During a conversation, the Status Quo frontman Francis Rossi shared a story to Iron Maiden’s frontman Bruce Dickinson about the time he served ice cream with his own blood unsuspiciously to customers.
The musician’s Italian family has a Rossi’s chain of ice cream stores located in London, and as a boy, Rossi had worked and helped his father to run one of the stores before going to the musical path.
During a recent episode of Psycho Schizo Espresso, hosted by Dickinson alongside psychologist Dr. Kevin Dutton, Rossi remembered their family business.
“I was supposed to go into ice cream but at the time that was a horrendous thought, and now I’m thinking, it wouldn’t have been that bad,” Rossi joked. When Dickinson mentioned “ice cream wars” – referring to violent incidents between rival crime gangs in the ’80s – Rossi said: “That goes on. A couple of times my dad came home beaten up for some reason. Unless he was chasing someone’s wife. He was probably a bit that way – Italiano!”
He then proceed to share the story where he served Ice Cream with his own blood.
“You see, the ice cream goes into these chambers; it’s liquified and you pour it in the top,” Rossi explained. “It’s a frozen chamber and this thing swings round with blades and it makes ice cream. Well, I stood up to check it… I pushed the ice cream down the little funnel piece… and of course the blade kicks in to start the thing, and it chopped my finger.”
He continued:
“And it kinda went pink, the ice cream. Fuck knows whether they’d get away with that these days, but [Dad] made me serve it the rest of the day! He said, ‘Just tell them it’s strawberry or something.’” Dutton noted, “There’s probably all these people of a certain generation running around south London with things wrong with them,” to which Dickinson responded, “Rossi D.N.A.!”
You can watch the full episode below: