Flea is going it alone.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers legend has announced the release date of his first full-length solo album. Titled Honora (named after a family member), the record is set to drop on March 27th via Nonesuch Records.
Flea composed and arranged the music for Honora, as well as playing trumpet and bass across the album. He’s joined by producer and saxophonist Josh Johnson, guitarist Jeff Parker, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Deantoni Parks. Thom Yorke and Nick Cave provide guest vocals, while Mauro Refosco (David Byrne, Atoms for Peace) and Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes) also feature on the album.
The release date announcement is accompanied by album track “Traffic Light”, co-written with Yorke and Johnson.
“Deantoni and I played what became ‘Traffic Lights’ the first day. Something about it reminded me of Atoms for Peace, so I sent it to Thom. Just knowing him, I thought it would be a rhythm and a sensibility that he would relate to. And I was right, he did,” Flea shared in a statement. “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.”
Flea’s debut solo album features six original songs alongside interpretations of music by George Clinton and Eddie Hazel, Jimmy Webb, Frank Ocean and Shea Taylor, and Ann Ronell.
Check out the full tracklist below.
In a statement about the album’s origins, Flea revealed that, while filming My Own Private Idaho in 1991, he told a friend, “I want to make an instrumental record with deep hypnotic grooves, trippy melodies layered on top, meditations on a groove.”
As he neared his 60th birthday, he resolved to practice the trumpet every day for two years and that he would make an album, regardless of where his eventual ability with the instrument.
Flea was initially worried that the band he assembled for the album would think he was “a non-playing motherf*cker, charlatan, rock poseur or fan,” but it turned out that “they were all the most genuinely supportive people, movingme 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,” he said. “I was buzzing, tripping and floating around the studio. I love them, they truly gave of themselves. I bow all the way down.”
Honora Tracklist:
“Golden Wingship”
“A Plea”
“Traffic Lights”
“Frailed”
“Morning Cry”
“Maggot Brain”
“Wichita Lineman”
“Thinkin Bout You”
“Willow Weep for Me”
“Free As I Want to Be”
