MUMBAI: Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea has teamed up with Mars Volta nucleus Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala, and mid-era Mars Volta drummer Dave Elitch to form the new band Antemasque.

Prior to this Flea had played bass for Mars Volta's 2003 debut album ‘De-Loused in the Comatorium', and trumpet on two songs on the 2005 follow-up Frances the Mute. The new group posted their first song. They also posted studio sessions of the musicians working on the track.

Earlier Wednesday, Flea tweeted, "Woke to find out I'm in a new supergroup. Hahahaha. Played on some tracks a few weeks ago with my friends Omar and Cedric for love that['s] all."

Mars Volta broke up last January, as vocalist Bixler-Zavala posted a series of bitter tweets including, "I tried my hardest to keep it going but Bosnian Rainbows was all we got instead," referring to guitarist Rodríguez-López's other group. At the time, the singer said he wanted to move forward with his music and be happy that he had the chance to work in Mars Volta in the first place.

The new group's Facebook page links to a post on a Mars Volta forum, noting that Antemasque is a full-time project, ‘not a side gig'.