Paralandra is a four piece, bad-ass rock band out of Springfield, Missouri. They’re a band born out of the overwhelming positive response received by Casandra Carson and her dad Paul Carson (guitar) for a one off event. They kept writing songs and booking shows because they were bitten by the music bug. They band grew into an official four piece with the addition of Sawyer Rikard on bass in 2015 and powerhouse drummer Dakota Watson in 2018. The band recorded a couple of Eps that, along with their live show, started creating a huge buzz for them. So much so that they were invited to perform on the KISS Kruise in 2019. Producer Elvis Baskette helped to take the band’s game a whole new level by producing their 2021 album Street Magic. Here we are in 2024 and the band has again teamed up with Elvis for their brand new album The Body Electric which drops on April 4. We had the treat of sitting down again with lead vocalist/guitarist about that new album, celebrity crushes and even wrestling!
Ok, I’m such a music nerd and I know a lot of our readers are as well. I love to know what goes into naming an album. Is there a story behind The Body Electric?
Casandra Carson/Paralandra: There are a couple of different aspects to it. I think a lot of people will know that it was a Twilight Zone episode called “I Sing the Body Electric.” I thought what a weird, cool phrase. So we were talking about album titles in one day that phrase just kind of popped into my head. I wondered what it even meant, so I looked it up and it began as a Walt Whitman poem. I read the whole thing, and it’s a long one, but it’s great. It talks about the miracle of humanity and the fact that we are conscious beings is just a miracle of nature. If you listen to Paralandra music, a lot of it is very inspiring and uplifting. It’s about how we’re all connected and underneath our skin we are all the same and that’s what this poem is about. Nothing could really relate to Paralandra and our message like this poem so I felt it fit perfectly. The Body Electric, as our album stands, is a collection of songs throughout our career. We have some songs that are ten years old and a couple of songs that are just a few months old before we went into the studio. All in all, it just checked every box.
Wow, that was a much deeper story than I was expecting. You were probably blown away when you read that poem.
Oh absolutely; I had the Twilight Zone episode in my head and I was thinking maybe it was about robots. I had no idea what I was getting myself into; so I highly recommend checking it out.
You have me so curious that I’m definitely going to do that! Another music nerd part of me is an album’s cover art. We are in a day and age where not too much thought is being put into it because everything is digital. The artwork for The Body Electric is bad-ass! Can you tell me about it?
Thank you! Our artist David Frizell drew it; we went through a couple of ideas about what the cover art should be. It should be something obviously with electricity. The fact that we are all connected, that our bodies are made of electricity and that the connection is far deeper than just typical touch whenever we interact with people. I was talking with my boyfriend about it and he’s a big fan of the movie Big Trouble in Little China. David Lopan has these powers where he can hold the electricity between his hands. It looks so cool because he has these big long fingernails. I thought that was such a cool idea and a very interesting way to interpret that. I gave that idea to David and an idea of what the cover art could be. That’s what he came back, so we went for it.
You mentioned something about being an artist who is always writing but yet you say there are songs on this album that are ten years old. Why did you decide to go back and revisit those?
I felt like some of them never really got their moment to shine. An artist will always tell you that their latest work is their greatest but when we went into the studio with Elvis (Baskette) and we showed him all of our songs, he was actually leaning to a lot of our older stuff. It was stuff that maybe we would play live for a couple of years but never recorded. They were kind of on the back burner but never really bad songs. For example, there’s a song on The Body Electric called “Give Me a Reason” and I wrote it in about 2013, 2014 and it’s finally coming out. A lot of our local fans have been begging us to release because they have been hearing it live for years. There’s a part of me that wants to satisfy those fans who have really been around since the beginning.
You used Elvis (Baskette) on the previous album, so I’m guessing something obviously clicked.
Street Magic went amazing; it went way better than we could ever have imagined. Elvis really brought Paralandra to life in a way that we had been envisioning all these years. After we did this album, we knew we had to work with him again. He was a guy who understood what we were going for our and how we were trying to sound. He wasn’t trying to put us through all the same filters that he was using with Sevendust, Tremonti or whoever else he was working with. He was really trying to hone in on Paralandra’s sound and finding someone like this is very rare. You really have to search to find someone to be the fifth member to your band like Elvis is to us. So, it was a no-brainer to work with him again. It was great and we couldn’t be happier with this batch of songs as well. We adore Elvis and his opinions; He is a musical genius, a great songwriter and a great person too.
