What you need to know
Evan Dando recalled the time he and Johnny Depp went on an “adventure” on LSD.
In his memoir Rumors of My Demise (now available from Gallery Books), the Lemonheads bandleader claims he and the Pirates of the Caribbean actor dropped acid and went to Dando’s record label.
Depp, 62, first met Dando, 58, while working on his 1992 album It’s a Shame About Lay. According to the “Into Your Arms” artist, the Cry Baby actor became a fan of Winona Ryder after she made him a tape of Lemonheads songs while he was dating her.
The two became friends, and Dando even lived with Depp in Los Angeles for several months.
The “My Drug Buddy” musician dropped acid with the Fear and Loathing star in Las Vegas one day, claiming he “decided to go on an adventure.”
They first visited Dando’s record label, Atlantic Records, which was undergoing renovations. He said scaffolding covered the top two floors of the building and the building, which “gave him the idea.”
“What if we climbed up on the scaffolding and peeked out the window and said hello to everyone? That could be interesting,” he wrote.
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Mr Dando claimed he and Mr Depp “needed to move” and sped up to circle the building as the acid developed.
“Everyone in the office was about to pass out – because we were on the 20th floor, running around the building, laughing so hard,” he wrote, noting that people were probably imagining the headlines when something tragic happened: “Johnny Depp Jumps to Death from LSD Poisoning.”
At one point Dando asked for a cigarette, so he went inside again to meet the A&R representative for the “Rudderless” cast.
“We were sitting in his office smoking cigarettes, all three of us pretending everything was perfectly normal, but the rep was pretty surprised,” he recalled.
After the incident, Dando claimed he and Depp had a laugh about the situation at home.
“He was just a very fun friend. There was no star travel or anything like that. He had a lot to lose, but he never acted like it,” he wrote.
Representatives for Depp did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
“Rumors of My Demise” has been released.
