Alex Storer Goes Inside Outside

In this interview, I speak with Alex Storer about his book Inside Outside: The Deconstruction of David Bowie’s Gothic Hypercycle, an examination of the development, making and legacy of Bowie’s 1995 album 1. Outside and the tour that followed. Alex explains that the book reaches back to Bowie’s position at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, traces the development of the Leon project into Outside, and considers the album’s subsequent history.

We discuss what makes Outside different from many other Bowie albums. Rather than simply presenting a collection of songs, it combines music, spoken passages and fiction surrounding detective Nathan Adler’s investigation into the ritual art-murder of 14-year-old Baby Grace Blue. Alex discusses the Nathan Adler Diaries, their origins in the Leon project, and Bowie’s decision to construct a deliberately incomplete and nonlinear narrative. The songs are assigned to different characters and offer fragments, clues and red herrings rather than a conventional solution to the mystery, while still allowing listeners to disregard the narrative and experience the songs independently.

Another major theme is the historical setting in which Outside appeared. We discuss the pre-millennial anxiety reflected in the album and Bowie’s interest in being at a crossroads between centuries. Alex also describes the musical environment of the mid-1990s, when Britpop, grunge, alternative rock and emerging electronic music occupied much of the contemporary landscape and concept albums had largely fallen from fashion. Against that background, Bowie and Brian Eno deliberately pursued something different.

We also consider the creative path that led Bowie to Outside, particularly the importance of The Buddha of Suburbia. Alex describes Bowie’s rapid working methods on that album as a return to an approach associated with his Berlin-period recordings and discusses its role as a bridge between Black Tie White Noise and Outside. We discuss Bowie’s use of characters and masks, the theatrical ambitions behind the Outside project, and his longstanding interest in creating work that combined music, narrative and performance.

The Outside tour is another major part of our conversation. Alex discusses Bowie’s decision to emphasize new material and less familiar older songs rather than rely on his biggest hits, his American dates with Nine Inch Nails, and his determination to resist becoming a legacy act.

Finally, Alex explains how he researched and designed the book, drawing on contemporary interviews and reviews, the Leon recordings, Outside and its associated releases, live recordings, conversations with people involved in the project, and material from Bowie’s archive. We also discuss Alex’s work as a graphic designer, illustrator and musician and his effort to create a visually distinctive book that reflects the dark aesthetic of Outside.