in his heyday, accuse him of corrupting young people and encouraging them to do terrible things. Yet there was Zach Crystal, centre stage, actually doing just that.
It’s slightly impertinent to quiz a musician about his lyrics, but when I discussed Skexxixx a few years back, many of my interviewees focused on the lyrical content of his 2007 album Through the Mocking Glass – which thematically focuses on escaping to a place where mistakes and failure are embraced. Skexxixx has regrets, and I wonder if some of them involve not speaking out against Zach Crystal. But, like he says, who would have listened?
We finish our interview on this heavy note and I wonder where I can go next. What we’ve heard this episode is insights into the making of, not just a musical icon, but a god. When someone’s desires are untamed, unlimited and never questioned, they lose all sense of humility and reason.
If what Skexxixx tells me is true, it seems that Zach Crystal was not happy with simply being universally adored, he wanted to be needed and was willing to use whatever methods necessary to achieve that. Zach’s most obsessive fans were willing to sacrifice everything for him, and through coercion and manipulation he gained unlimited access to the most intimate parts of their lives.
There were those who enabled him in this endeavour, who, by saying yes when they should have been telling him no, in my opinion, were jointly responsible for the terrible things Zach Crystal did.
I sometimes wonder if it’s simply a good thing that Zach Crystal is dead. No one else can be hurt by him. However, it means he’s never had to be answerable to his accusers and that irks me. Was his death an act of cowardice? Did Zach Crystal bow out of the world before a storm descended on him? Were these sightings by Crystal and his associates merely, like Skexxixx suggests, some kind of guilt. Was the video put out by the Crystal camp? Were they trying to condemn the man? Was this the result of someone thinking enough was enough? Those closest to Crystal knew t
hat if they were to expose him, it would have to be in a way that matched his style so they could avoid being sued. Or else was it some final attempt by Crystal to manipulate the world around him?
I’ve tried numerous times to get in touch with Naomi Crystal, all to no avail. After this last revelation, I feel that to speak to her, or else someone who knows her and more significantly, Bonnie Crystal, would be to find some kind of resolution to this deeply troubling case. I know Naomi has made huge efforts to keep her daughter out of the limelight, and both women have pretty much vanished from public view.
Maybe it’s time to be bold, like Skexxixx was, backstage at the Lazy Dayz festival, when things were not right. Maybe it’s time to take that step forward and speak out of turn.
Maybe it’s what we need to start doing more.
Before we depart, I’d like to leave you with some lyrics from the final track on Through the Mocking Glass by Skexxixx, which I feel are pertinent to this moment.
…and in the end what have we done?
What have we become?
Let fall our final curtain call
And bowed out, let it all fall.
…and in the end what have we brought home?
Just scars on our skin
and memories
black like wings.
This has been Six Stories.
And I have been Scott King.
Until next time…
Deity Page 22
