Band redkanoo started its music journey on top of Craige Parking Deck

Early in fall 2024, first-years Jack Panning and Jackson McCurdy were walking back to Hinton James Residence Hall from Ehringhaus Residence Hall with guitars on their back after jamming with friends when James Dudek came up to them. 

“He runs over [and says], ‘Hey, do you guys play instruments? We’re trying to start a band,’” Panning said. 

Dudek, a fellow first-year, said he was always looking for people to play music with, and the first week of school, he had been going around asking everyone he met if they played an instrument. Dudek’s suitemate knew he was looking for musicians and put him in touch with Bates Pulliam, a guitarist.

Dudek said he was talking with Pulliam about starting a band, while also trying to get Panning and McCurdy to join. Pulliam also knew other people trying to start a band at the same time, and come to find out, those people were Panning and McCurdy. 

Pulliam ended up being the unifying factor, Dudek said, as Pulliam made a group chat including Panning, McCurdy and Dudek. 

The final piece came with fellow Hinton James resident Kendall Babb. Babb, a singer, said she knew Panning and McCurdy were from her hometown in Hillsborough and they had been asking her to make music with them for a while. 

Some might call it fate — Dudek said it was pure coincidence — but regardless, the band redkanoo was formed. 

“It all just kind of aligned perfectly,” Babb said. 

The band is currently made up of seven members: Dudek (drums), Babb (lead singer), Panning (guitar and vocals), McCurdy (bass), Pulliam (guitar), John Fleishcer (guitar) and Damian Calvo (saxophone and keys).

After forming, the group was faced with the question of where they wanted to rehearse. As a first-year band, none of the members had a house nor a car, and rehearsing in the residence halls risked noise complaints and cramped spaces.

Then, the group stumbled upon the Craige Parking Deck.

“We were like, ‘This, this might work,’” Panning said. “So, we set up one day on a Friday evening and just were playing, and a bunch of people in Morrison came out of their dorms and started listening to us.”

Panning said the rehearsal was their first performance in a way, with a crowd of 20-30 people listening to them play. He said the parking deck performance became a weekly occurrence and a very special memory for the band.

“We would see people waving their flashlights on the balcony at Morrison, it was a lot of fun,” Dudek said.

Since beginning their parking deck practices, redkanoo has performed at functions for the Running Club and the Ski-Snowboard Club as well as at the Carrboro venue Local 506. 

While the group doesn’t have a set genre and will play anything from “Hotel California” by the Eagles to “Party in the U.S.A.” by Miley Cyrus, they tend to lean toward indie and classic rock music. The band is also working on writing original songs, which they hope to perform soon. 

Babb said the name redkanoo was her idea. It came from her childhood growing up as a UNC fan. She said in second grade, one of her friends would quote a nursery rhyme: “Duke is puke, Wake is fake, N.C. State is the one we hate. You can’t go to heaven in a red canoe because God’s favorite color is Carolina Blue.”

“We’re all Carolina students, and a lot of us are also big sports fans as well, so it’s a cute little reference to where it is that we come from, most of us being North Carolinians by birth,” Babb said.

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