KISS’ Gene Simmons on the one and only time he got high

KISS‘ Gene Simmons has retold the story of the one and only time in his life that he got high.

The US rock musician, who has previously claimed to have never been drunk or high in his life, opened up about the time he accidentally ingested cannabis brownies after a KISS gig in the ’70s.

The musician reflected on the eventful experience during the latest episode of Your Mom’s House with Christina P. and Tom Segura along with his son Nick Simmons.

“I’ve never been drunk or high in my life,” he reasserted on the podcast (per Loudwire), before his son brought up the “one accidental story”.

Nick explained that his dad was “so removed from drug culture that he didn’t know that you can bake cannabis into baked goods”, and had no hesitation accidentally eating six brownies.

“So, please describe then what you hallucinated,” he said to his dad. “You’ve told me this a couple of times. It’s my favourite story.”

Gene continued that he’s “never before or since had anything like that happen to me” and “wasn’t prepared for it”.

He recalled: “So, you’ve got a room full of people celebrating – we’re breaking some kind of record in Detroit…This was in ’76…The whole room is full, and I’m just seeing the brownies piled [high]. And I love that stuff. Everyone’s [like] ‘Let’s smoke, let’s put things up our ass.’ No, just give me cake.”

Gene said that it “didn’t hurt” that the woman dispensing the brownies “wasn’t bad looking, adding: “[She] comes over, and I’m [like,] ‘Give me another one of those.’ Then I started, like a dog with a bone, just following her around. ‘Can I have another one?’ ‘You want another one?’ And I just kept eating it – six.”

The KISS bassist and singer then recalled his experience of being high, remembering the room “started to get bigger, and my head started to get smaller…down to the size of an olive”.

He went on: “I remember this: I started to open my eyes [wide] so that people would think I’m normal. And as I moved, my hands became – as it gets farther [away from you], it gets smaller – nope, [my hands] ballooned up like cartoons. So it got enormous.”

The musician said that thankfully the editor of Creem magazine was there to help him into his limo. “And as I’m walking, every step I take, [I have giant feet]. … And I’m talking loudly because I don’t think she can hear me, ’cause my voice [seems] small.”

“We get in the limo, and I’m afraid to move or anything,” Gene recalled. “And I’m thirsty…So they pull over two or three blocks in a ghetto in Detroit, and she leads me in to get me a drink…And it’s filled with neighbourhood folks who are there at night grabbing a burger and stuff after the show.

“And I’m dressed in leather, no kidding, and they all turn around… And I’m thinking, ‘They’re all looking at me because my head is small’. So I try to make myself bigger. And I go up, and the guy goes, ‘What’ll ya have?’ And I go – yelling – ‘Can I have a glass of milk?!'”

When they returned to the hotel, the key to the room also appeared enormous. “I will say that I’ve never been as big in my life,” he quipped.

On a more serious note, Gene said his reason for not getting high or drunk was because of his late mother, who was a Holocaust survivor.

“She was in a concentration camp when she was 14 years of age. And I never wanted to break her heart,” he said. “And I was always aware I never wanted to disappoint her – there was enough aggravation. So I never smoked cigarettes, never got high, never got drunk.”

Elsewhere, Gene Simmons last month announced his first solo concert after KISS’ retirement in December 2023.

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