THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT — the partnership between STONE SOUR guitarist and songwriter Josh Rand and vocalist Casandra Carson of PARALANDRA and CASANDRA'S CROSSING — has released a version of BLONDIE's "Call Me" through Frontiers Music Srl, along with an official visualizer. It is not a new recording. It is the tape that started the band.
"Back in 2020 I was searching for a female vocalist to front my new project," Rand explained. "I was connected with Casandra Carson and asked her what song she'd like to sing for the audition. 'Call Me' was her choice so I quickly put it together musically for her to sing to. She crushed it and the rest is history. We never intended to release this track, but we thought it would be cool for you to hear the song that started it all."
Carson's account matches, with the detail that the song had been in her hands long before Rand ever heard it. "'Call Me' has been one of those staple songs that I've been doing live since my first cover band when I was 17. This recording, specifically, was kind of my audition to be in THE L.I.F.E. PROJECT. Josh wanted me to pick a song to cover that would be comfortable, and we could use to test out how we would work together, and this felt like the perfect choice. Turns out, I got the job! It's crazy that it's coming out of the vault and going public after all these years."
Musically the project pairs Rand's riff writing and taste for melodic hooks with Carson's range, drawing on classic metal, thrash and progressive influences. Lyrically it aims wider than the usual template, taking on history, social conflict and themes of resistance and empowerment.
The wait for a full-length has been long, and mostly circumstantial. Rand spent more than a year out of commission after back surgery; Carson said in May 2024 that five songs were written and recorded but held back until the band could tour behind them. In January 2025 she told Different Stages Radio the material had been demoed repeatedly over at least three years — "I am so glad that we waited." A year later she told Robert Edwards of Talkin' Bout Rock that the plan had shifted from two EPs to an album: "It looks like we're gonna be releasing early, mid-2026."
For now, the vault release is what fans get — and, as origin stories go, a fairly literal one.
Source: blabbermouth.net