Dave Warner Dave Warner i(A17076 works by) (a.k.a. David Robert Warner)
Born: Established: 1955 Bicton, Melville area, South West Perth, Perth, Western Australia, ;
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Singer/songwriter, musician and writer. Warner has published crime fiction, the screenplays for various films and television episodes, children's fiction, and musical theatre.

Dave Warner grew up in Perth, Western Australia, and was educated at Aquinas College in South Perth. He then attended the University of Western Australia, where in 1973 he founded the band Pus. Heavily influenced by radical '60s New York activist band, The Fugs, Pus might best be described as a precursor to the punk rock movement. In 1975, having graduated with a BA (Hons), majoring in Psychology, Warner went to the United Kingdom, and while living in London wrote many new songs which expressed a clearly-defined vision of Australia.

By 1977, when punk had become a defined sub-cultural movement in the UK and USA, Warner had already moved away from its core sensibilities and began to explore a style that infused classic rock structures and social commentary which he dubbed Suburban Rock. His band 'Dave Warner's From the Suburbs' scored a major hit in Australia that year with the single "Suburban Boy," taken from the album Mug's Game (1978). From the Suburbs then released Free Kicks (1979) before disbanding. Warner put together another line-up and released Correct Weight (1979) and This is My Planet (1981).

By the mid-1980s, tired of touring, Warner began writing fiction, poetry, reviews, musicals, and for film and television while continuing to perform. His live shows invariably included readings from his novels, plays and performance poetry. In 1982, his revue, The Sensational Sixties started to tour large suburban hotels. Warner wrote and appeared in a musical, The Sixties and All That Pop (1985) and later that same year wrote the rock musical Planet Pres, put on by the Western Australian Theatre Company (WATC). In 1987 Warner managed and wrote songs for a female trio, Pleasure Principle. He also wrote and performed the one-man show Australian Heroes, and appeared in minor roles in the films Boundaries of the Heart (1988) and Boys in the Island (1989).

Among Warner's other works are at least seven novels, several non-fiction books and four screenplays: Cut (2000), which stars Molly Ringwald and Kylie Minogue; Balmain Boys (TV, 2002), Garage Days (2002) and Restraint (2008). He has also co-written scripts for the TV drama series Going Home, the short TV feature Roll, a number of episodes for McLeod's Daughters, and one episode for Packed To The Rafters.


Australian Writing and Rock Music affiliation: songwriter, journalist, manager, vocals, guitar.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon River of Salt Fremantle : Fremantle Press , 2019 14974589 2019 single work novel crime

'Life in Coral Shoals is perfect and Blake is a new man - running a club called the Surf Shack, and playing nights there with his surf music band, The Twang. But then a young woman's body is found at a local motel, a matchbook from the Surf Shack on her bedside table. When Blake's friend is arrested for her murder and the local sergeant doesn't want to know, it becomes clear that it is up to Blake - a man who knows about cold-blooded killing - to protect his corner of paradise.'  (Publication summary)

2020 shortlisted Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing Best Novel
y separately published work icon Clear to the Horizon North Fremantle : Fremantle Press , 2017 11609837 2017 single work novel thriller detective

'In 1999 and 2000, three young women disappear from outside the Autostrada nightclub in the Perth suburb of Claremont. The knockabout Snowy Lane (City of Light) is hired as a private investigator but neither he nor the cops can find the abductor.

'Seventeen years on, the daughter of a wealthy mining magnate goes missing in the north-west, and Snowy is hired to find her.

'In the tropical town of Broome, a spate of local thefts puts Snowy and Detective Inspector Dan Clement (Before It Breaks) back on the trail of the cold-case killer.

'Snowy is determined that this time he will get his man, even if it costs him his life.' (Publication summary)

2019 longlisted International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
2018 longlisted Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing Best Novel
y separately published work icon Before It Breaks North Fremantle : Fremantle Press , 2015 8141981 2015 single work novel thriller detective

'Detective Daniel Clement is back in Broome, licking his wounds from a busted marriage and struggling to be impressed by his new team of small-town cops. Here, in the oasis on the edge of the desert, life is as stagnant as Clement’s latest career move.

'But when a body is discovered at a local fishing spot, it is clearly not the result of a crocodile attack. Somewhere in Broome is a hunter of a different kind.

'As more bodies are found, Clement races to solve a decades-old mystery before a monster cyclone hits.' (Publication summary)

2016 winner Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing Best Novel
Last amended 30 May 2023 15:14:33
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