Born Gordon Sumner, Sting famously got his nickname based on a yellow-and-black-striped sweater that he used to wear. He’s apparently taken that one step further, because, in a new interview, he reveals that he is a beekeeper and that one once got the best of him.

As found at Uproxx, Sting appeared on the BBC’s The Graham Norton Show earlier this week and was asked if he’s ever been stung. “I actually keep bees,” he said in the video above. “I usually go and visit them just to make sure they’re doing okay, ’cause bees are very stressed at the moment. They’re dying out. So I go and see them and we get along normally, but I was walking away from the hives and a bee came above and stung me right on the crown of my head. And it was the most exquisite pain. It was like a psychedelic experience. … And I haven’t been the same since. It was 10 years ago. Wow! Sting me again, baby.”

Beekeeping must be a thing with bass players who have insect-themed nicknames, because he shares a hobby with Flea. Last year, the world learned that the Red Hot Chili Peppers star has approximately 200,000 bees spread out over three hives in his backyard.

This coming Friday (Nov. 11), Sting will release 57th & 9th, which marks a return to pop music after having experimented with other projects over the past decade. He recently said that he gave himself a challenge to help him write lyrics on a deadline. “I sat on my terrace in the freezing cold overlooking Central Park with a coat and a cup of coffee and I wouldn’t allow myself in the house until I finished the lyric. It worked — I spent a whole weekend, and I wrote four songs in one weekend freezing my butt off outside.”

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