Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Flea has spoken about a recent head injury he suffered after a “bizarre peeing accident”.
The legendary bassist, trumpet player and one-quarter of California rock giants Red Hot Chili Peppers opened up about the injury during a recent interview on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, when he showed up wearing a bandage on his forehead.
After being asked about the cut, Flea joked that it was the result of a heroic attack on some “thugs” who were walking around with weapons and mugging old ladies – before laughing it off and saying that it was actually because of “a bizarre peeing accident”.
“I was doing a radio show for Apple Music the other day,” he said, referring to the recent appearance where he played a selection of his personal favourite tracks, and songs that inspired his new album ‘Honora’.
“I was playing a Lee Morgan song, a great song called ‘Stopstart’ with Billy Higgins on drums. There were three minutes left in the song and I said ‘I got to go pee’, so I have three minutes before I introduce the next tune,” he explained to Fallon.
“I jump up, I run down the hallway, I pee, I’m coming back. I’m wearing my reading glasses, I yell something to someone, running full sprint down the hallway, and bam! Smack into a glass door, flat on my back, blood spurting out of my head.”
He went on to quip that the first thing that came to mind was that he had the television appearance on the horizon, joking: “I’m laying there going ‘Oh man, I’ve got to do the Fallon Show in a few days… I’ll tell him I got into a fight’.”
Also on the show, Flea broke out a live rendition of the soulful jazz cover he has done of the classic Frank Ocean track ‘Thinkin Bout You’.
That song arrived last month as the third preview of the aforementioned ‘Honora’ solo album he has on the way – following on from lead single ‘A Plea’, and another new song called ‘Traffic Lights’.
Speaking about why he wanted to cover Frank Ocean in the album, Flea discussed what the album it appeared on, ‘Channel Orange’, meant to him. “When that record came out, it really blew me away. I listened to it 10 million times. It was something I just couldn’t stop listening to. I loved it so much and still do. Just one of those real watershed moment records for me.”
Of the cover, he added: “‘Thinkin Bout You’ is one of the many great songs on that record, and I thought it would be fun to play on trumpet […] I just wanted to get the honest beauty of the melody because it’s a great song.”
The comments align with what he told NME backstage at Reading Festival 10 years ago, when he shared that the record “affected me profoundly”.
“‘Channel Orange’ was just a record that affected me profoundly,” he continued. “I had a real emotional connection to it, I listened to it a million times, and it just really connected with me and lifted my spirit. His voice just goes right through me. So I was excited for the new record because I’m a fan.”
As for the ‘Honora’ album, the title takes its name from a beloved family member, with Flea composing, arranging the music and providing vocals. It also sees the legendary bassist and songwriter returning to his early roots as a trumpet player, and leaning into his longtime love of jazz.
The full 10-track album will arrive on Friday (March 27) via Nonesuch Records (pre-order/pre-save here), and sees the artist joined by an “elite band of modern jazz visionaries”, as well as Nick Cave and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke on vocals.
Flea will showcase the record live on an intimate tour later this year, which kicks off in Chicago on May 7, before heading over to Europe for headline shows. His only scheduled UK gig so far is due to take place at KOKO in Camden Town, London, on May 26.
Tickets are on sale now, and you can find any remaining UK tickets here, and here for North American and other international shows.
The new solo project builds on Flea’s wide range of material outside of Red Hot Chili Peppers, including brief stints in Nirvana and Jane’s Addiction, and forming the supergroup Atoms For Peace. It also comes following his work with members of The Mars Volta in the rock group Antemasque, and after his short-lived side project Rocket Juice & The Moon, alongside Damon Albarn and Tony Allen.