After a nearly five-decade career as one of rock music’s most prominent bass players, Flea is going out on his own, officially announcing the release of his debut album, Honora. The album will be released on Friday, 27 March, via Nonesuch Records.
For the record, Flea has time-travelled to his past and returned to his first musical love: jazz and playing the trumpet. Born in Melbourne and relocated to New York at the age of four, Flea – aka Michael Peter Balzary – is best known as the bassist of Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Honora finds Flea partnering with elite jazz visionaries, including album producer and saxophonist Josh Johnson, guitarist Jeff Parker, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Deantoni Parks.
While Flea contributes vocals throughout the album, he’s also gotten friends and singers, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke (and his Atoms For Peace bandmate) and Nick Cave, on board. Plus, Mauro Refosco (David Byrne, Atoms For Peace) and Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes), as well as others, have joined the band.
Honora comprises six original songs, as well as interpretations of music by George Clinton and Eddie Hazel, Jimmy Webb, Frank Ocean, Shea Taylor, and Ann Ronell.
The first single, Traffic Lights, featuring Thom Yorke, is out now. “Deantoni and I played what became ‘Traffic Lights’ the first day,” Flea explained, adding that it reminded him of the Atoms For Peace days, and sent it to Thom Yorke.
He continued, “Just knowing him, I thought it would be a rhythm and a sensibility that he would relate to. And I was right, he did. With a gorgeous melody and the words, you know, about living in the ‘upside down’ and how do you make sense of things when we’re getting all this fake shit and real shit? Everyone has their ways of dealing with the world. But he’s just the warmest, free-flowing, jamming motherf*cker.”
You can check out Traffic Lights below and pre-order/pre-save Honora here.
Flea, now aged 63, realised that, on his sixtieth birthday, if he didn’t pick up his trumpet again, he never would. So, for two years, he practiced every day—even while on stadium tour with Red Hot Chili Peppers and with a wife and newborn baby at home.
Initially worried that his all-star jazz band would think of him as a “non-playing motherf*cker, charlatan, rock poseur or fan,” Flea expressed delight that his new bandmates were “the most genuinely supportive people, moving me deeply and daily with their generous spirits… Sitting in a room and playing the music with them made me feel like I was on drugs.”
“I was buzzing, tripping and floating around the studio. I love them; they truly gave of themselves. I bow all the way down.”
To celebrate the release of his debut solo album, Flea and his Honora band will embark on an intimate tour this May, playing shows in the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe. You can find more details here.
Countrytown brings you Australia’s best country music news, interviews, charts and more every week! This post was authored by Countrytown and originally published on the Countrytown website. It has been re-published with permission.
