The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne on sharing a joint with Paul McCartney: “He thought I was part of his entourage”

The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne has revealed he once shared a joint with Paul McCartney, despite the former Beatle not knowing who he was.

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The frontman discussed his memory of the surreal interaction in a new interview with The Guardian, after being questioned about whether he had had any cringeworthy encounters with a celebrity.

“The first time we met Paul McCartney – he wasn’t there to meet us, he was at one of these festivals, and he came in through the backstage,” Coyne recalled. “He came in with his wife, Linda, and I just followed him up on stage. He thought I was part of his entourage – apparently he didn’t mind that I was there.”

“But I stood right behind him as he watched Neil Young play,” he continued. Placing the chance encounter at around 1993, Coyne added: “I remember, his ear was very crusty. I mean, you’re just looking at Paul McCartney as a human, you know? You don’t get to do that very often. And I remember looking at his ear and – look, sometimes when you’re travelling around a lot, your ears are kind of crusty.”

“I don’t smoke pot, and he had a big joint, and he handed it to me as if I was part of his entourage, and I took a big puff of it, which I shouldn’t have done, but I thought, ‘Well, how often do you get to smoke a joint with Paul McCartney?’ It was amazing.”

The Flaming Lips are preparing to play their 2002 album ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots’ in full on a UK and Ireland tour next April and May. See the full list of live dates here and find any remaining tickets here.

At time of release, NME gave the project a glowing four-and-a-half-star review and described it as being both “confident and imaginative” when it comes to the members locking in a new sound.

“A sideways step from the lush orchestration of ‘…Bulletin’, which seems positively baroque in comparison, ‘Yoshimi’ replaces that album’s symphonic wall-of-sound with skillfully textured electronics, samples and acoustic guitar. Though more understated, it boasts just as many moments of sublime pop glory,” it read.

In addition to those dates, the band have also been announced for next year’s Sick New World festival, which returns to Las Vegas in April. Linkin Park and Metallica top the bill, with the likes of Evanescence, Queens Of The Stone Age, Gojira and AFI among some of the other names.

In October, Coyne also paid tribute to Nell Smith, the former Flaming Lips collaborator who died in a car accident in Canada at the age of 17.