Most college students aren’t interrupted in the middle of class by autograph-seeking frat boys. And most college students can’t claim to have appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone clad in nothing but a single tube sock. So no, Flea is not your typical freshman. But with the Red Hot Chili Peppers on an open-ended hiatus, the band’s bassist decided to enroll at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he’s studying music theory, music composition and jazz trumpet.

“Being in a band has been an education, and being on tour has been an education, so this is just me furthering my education in a different way,” Flea told MTV News. “When I was a kid and it was time to go to college, I thought, ‘College is for people who don’t have the street smarts to make it on their own — get in a band, get in a van and get rockin’.’ That was a good philosophy for me at the time, [but] there were a lot of things I wanted to learn, and I want to learn them now.”