SIXTEEN-year-old Jeff Walker spent nearly 30 years on a floppy disk, locked away in a cupboard before Denis Gray rescued the main character of his debut novel, “Movin’ On”. 

Jeff is a “typical” ‘70s kid.

He rides a dirt bike, listens to rock music and loves his mum.

His dead-end town gives him no real direction. That is, until he discovers his talent for poetry. 

When he first shows his writing to his mother, she says: “I didn’t know you could write!” 

When Denis’ own mother read an early draft of his novel, she said the same thing.

Denis, 51, professes to not be “of the modern age”, harking back in his book and in his own life to a “simpler time” when most kids were into music, carried radios and had photos of their favourite artists plastered on the bedroom wall.

Raised in Sydney during the ’70s, Denis says there was always music being played in the house. As a young adult, he followed bands on tour, produced a music-focused zine and even started his own record label. 

More recently, he hosted the “Australian Rock Show” podcast.

“With rock ‘n’ roll running through my veins, music was always going to play a big part in this book,” he says.

“Movin’ On” was first written in 1993, when Denis was in his early twenties. But it wouldn’t see the light of day just yet.

Music may have been Denis’ first love, but his passion for poetry has been just as enduring.

In his final years of high school, Denis discovered poetry and it opened up his world just as it would Jeff’s.

“Some of the characters in the book have been living in the back of my mind for so many years, so it’s very satisfying to finally publish the book and share those characters with others,” he says.

There were some hurdles to overcome first, though.

The man who first wrote of Jeff Walker all those years ago was not the man in lockdown with his two kids.

“I’m an older man now with more experiences, that’s not how I would view the world,” Denis says of his earlier iteration.

Over six long months, Denis pored over his novel, rewriting it five times. 

“I was committed to lock myself away and live in ‘77,” when the novel is set, he says.

He surrounded himself with classic rock bands such as ACDC, Aerosmith and Heart.

But, in truth, the ‘70s had never really left Denis.

“In some ways I’ve never grown up,” he says.

After seeing 1980s German rock band Scorpions last year, Denis proudly says he’s seen every band he’d want to see live.

He says he lives his life by the Japanese idea of “Danshari”, meaning “to simplify your life,” not to clutter it with stuff.

In that vein, Denis claims that rescuing “Movin’ On” from the cupboard was his own way of simplifying, breathing life into something left dormant for so long.

What’s next? Well, Denis has a series of children’s books, penned before the first draft of “Movin’ On” and stowed away just as it had been.

“They’ll happen”, Denis says confidently.

“Movin’ On” is available from online booksellers (rrp $33).