His portfolio of work is amazing; I think I own most of it in my collection at home.
Seriously, he’s had his hands on just about everything especially in the rock world. He’s the best!
The guy seems to have the Midas touch and can do no wrong. Speaking of rock world, have you ever done any work with Lzzy Hale yet? What got me thinking about it was your video with Jeff Scott Soto on the Monsters of Rock Cruise. Which, by the way, was a pretty bad-ass performance.
We have not but that would be awesome. I feel like we get compared to each other a lot so I feel like our voices would mesh well. It’s always an honor to collaborate with great musicians out there and it was awesome being on stage with Jeff because he’s literally the original Rockstar. So I got to go up there and sing “Stand Up and Shout” with the guy. Speaking of new collaborations, I have an album coming out with George Lynch later this year that we just finished writing and recording. So the door is always open and I love opportunities and stepping out of my comfort zone.
George Lynch? What? That’s going to be amazing! He never sleeps; he has a million projects and he’s always working on something.
Always! I can only dream of still being that active at his age. He’s still cranking out something every year and it’s not stale. He continues to evolve and elevate and I can only hope that I can do that.
How did that duet with Jeff happen?
Jeff and I and Paralandra have been in communication for about a year and a half because he had originally wanted to be our manager. We kind of talked about working together a little bit but as you know, and everyone else knows, he has a million projects going on. He’s a very busy guy and at the end of things he just wasn’t able to dedicate enough time that a manager needs to dedicate to a band. It’s mutual and amicable but we’ve stayed in communication ever since. He continues to root us on and I truly couldn’t ask for more so it’s crazy.
The new album comes out April 4th, so what else is on your radar that you might want to mention?
We will be on tour all year of course promoting the album. We have a hometown album release show on April 6th which is always so much fun to get with our close friends and family. We have three brands that are our best friends and incredible musicians who will be playing with us that night so I’m super excited for that. We have some really big shows coming up as well such as Brat Fest in Wisconsin for the first time. We’ll be playing in Vegas with Lita Ford and Warrant in June. We will be in Oregon with Lita Ford and Vixen in August. We will also be with Sevendust in August, so lots of big shows are being added. We also continue to book headlining shows in between those along the way so we’re always on the move. I’d really highly recommend to anyone reading this to come see us live because that’s where we thrive.
The energy on this new album is insane and you really have managed to capture a lot of that live Paralandra feel on it. Just imagine if you use this album for your workout routine.
Oh yeah, you’re going to double your pr. (laughs).
We like to end our talks with something that we call Three for the Road. Do you remember who your first celebrity crush was?
Oh my gosh; probably Drake Bell.
Nickelodeon Drake Bell?
Yes, Drake and Josh.
Yeah, I remember that guy! Next question, if you could have literally anyone be your inner voice, who would you want to hear?
Dino Jelusick; I was thinking of one of the most pleasant voices that I can imagine. I love an accent plus he’s just the most incredible singer on the planet at this point. If Dino was telling me to turn left on Main Street, I would love that (laughs).
Last question is if music was over today and you went into the world of professional wrestling, what would your wrestling name be?
Pepper Whifflescratch (laughs). I know that’s really random and makes no sense but there’s a story behind it. That’s my poolshark name; whenever we’re in the studio we like to play pool a lot, billiards. Everyone has ridiculous pool shark names and mine is Pepper Whifflescratch, so I will keep it consistent. You’ll have to ask the guys what theirs is because mine is probably the nicest of the bunch.
That’s always a fun question because a lot of people really get into it like they actually have backstories thought out.
Well my uncle is Randy Orton, so I would hope I could come up with a better one.
What??!! You’re kidding me!
Not kidding; he’s my mom’s brother.
You have no idea how big of a wrestling fan I am and how much I love that guy. The RKO videos that people have put together and put on YouTube are amazing! He can hit that move from out of anywhere! I better shut up now because we’re about to start a whole new conversation about wrestling. It’s been great talking to you again! Best of luck and safe travels to you guys out on the road promoting the new album.
Great talking to you too and thank you for your continued support. Hope to see you at a show!
Interview by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price
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