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stage was built up so high, it was like performing on the edge of a cliff. And
way below us, all these people going mad.It didn’t bother me that Debbie got all the attention. We were together
[they were a couple for 13 years, from the late Seventies] so I always just
heavily identified with her, I was never jealous. That was probably different
for some of the other guys in the band. I’d never thought about that, I just
wanted to be in a band. Fame wasn’t something I aspired to especially.
When we go out travelling and all the autograph people come up to us in
the airport I can always dunk away. I still feel protective about Debbie but
she gets the brunt of it.If I wanted to impress my younger self I’d show him our second tour in
the UK. That was very dramatic for us, there was a kind of Blondie mania,
thousands of people showing up. The craziness surrounding that has always
stuck in my head. But things are nice now, you know. We have quite a bit of
credibility and we’re treated like elder statesmen.I’m a pretty optimistic person. When I got ill [Stein was diagnosed with
autoimmune disease pemphigus vulgaris in 1983] I never through it would
be fatal, I just thought it was mysterious and annoying. And I had to be
in hospital for three months. That was annoying but I did a lot of drugs
throughout [Harry has spoken about smuggling heroin to him; they were
both heavy users at that time]. I don’t know if they helped but I had a fucking
spinal tap and that really hurt so I got stoned after that. But doing drugs
really compromised my immune system which might have exacerbated the
whole thing. So it probably wasn’t a great idea.I have fond memories of smoking pot when I was a kid so it’s hard to tell
my daughters not to smoke too much pot. But I was functioning, I was
doing stuff at the same time, which is fine. It was only later when I started
doing the harder stuff when it wasn’t so good. Even after all the illness, in the
Eighties and Nineties, I was definitely doing too much cocaine and that was
a bad time. I got too crazy. And I could see I was doing so much coke I was
becoming paranoid and I was getting delusional. But then I met my wife and
that was a very sobering experience. She’s great. We’ve been married over 20
years now. She was an actor in the theatre scene in New York. She was more
sober than me and that was something I aspired to. I didn’t want to be fucked
up in front of her.If I could go back to any moment in my life, I really wish I’d brought a
camera to Woodstock. I went when I was just 19 and it was fucking great. I
loved it. I was tripping a lot of the time but I remember a lot of it. It was the
only time I got to see Jimi Hendrix. Debbie was there also but we didn’t know
each other yet.I’m getting older. My brain is pretty much still all there I think, but I get
fatigued and all that crap. And I have an irregular heartbeat so I have to take
fucking medication for that. But I wouldn’t trade my brain for a new body. I’m
pretty happy with a functioning mind and I’m still using it.An Evening with Debbie Harry and Chris Stein in Conversation takes
place in Glasgow (April 22) Birmingham (24) Manchester (26)
and London (28) blondie.net Interview: Jane Graham @Janeannie
For more interviews see bigissue.com/letter-to-my-youngerself1966
THE YEAR CHRIS
TURNS 16- Labour wins a 96-seat
majority in the UK General
Election - The Beatles call time
on touring - Star Trek boldly goes...
on US TV for the
first time
Harry photographed by
Andy Warhol at The Factory
in NYC, captured by Stein