The Rolling Stones‘ Ronnie Wood has revealed how he used to take a bunsen burner with him to parties to smoke cocaine.
The legendary guitarist and hell-raiser tells his life story in new documentary Somebody Up There Likes Me, which chronicles his rise to fame and subsequent battles with drug abuse.
Describing how he would smoke Cocaine, Wood reportedly said: “I felt that with the base, the freebase, it was controlling me. I had no control over it. It took me about three years to get off it.
“I enjoyed the shit out if it. Took it with me wherever I went. I thought it was the best thing going. I would take it to parties and go, ‘Everybody try this’, get [a] great big Bunsen burner out, the pipes, the works, freebase and everything. And people would be going, ‘You’re fucking crazy’ but I would love it.”
Discussing his sobriety in the documentary, the former Faces guitarist explained: “It’s very difficult because you go through a period of dry and you go, ‘I’ve done it. I’ve cleaned up now. I can have just one’.
“And that is a big mistake because you can’t just have one. I probably like things too much, which is harmless for some things like music, but harmful in ways like dope and drink.”
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Wood’s revelations of his time on cocaine come only weeks after Elton John revealed how he “hijacked” a Rolling Stones gig in the 1980s while high on the drug.
“For a while, I thought Keith Richards kept staring at me because he was awestruck by the brilliance of my improvised contributions to their oeuvre. After a few songs, it finally penetrated my brain that the expression on his face wasn’t really suggestive of profound musical appreciation,” Elton said in his new autobiography, Me.
Meanwhile, The Stones are gearing up to release a live album and film of their 1998 Buenos Aires concert next month.