MUSICAL BIO:

I’m an Australian recording artist, songwriter, guitarist and visual artist. My music has always wandered somewhere between folk, rock, blues and roots, usually led by a guitar. Over the years I’ve released two studio albums and an EP, contributed to collaborative records, worked with some wonderful musicians and producers, and taken my music to audiences both here in Australia and overseas.

I was also a founding member of Heavy Yen, a collaborative musical project spearheaded by Matt Tonks and shaped by his remarkable songwriting and musical vision.

Soft Side of Dark | 2007

My debut album, Soft Side of Dark, was released in collaboration with Bruiser Jones Records and released by MGM. I wrote the album and performed lead vocals and guitar, with Lachlan Mitchell producing and recording it to analogue tape at Electric Avenue Studios in Camperdown, Sydney. Lachlan also mixed the record, and William Bowden mastered it.

A terrific group of musicians joined me on the album, adding their own unique flavours, including Kate Adams on cello, Hunter Brown on keyboards, Brian Cachia on drums, Stu West on harmonica, trumpet and horns, and Kenny Feather on bass. Peter Northcote and Leroy Lee also contributed guitar performances.

The album received generous support from radio and reviewers, and my band and I toured it throughout Sydney and the Mid North Coast of New South Wales. One highlight of that period was playing nine headline shows as a full band at The Basement in Circular Quay, a venue I loved performing at.

The record also travelled a little further than I expected. Three tracks were licensed for use in Channel Seven’s Home and Away, while my song Liar found an audience in the United States after being selected for Brad Pitt’s local artist program, where it received significant radio airplay.

Soft Side of Dark was an important record for me. It gave me the chance to find my feet as a songwriter, singer and guitarist, and laid much of the groundwork for what came next.

Highway Heart | 2012

In 2012, I released my second studio album, Highway Heart. I wrote the album and gigged it profusely before recording. I eventually teamed up with producer Syd Green, and we recorded it at MonoNest Studio in Sanctuary Point, NSW.

I performed lead vocals, guitar and piano, while Syd played drums and percussion, bass guitar, lap slide guitar and backing vocals. The album was mastered by Rick O’Neil at Turtlerock Mastering in Sydney.

Among the songs on Highway Heart was our interpretation of the Rose Tattoo classic Rock ’n’ Roll Outlaw. Syd and I received permission from Rose Tattoo bassist and songwriter Geordie Leach to record the song, which meant a great deal to us. We loved the original, but wanted to take it somewhere that felt distinctly our own.

We toured Highway Heart through Melbourne and Sydney, while several tracks from the album, including Lonely, New Year’s Day, Too Small To Be A Boat and Rock ’n’ Roll Outlaw, received significant radio airplay.

For the live shows (post-record release), we did something a little unusual and built the band around two drum kits, with Ned Wu and Syd both playing drums alongside me on vocals and guitar. It gave the songs a completely different energy on stage and became a defining feature of those shows.

Highway Heart felt like a natural progression from my first album. I was becoming more confident in the studio and more adventurous with the kind of music I wanted to make, while keeping songwriting and guitar at the heart of it.

The Caribbean Sessions | 2014

In 2014, Syd Green and I set out to make a rather different kind of record, this time on the Caribbean island of Anguilla.

The Caribbean Sessions was conceived and recorded on the island, with the environment becoming as much a part of the project as the songs themselves. I wrote the original material, except for track two, Sting’s Walking on the Moon, and played all guitars, vocals, and an assortment of less conventional instruments, including rum bottles, toilet rolls, and pebble shakers. Syd played drums and percussion and recorded, mixed, produced and mastered the EP.

We recorded wherever we could, experimenting with sounds and often fashioning instruments from found objects such as conch shells, or borrowing whatever we could from kind and generous locals. Recording locations included a hand-built church in the heart of Anguilla, the ÀNI Art Academy and Wallblake House, a historic plantation house near the island’s capital.

The EP was predominantly instrumental, with my acoustic guitar at the centre of the recordings alongside Syd’s steel pan, drums and percussion. Inevitably, the Caribbean found its way into the music. Folk, rock and reggae began rubbing shoulders in ways we probably wouldn’t have discovered had we made the record back home.

Two tracks received particularly strong airplay. Hey Little Buddy broke away from the largely instrumental nature of the EP, bringing rock vocals and electric guitar into the mix alongside steel pan. We recorded and filmed the song in one take. Check out the video clip here.

We also recorded our own interpretation of The Police classic Walking on the Moon, after receiving publishing permission to release it. We introduced steel pan, reworked the middle section and let Syd loose on the drums, nudging the song further towards reggae while still respecting what made the original so good. Check out the "making of" video here.

Rik “Bongo” Davidson added bass to the final mix back in Sydney, and Syd mastered the track at MonoNest Studio in Sanctuary Point, NSW.

We launched The Caribbean Sessions in 2014 to a full house at The Vanguard in Newtown. I was on vocals and guitar, joined by Niveen on trumpet, Ned Wu on drums, Stu West on harmonica, Syd Green on steel pan and Rik “Bongo” Davidson on bass.

It remains one of the more unusual, adventurous and enjoyable records I’ve had the opportunity to make.

Touring and Do-Ré-Mi

Alongside recording, I spent many years performing and touring. I played extensively around Australia and also toured as a solo artist through Ireland and the United Kingdom. Sydney was home for much of that time, and I spent years playing its live music circuit, sometimes alone with a guitar and sometimes with a full band behind me.

In 2018, I was invited to join iconic Australian band Do-Ré-Mi as lead guitarist, taking on the role previously held by Stephen Philip.

Stepping into the guitar chair of a band with such an important place in Australian music was both exciting and a considerable responsibility.

The re-imagined Do-Ré-Mi subsequently joined Icehouse, The Church, The Sunnyboys and Mental As Anything for the national East Coast By The C concert tour.

The lineup brought original members Deborah Conway on vocals and Helen Carter on bass, together with Julia Day on drums, Clio Renner on keyboards and me on lead guitar, creating an entirely female lineup and a new incarnation of the band.

My time with Do-Ré-Mi saw me playing to some of the largest audiences of my musical career and sharing stages with artists and bands whose music had been part of the Australian landscape for decades.

It was a pretty remarkable chapter of my life, and one I’m very glad I got to be part of.

Music and Art

These days I’m based in Canberra, ACT, where I teach guitar and work full-time as a visual artist.

Painting eventually became the main focus of my working life, but music never really went anywhere. I still play guitar, and I still teach. I’ll always be obsessed with music.

Looking back, I’ve made records I’m proud of, worked with some remarkable people, toured at home and overseas, played some extraordinary stages and spent most of my life making things.

Music and painting might seem like two different careers, but to me they’ve always come from much the same place. Both are about composition, rhythm, atmosphere and instinct, and trying, in whatever way I can, to make something that feels authentic.

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The ÀNI Art Acadamy, Anguilla

Welcoming Deb Conway on stage for Do Re Mi's set at the By The C concert. Coolangatta

By The C. Newcastle

By The C. Geelong

By The C. Adelaide

ALBUMS:

Studio Albums

Soft Side Of Dark

Highway Heart

The Caribbean Sessions

Late Night Fast Train

My YouTube Channel

Bridie guitar solo. By The C, Geelong 2019

The Heavy Yen Project - Featuring Matt Tonks

Recording in a hand-built church, Anguilla, 2014

Learn more about Bridie here > The Beobe Story.