David Bowies drummer Woody Woodmansey says he never knew the singer was on drugs, despite touring with the Starman throughout the 1970s.
As infamous as his cocaine and milk diet may be nowadays, the last remaining Spider From Mars revealed that he had no idea Bowie was ever under the influence.
Chatting to Metro.co.uk, the 67-year-old opened up on his time spent with Bowie, and how he put the stars character change down to his growing ego.
Woody said: To be honest, we were unaware that he was doing it.
When I met up with him in 1980, he said that he tried to keep it off everyones minds as such, and I told him he had done a good job because I never knew.
Id seen one guy on the road, but Id never see this guy do anything, so I said to the tour manager, “what does that guy do?” And he said: “Oh hes a supplier.”
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The drummer added: So I thought the road crew who were mainly Americans that thats how they did it.
They had to drive from one gig to another and set up over night, so maybe they did something to keep awake.
I thought he was supplying to them, but no, it was for David.
Woody expressed how it sounds weird that Bowie managed to keep his addiction under wraps, but confessed he would always come up with an excuse for his change in character.
He said: It sounds really weird now that you wouldnt know.
There was definitely a character change there through the last couple of tours, but you could put that down to ego, or its gone to someones head a bit, or hes a bit tired.
He added: You could always find a reason for it.
Back in 1993, Bowie had confessed: The drug use was unbelievable and I knew it was killing me, so that was the difficult side of it. But the playing was fun.
But even so, Woody explained that he started to find it hard to communicate with the Five Years hitmaker.
He said: When he was Ziggy Stardust off stage it was very hard to communicate. You couldnt say, “oh Leeds won the cup.”
You never spoke normal language like, “do you think itll rain tomorrow Dave?” Its like nooo, Ziggy was not going to answer that question.
He continued: By the last couple of tours unfortunately it was taking over – and it wasnt the same as the early tours where you did a good show and you had a good laugh, like a gang really, and then went clubbing or went out for a meal.
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That stopped happening.
Since Bowies death back in 2016, Woody has continued to team up with Tony Visconti and tour in their Bowie tribute band Holy Holy, who formed back in 2014.
He spoke about the importance of keeping the icons legacy alive, and what fans can expect from their up coming tour in the new year.
Well be playing The Man Who Sold The World and the complete Ziggy album, and some others from the first four Bowie albums really – Its a long night.
More: David Bowie
He added: I think its good, for we have found a lot of new audience, teenagers turning up with four albums under their arms saying theyre their favourite albums of all time.
And you go, “oh my God?” So for them to get the chance to experience it live is something else.
The tour will be kicking off on 8 February at the York Barbican, and will come to an end on the 24 February at the Cambridge Corn Exchange. You can buy tickets here.
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