Red October Would Like You to Figure It Out

Chase Davenport, a self-described Carrboro socialite and driving force behind Red October, would like you to figure out for yourself what the band’s songs are about. Red October is playing at the Carrboro Music Festival (CMF) at 1:15pm at Pizzeria Mercado, 408 West Weaver St. Chase spent time with The Carrborean discussing his music and the inspiration behind it.

Red October started in 2022 with their first album, “Where Did November Go?”, written by Chase and produced by his friend, Josh Holley. Chase reports it “was written kind of as a joke mostly inspired by the changing of the seasons and going too fast into the holiday season.”

This is where our discussion of the meaning of Red October’s songs, and who ultimately interprets them, began. Specifically, your correspondent was fixated on the song “Dead Skies.” The electric piano escorts a thumping bass into the song and then lets it go on its way over a driving rhythm and a single guitar chord. Suddenly the ghostly vocals, “A tall crumbling tower…” Take a few minutes to listen to it now and then come back to this article. You’ll have some thoughts about this song. It’s quite possible that 10 people could come up with 10 interpretations.

Chase says, “(Dead skies) was written about my family. We found out that my family was much older than I thought and so I wrote a song about it.” He emphasizes, “My lyrics are always open to interpretation, and so that's what it's about to me. If the song is about something else to you, then it is completely your call to make.”

Chase describes Red October as a collective made up of many musicians that he and his bandmates invite to contribute through instrumentation or producing their sonic collages. When asked if his music fits the “shoegaze” description that the internet often assigns to Red October, Chase responded, “I use genres as a tool. We're not one specific genre, but we're alternative rock-leaning. ‘Shoegaze’ is historically used as a placeholder for bands that can't really fit a genre.”

A listen through “Where Did November Go” start to finish proves Chase’s point. While his ghostly, honest, and heart-wrenching lyricism serves as the mortar that bonds the tracks together, the instrumentation is a musical journey through a wide range of alternative rock subgenres and soundscapes. Check out “Get Away”, a straight alternative rock song with haunting lead guitar and dancing drums. Now jump to “Thoughts and Prayers,” which Chase wrote and performed with Jeremy Womble. It echoes Alice and Chains, Metallica, and Megadeth all in one. The intro builds on clean pedal tones and minor intervals into a bass and drum drop with a metal guitar riff that will knock you out of your shoes.

So far, 2026 has seen a lot of creative output from Red October. In May, the band released the EP “Stressed Out.” Remember how you were feeling in May? These tracks reveal that Chase was feeling the same way, as the song titles reveal. “I’m Tired” is a call back to old-school punk, and “Stress Out” is a noise-punk audio simulation of the album’s title. It features a synthesized Mongolian throat singing-like hum behind Chase’s guitar work and vocals. The last song on the EP provides some good advice in the title for old and young alike; it’s up to you to seek out that advice, independently.

In 2026, Red October will also complete a new full-length album, recorded in part with Django Haskins and produced by Tyler Johnson, and for which the band is releasing one single at a time. Chase describes it as having “a lot of distortion with heavy guitars alongside modulated guitars on the same track.”  

The first single, “Then I Met You”, was released in June. Chase says that the album’s hit single, “Leave a Scar” has resonated with audiences at their recent live shows and is the band’s most commercial song to date. It has a planned release this fall.  The title track, “As I Lay Dying,” will be released soon and is about the chaos that preceded Chase’s mother’s death. Chase explains, “It was truly insanity. It changed me forever. It made me a better person. Watching someone slowly fade away was awful.”

And now for a digression: Chase’s mom was Randi Davenport, whom Chase also describes as a Carrboro socialite. She was the acclaimed author of “The Boy Who Loved Tornados,” and “The End of Always.” The former is a non-fiction account of Randi’s struggles raising Chase, who describes himself now as an openly autistic person. The latter is a historical novel based on a well-researched tale involving Chase’s great-grandmother and what it took to get divorced in Wisconsin in 1907.

Chase also discussed the advantages that living in Carrboro confers to a musician. Chase maintains, “The nightlife in Chapel Hill and Carrboro is irreplaceable. The death of The Station was very much a tragedy for the music community. It had a very well- known open mic and offered free shows, so if you didn’t have a lot of money you could see a show and have a good time. It fostered the community.”

He continues, “Speakeasy does that now and so does The Cave, which has opened the door for a lot of people to see shows and [have] helped bring people in. And [that has] helped build opportunities for musicians that wouldn’t have them [otherwise] because it’s all about turnout, right? Our opportunities at The Cave led to opportunities in Raleigh, and that led to opportunities in Asheville at The 27 Club.”

Red October’s music is visceral. Get them on your CMF calendar and experience it for yourself! Also, keep an eye on Red October’s Bandcamp for their upcoming singles!