“Sorry about that. I just picked up while you hung up,” remarks Irish drummer Audrey Bridgeman, laughing.

We’ve just played a comically long game of phone tag. In her typical amiable form, she takes the hitch in her stride – she’s not one to get caught up in the minutiae.

“It’s funny,” she says with a chuckle. She’s like that – kind, easygoing, gracious.

Audrey’s father is legendary rock drummer Noel Bridgeman – recognised for his work with Skid Row and The Waterboys among many others – but nowadays Audrey has a pretty formidable reshumé of her own. The Dublin-based musician is known for her work with a diverse range of acts, including Celtic Thunder, The Pale, Mik Pyro and Pucho and His Latin Soul Brothers. Last year she released her debut record Fire in Your Soul, an eleven track mix of jazz, blues and Afro-Cuban rhythms – with Audrey handling vocal duties. Her most recent release is the aptly titled ‘The Bridge, Man,’ a collaboration with guitarist Gerry Hendricks.

Audrey Bridgeman was just eight years old when she started playing the piano. While it developed her ear and an awareness of time signatures, it was an instrument, she confesses, that she never fully clicked with. At fourteen, however, she progressed to drums – at first, as an expression of a girlhood rivalry with her sister who had picked up the instrument a few months previously.

“When I saw her I just thought ‘Oh, I’m gonna have a go at that and try and be better’,” Audrey recounts playfully. “But then she gave it up, and I continued.”

It comes as a surprise that Audrey’s inspiration was her sister, rather than her acclaimed father.

“I know,” she agrees. “It’s bizarre.”

When asked what she thought about her dad’s career during her early childhood, Audrey laughs.

“I just found it a bit irritating,” she remarks. “My dad practised on a practise pad, and it used to annoy me – the noise. I used to go ‘Oh god, that’s really annoying, dad – STOP!’”

As a result, Noel was quite surprised when she started playing; he was also “really supportive.” From when she was fourteen on, the two often played together. It was a formative influence for Audrey.

“We’d set up the two drum kits… I’d play congas. He’d play drums. Then we’d switch,” she says. “Then we’d play two drum kits together, so that was brilliant. That was a great way of learning and improving because you just pick up so much by ear.

“Oftentimes, he’d play a break and then I’d copy him – you know, like a call and response kind of thing. Sometimes we’d play the same break at the same time without even thinking of it, and we’d have a little giggle.”

It’s clear that Audrey now reveres her dad’s exceptional talent.

“When my dad started out, he was really a natural player. He had lots of speed, grace, agility around the kit – great versatility…”

At the end of the 1960s, he was signed to a major label with Skid Row – a band that, following the departure of lead singer Philip Lynott, featured Brush Shiels on bass and the late Gary Moore on guitar. When that adventure ran aground, he was in and out of various bands and showbands and began doing sessions – over the years, he played variously with Mary Black, Jackson Browne, Steve Earle, Paul Brady, The Chieftains, Sharon Shannon and The Corrs – as well as The Waterboys.

“His thing was to focus on playing things slowly,” Audrey says, “really knowing what you’re playing, learning things properly, developing rhythmic ideas and language – as opposed to just learning a few rudiments and playing them at speed. He was more into the groove, the importance of keeping time, and listening to other people to make sure that you’re complementing what they’re playing.

“He knew that to really master an instrument you have to be able to take a step back and go back to the roots of it, go back to the source. The first drums were African, and Asian obviously. Drums are primitive instruments in that sense – it was slaves who brought the African drums to Cuba.”

Audrey’s own sense of sound is anchored in Afro-Cuban and Latin-Jazz rhythms. There is a subtlety to the approach that is often missed in rock music.

“I think a lot of European drummers focus on the rudiments, but then they forget about the basics of where rhythm has really come from,” she explains. “That’s Africa.”

Audrey initially got involved in playing Latin music here in Ireland by joining a Cuban/ Irish collective around Dublin. She the travelled to Havana to study at the Escuela Nacional de Arte.

“It was brilliant,” she says, adding “it was great for me because a lot of women played. I could see that a lot of women were studying percussion and drums – and all sorts of instruments that are normally male-dominated.”

Audrey notes that the Irish scene was governed by male voices at the time, and she struggled to find opportunities.

“I thought it would be a completely different landscape in terms of women playing,” she says, discussing Ireland. “But it’s not really the case. Part of it is the macho kinda vibe, which I definitely did come across.

“That’s a fact,” she laughs. “You know what I mean – you don’t go looking for it.

