Don’t ever let it be said that Flea is predictable. The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ mega-star bass player shifts gears for Honora, his debut solo album which arrives in full today, March 27, via Nonesuch Records.
Honora is a jazz album, a passion project, a personal collection. And it represents a new beginning for Flea, as he flexes his trumpeting chops. The rocker spent two years honing his talents on the trumpet for Honora, an instrument that fired him up in his youth, a time when Dizzy Gillespie was his hero and his father’s jazz albums were his musical candy.
Flea’s new release is a temple of American culture, tackling the timely subjects of civil war, peace and love, and doing so in its own meditative time and space.
Largely recorded in February 2025, the album features collaborations with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke (“Traffic Lights”), Nick Cave (“Wichita Lineman”), Ann Ronell (“Willow Weep for Me”), plus interpretations of Frank Ocean and Shea Taylor’s “Thinkin Bout You,” George Clinton and Eddie Hazel’s “Maggot Brain” and more.
For the sessions, Flea assembled a team of studio top guns, including album producer and saxophonist Josh Johnson, guitarist Jeff Parker, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Deantoni Parks, and welcomed contributions from the likes of Mauro Refosco (David Byrne, Atoms for Peace), Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes) and Warren Ellis (The Dirty Three, The Bad Seeds).
Earlier this week, Flea and Co. made their live TV debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for a performance of “Thinkin Bout You.” Speaking with the late-night show’s host, Flea said getting back to the trumpet “was just the process, the learning process. And I’m so happy that I had the opportunity to do it.”
Fun fact: Flea (real name: Michael Balzary) is one of a small handful of Australian-born artists inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. Now aged 63, Flea made a whistlestop trip to his homeland last month, where he was spotted courtside at a Sydney Kings NBL game and stopped by the city’s Church Street Studios for an intimate album listening party. Presenting the album to media and industry guests, Flea looked right at home wearing flip flops on a hot summer’s day.
This May, Flea and the Honora band will embark on a sold-out international tour, playing intimate venues in North America, the U.K. and Europe.
Stream Honora below.
“Honora” 2026 Tour Dates
May 7 — Thalia Hall, Chicago, IL
May 9 — The Opera House, Toronto, ON
May 10 — Théâtre Beanfield, Montreal, QC
May 12 — Webster Hall, New York, NY
May 13 — Black Cat, Washington, DC
May 16 — The Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
May 21 — Heimathafen, Berlin, Germany
May 22 — Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands
May 26 –Koko, London, U.K.
May 28 — Alhambra, Paris, France
