In an extract from his new memoir, ‘Under a Rock,’ Chris Stein recalled how he and Debbie Harry almost got caught with drugs.
The guitarist said there was a lot of drug use going on, with cocaine and heroin being common. They learned about a method of smoking heroin called ‘chasing dragons.’ They once helped a neighbor who was beaten up by smoking heroin with him. Then, he talked about a memory from one of Blondie’s tours:
“At one point in one of the eternal Blondie tours, everyone was about to travel from Switzerland to Paris. Somebody in Zurich had given Debbie and me a bunch of heroin. As we were boarding the plane, after Debbie, Clem, and I went through the metal detector, one of the crew guys right behind us had a metal container of hashish in his shirt pocket that set off the alarm and he got nabbed.”
What Did Happen Afterwards?
He continued with the rest of the story:
“Everyone in the band and crew from the culprit back was taken away. Two security guys came on the plane and told us they’d be removing our luggage to investigate and asked if we wanted to leave the flight and accompany our bags as they were searched. Clem left; Debbie and me said no, thanks, and stayed on the flight. We did have this fairly large quantity of drugs with us and we became concerned lest we get busted arriving in Paris.”
Stein finally added:
“We dumped most of the dope in the plane toilet but put a small amount in a cuff of Debbie’s pants. Of course, nobody even looked at us when we landed, and we spent the afternoon stoned, wandering around the Champs-Élysées while everyone else sat around in an office at the Zurich airport in their underwear.”
In a May interview this year, Stein also confirmed Blondie has another album ready and it’s currently being mixed. Despite health issues, Stein remains involved in recording and other band projects.