dave englund

vocals, guitar, irish bouzouki, dobro

dave englund is a singer/guitarist/songwriter whose writing inspiration comes from real-life stories of strangers and family alike. he plays acoustic and electric guitar, irish bouzouki, and dobro. he says every time he picks up an instrument there's a song there waiting to be heard. with a long-standing desire to work with a band with a wide musical color palette, in lieu of flowers delivers.

steve wolfe

vocals, bass guitar

steve wolfe is the bassist and provides much of the vocal harmonies for in lieu of flowers. by the time he discovered the beatles around the age of 10, he would pick out paul mccartney’s bass lines on his dad’s acoustic guitar and sing along. paul’s silly love songs had a major impact on steve and solidified the bass as a focal point of songwriting for him. steve has a wide range of bass influences, including james jamerson, bootsy collins and likes to emulate the style of joey spampinato of nrbq.   

chris  charyk

guitar, keyboards

chris charyk plays lead guitar and keyboards in the band. his musical approach has been informed by many contrasting musical styles, including modal jazz, bay area psychedelic rock, african guitar pop, experimental electronica, and outlaw country. his punk/new wave band the debutantes was a fixture in the local providence, ri music scene in the early 1980’s. chris led the jazz quintet blue sunday for many years while living in thetford, vt. today, chris is thrilled to be engaging his deep passion to grow, celebrate, re-discover and evolve music with in lieu of flowers.

ernie lau

violin, mandolin

ernie plays violin and mandolin in the band. he leans towards the classical side of playing violin as opposed to the standard bluegrass fiddle sound which adds a unique blend to the songs. he first picked up the violin at age 5. ernie was the drummer in a hardcore band and a jam band in his teens. he plays in an orchestra in norwood. he is inspired by violinist and songwriter, lindsey stirling.

mark vadnais

vocals, drums, percussion

a percussionist and vocalist, mark has performed with several national and local musicians. he performed on cruise ships and with show bands and toured with groups such as the drifters, the platters, and the coasters. inspired by steve gadd, a drummer who makes any project come alive with groove, feel, and overall greatness, as well as don henley, a singing drummer and songwriter who is able to play for the song, find the pocket, and add an amazing voice! mark holds a degree from berklee college of music, he is often sought out to do studio recordings with jazz and blues musicians.

jim wishart

pedal steel guitar