“I definitely believed it was harder for me. I just think that the man, or the fella, would get asked first. That’s kinda why I started playing congas, to be honest, to kinda add another string to my bow. If I wasn’t going to get opportunities playing drums, then I could play congas, and that could make me a bit more marketable.”

According to Audrey, her dad used to tell her: “You’re going to have to play as well as the guys to get half the credit, or twice as good as them to get the same credit.” Turns out that he was right.

“You try not to take things personally,” she says. “The best thing for me to do is get better, and to try and do my own thing.”

Noel Bridgeman remains a legend on the Irish scene. In many ways he was the drummer’s drummer. It is no surprise then that, in May, a myriad of performers will come together in Dublin’s 3Olympia Theatre for a special concert to celebrate his life and career.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” says Audrey, who is quick to thank everyone involved, including (among a cast of thousands!) Brush Shiels of Skid Row, The Waterboys, singers Mary Black, Mary Coughlan, Mary Stokes and star of Les Miserables, Colm Wilkinson, with whom Noel played at US army bases in Germany, back in the 60s.

“It really really means a lot,” Audrey says graciously.  “I’m actually excited to see everybody play. It’s just a great lineup, you know. It’s like a musical journey... It’ll be blues, maybe a little bit of jazz, trad, mixed with rock.”

She is especially enthusiastic that the 1989 line-up of The Waterboys will be appearing.

“They haven’t played together since that time – that’s over thirty years,” she says. “It’s brilliant. That’s the lineup that my dad was a part of, so it’s going to be really exciting.”

Noel Bridgeman joined The Waterboys alongside accordionist extraordinaire Sharon Shannon, when the band was living in Ireland, and exploring Irish folk and traditional music. He played tambourine and congas, as a session player, on Fisherman’s Blues (1988) – often cited as one of the greatest Irish albums of all time, despite the fact that lead singer Mike Scott (who, by the way, features on Audrey’s own album) is from Scotland – and was fully installed in the drum seat for the sprawling Room To Roam (1990). Noel was a fine singer too: his voice can be heard on the Room to Roam track ‘A Life of Sundays’, a minor US hit for the band.

All of which will doubtless be recalled, with great affection – and lots of emotion – during the 3Olympia gig. The proceeds from the night will go to St. Francis Hospital, a hospice that specialises in palliative care. Noel passed away in the Raheny branch in March 2021.

“That’s why we wanted to do the gig,” Audrey says. “When you have someone who is dying, it’s so important that they’re being looked after as well as they possibly can be. They really have the right people working there. They really value what they do.”

Remembering Noel Bridgeman will, of course, also be a fitting memorial to one of the outstanding Irish musicians of his era. It is one that could well go down in Irish rock lore...

Noel's Star-Studded CV:

Here’s a small selection of the acts Noel played with over the course of his remarkable career...

Skid Row
Alongside Brush Shiels, Philip Lynott and Bernard Cheevers, Noel made Irish rock history as part of the original line-up of Skid Row. The band went through numerous line-ups and several major changes – but nonetheless blazed a remarkable trail for the Irish bands to come, with international tours and a deal with CBS Records.

Mary Black
A bona-fide star of Irish music – and the recipient of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the latest RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards – the Dublin singer worked closely with Noel over the years. “In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Noel was crucial in bringing our recordings to life with his playing and singing,” Mary reflected.

The Waterboys
Noel worked with the band on their legendary albums Fisherman’s Blues (1988) and Room To Roam (1990). Apparently, he took everyone by surprise when he revealed his accordion skills on ‘Killing My Heart’ – though he also played the instrument on Christy Moore’s Ordinary Man (1985).

Sharon Shannon
After teaming up on The Waterboys’ Room To Roam, Noel and Sharon joined forces again on numerous occasions over the years. He appeared on several of her albums, including the iconic The Diamond Mountain Sessions in the early ‘00s, which featured John Prine, Jackson Browne, Steve Earle and more.

Donovan
Noel is among the big-name guests on the iconic Co. Cork resident’s latest album, 2022’s Gaelia – also featuring Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, Sharon Shannon, Steve Cooney, Nigel Kennedy, Eleanor McEvoy and more.

...And that’s barely scratching the surface of Noel’s discography. He also worked with The Chieftains, Van Morrison, The Mary Stokes Band, Henry McCullough, Dónal Lunny, Granny’s Intentions and many more...

Remembering Noel Bridgeman begins at 8pm on Thursday, May 4 at the 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin.