The Substitutes

Hey there, we’re The Substitutes, but we are not here to teach you reading, writing, or arithmetic. We’re a Virginia Beach-based band who casually rocks out highly rad covers of some of your favorite slightly-obscure-yet–widely–beloved New Wave and Alternative Gen X jams, plus a few excellent contributions from the millennials. We may be middle-aged (or getting close),but lead vocalist Sarah Chappell is positively energetic on stage and knows how to hype up a crowd, with backup/co-vocalist and crazy-good drummer Eric Van De Wal, stellar bassist Steve Fedryk, and righteous lead guitarist John Cain. Sarah Chappell - Lead Vocals Sarah AKA “Ramblin’ Red” is a singer/songwriter and dancer who loves to perform and connect with audiences through music and movement. Growing up as a “baby Gen X/elder millennial” girl spending summers in the NC mountains, she was heavily influenced by Appalachian and Celtic Folk music, as well as 80s New Wave and 90s Alt Rock. She rocks a smooth but strong alto “bluesy” voice, and has written and performed songs in the folk genres as well as blues and rock. As a current solo project, she plays the mountain dulcimer and dabbles in other various Appalachian and Celtic instruments, and ranked among the top three in a Scottish Gaelic singing competition in one of the largest Celtic music festivals in the US. Prior to The Substitutes, she’s been the lead vocalist of 3 other bands in the past 10 years… An acoustic folk trio called The Common Folk, a studio Blues/Rock project called Sirens’ Psalm, and she is currently still at the helm of a blues/soul/funk/rock band called The ESSENTIALS. Sarah is an avid rambler and backpacker, and has hiked almost 1,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail, a 2,000+ mile foot path which begins in Georgia and ends in Maine. John Cain - Lead Guitar John was born in Chicago and grew up in Lockport, Illinois and Reston, Virginia, where he went to High School. He took up guitar at 14 years old and started playing in bands not much longer after that. After high school he attended Radford University where he received a BA in Music/Business and upon graduation he moved to Hampton Roads. John has been playing in local bands since 1997 and was most recently a founding member of the local band The Bay Rats in 2022, which he founded with Eric. He’s also an Avid Birder and Nature Lover. Steve Fedryk - Bass Guitar Steve was raised here in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. His mother, aunt, and grandmother were all pianists, and his uncle was a jazz drummer, so he was exposed to music and developed musicality very early on. He is a multi-instrumentalist, he got his first drum set as a young kid, and then learned to play guitar in his early 20s. In his youth he was heavily influenced by bands like Kiss. He loved heavy metal and punk rock and enjoyed simply having fun with music. He would often record original songs and play all of the instruments, and was in his first band singing heavy metal in the early 90s. He continued to form heavy metal or punk bands through the 90s, either as a singer, guitarist, or drummer, and occasional bassist. Around 2019 he helped form a band called OCX, they played mostly originals, and by that time Steve had decided the bass guitar was his instrument of choice. Last year (2024) he helped Sarah form another band called The Essentials, and they are still jamming whenever they can in Sarah’s garage, playing rock, blues, soul, and funk, and working on originals. Eric Van De Wal – Drums / Vocals Originally from Northern NJ, Eric’s experience playing in bands is as wide as his musical tastes. Eric started playing out live with NJ’s Rockin’ Blues Band “Burning Mojo” in the late 1980’s. He then played with The Jersey Shore Surf Rock band “The Sting Rays” through the 1990’s, then on with the New York based rockers “Blabbermouth” to end the decade before founding the New York metro area’s “The Unsaleables” in 2000. A move to Charlotte NC in 2013 found Eric playing with the all original recording artists “The Koyotes”. The next move to Hampton Roads found Eric playing with the local cover band “Powerdaze” before forming “The Bay Rats” with John Cain in 2022. Eric enjoys skiing and plays ce hockey.