Flea to share two Aleka's Attic songs to mark River Phoenix's 50th birthday

Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea is set to release two new songs from River Phoenix’s band Aleka’s Attic later this year.

The tracks will be shared on August 23 to mark what would’ve been Phoenix’s 50th birthday.

Released digitally and on 10″ vinyl, the unfinished tracks have been completed and produced by Flea. They will be released via LaunchLeft, the artist alliance set up by Phoenix’s sister and Aleka’s Attic bandmate Rain following his death.

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LaunchLeft is honored to be the label releasing some of River Phoenix's music on his 50th birthday. Two previously unreleased Aleka’s Attic songs will be available digitally August 23rd, 2020 and on the same day, the 10” vinyl pre-sale begins. In keeping with our concept of “famed creatives launching music rebels” you can also expect a new single from a launched artist every 2 weeks starting Mother’s Day May 10th. Stayed tuned here as we reveal more about these artists in the coming weeks but first, we want to know how River influenced YOU! So share your story and don’t forget to tag @LaunchLeft and use the hashtag #RiverPhoenix50. We look forward to sharing new music with you soon! River fan art by @kanonx09 . . . . . #RiverPhoenix50 #alekasattic #launchleft #artistshelpingartists #riverphoenix #launchedartists

A post shared by LaunchLeft (@launchleft) on May 3, 2020 at 1:46pm PDT

A pair of unreleased Aleka’s Attic songs were also released last year by Rain on an AA-side single. One of the singles featured a collaboration between Rain and R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe.

Talking to NME earlier this year, Stipe discussed the death of Phoenix, and the impact it had on the band’s ‘Monster’ album.

“River died before we started making the record and I went through a six month period where I just shut down and couldn’t write anything,” he said.

“That was really frustrating for me and the band, who were also grieving. We all knew him and loved him – but particularly for me, that friendship and relationship was like having a brother. It was the most profound loss that I’d had experienced at that point.

“We commenced with the record, we were almost at the end of it, and that’s when Kurt died. I can’t say that any of that thematically ties to where we were going with the record – except certainly on the song ‘Let Me In’.” Watch the full interview above.