The Substitutes

Hey there, we’re The Substitutes. We’re a Virginia Beach-based band who energetically rocks out highly rad covers of some of your favorite (but not worn out) New Wave and Alternative Gen X jams, plus a few excellent contributions from the millennials. We may be middle-aged (or getting close),but with strong lead vocalist Sarah Chappell, crazy-good drummer Eric Van De Wal, stellar bassist Steve Fedryk, and righteous lead guitarist John Cain, this band can keep an audience's attention and keep them in your venue longer. 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. Stephen Bittner - Lead Guitar Steve’s been a fixture of the Virginia Beach music scene since the early 90s, bending strings and breaking hearts back when flannel was a lifestyle choice, and hair product was serious business. Legend has it he was plucked from obscurity during a heated air guitar battle at Flipper McCoys arcade. Later, while others were chasing high scores on Pac-Man, he was chasing the perfect distortion tone, a quest that led him through local legend bands like Rock Candy, Asphalt Jungle, and Radio 80s. Keeper of the lost art of the “power stance” and a true prophet of retro riffs, he is the six-string time traveler we didn't know we needed. He remembers a time when the Oceanfront clubs were packed every weekend and music was loud, live, and sticky. When he's not busy nailing the perfect U2 delay effect, you can find him meticulously organizing his cassette collection or arguing about the definitive best Soundgarden album. He brings decades of experience, unparalleled authenticity, and an impressive collection of Doc Martens. Stephen is here to remind you that music was better when you had to physically rewind it. He’s a walking encyclopedia of 80s hair metal and 90s grunge trivia, though he frequently forgets his own social security number. Come witness a true VB original channel the ghosts of alternative music past, one meticulously curated riff at a time, and just try to convince him that the 90s are actually over. 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 ice hockey.