It’s no easy feat to find an artist who can jump disciplines convincingly; show me a writer who can paint, a musician who can sculpt, or a poet that can sing and I’ll show you an exception to the rule. However, in Dave Barbarossa we have one such anomaly; after drumming on the best post-punk album (Dirk Wears White Søx) Dave went on to have a varied career, playing with the likes of Bow Wow Wow and Republica whilst racking up a host of accolades. Swapping his drumsticks for quill, Dave has made the transition from drummer to author effortlessly and his second book, Mute, evidences a writer with a unique voice.

They say you should write about what you know and Dave Barbarossa has produced a novel that explores the dark underbelly of the music industry. Populated by music lovers and chancers in equal measure, Mute’s characters are three-dimensional and totally believable. While inspiration may have been drawn from real people (but not too closely, no one wants to be sued or anything) you feel that this novel is almost autobiographical in nature with the light and shade that balances the book representing both sides of Dave’s persona (I’d suggest that characters called “Corbossa” are thinly disguised allusions to the self). But whatever the reason, the people who inhabit these pages become living entities and you’ll build relationships with them as you turn the pages.

This is a book that’s written with music fans in mind and there are plenty of nods to popular culture and not only the late ‘90s/turn of the millennium when this book is set, but also the ‘70s with passages hinting at The Eagles (“dark desert highways”), Adam And The Ants (“Cuban heels”) and The Buzzcocks (“ever fallen in love”). It’s that fluidity between fact and fiction that allows Dave to play with time and the cyclical nature of this book concerns the relationships between characters, like wheels within wheels, and how the seeds we plant in our past can shape our present.

That Dave has jumped disciplines with apparent ease shouldn’t come as a surprise because there’s a rhythm to punctuation that’s also present in music; the commas and full stops act as markers to help the text flow, in a similar way that a drummer will drive a track. Of course, it’s not an easy skill to master but Dave’s schooling as a drummer has definitely given his prose that rhythmic quality, as with the very best song he knows how to build tension before…pow, releasing information at the optimum moment. That gives Mute an easy flow, even when mimicking polyrhythms where multiple storylines intersect and weave together, the main thread remains easy to follow. It’s that masking of complexity as simplicity is the cornerstone of a great musician and, indeed, a great writer.

Ultimately, Mute is a story of hope and redemption, and they are themes to which we can all relate and that means Mute speaks volumes.

• Mute is published on 6th December 2024 by Astral Horizon Press.