Well, how come you only want tomorrow…
Tomorrow’s S:2 magazine (the magazine of the UK’s Sunday Express newspaper) has a preview of the interview with Gary Crowley that David has given for Monday’s ‘VH1 Reveals: David Bowie’, which airs at 8.00PM on VH1. (10/31/02 NEWS: PREMIERE – VH1 REVEALS: DAVID BOWIE)
The magazine sports a gorgeous Frank Ockenfels shot of David on the cover and a three-page feature inside under the heading “Starman at 55”. I won’t give too much away right now, but here’s a few short excerpts from the interview:
?I come to the UK more often than people imagine,? he says, sitting in the lobby of London?s Metropolitan Hotel wearing jeans and a charcoal sweater, and looking very relaxed. ?It?s quite easy to maintain a low profile,? Bowie insists, ?I don?t believe people who say, ?Oh, I can?t stand the pressure of fame,? and all that. It?s easy to avoid it ? Iman and I spend our entire relationship avoiding it with no real effort, actually.?
Alexandria also appears to have galvanised a commitment to fitness, exercise and meditation, and last year he even quit his 60-a-day smoking habit. ?She has probably reined in my natural negativity,? he says. ?I tend to have a certain kind of resignation about the way we live and how we are, which doesn?t buy into the idea we?re evolving or going somewhere. But I?ve forced myself to see things through my daughter?s eyes in terms of her survival and what kind of society she?s going to grow up in. So I?ve become very paternal and protective and that has started to affect my writing.?
He is certainly grateful for the many young bands who cite him as an influence, often telling their fans to go and buy some of his most notable recordings. ?The average age of a fan on www.bowie.net* is between 19 and 30, as it tends to be a younger person that uses the Internet rather than someone my age,? he says with a smile. ?But I couldn?t write anything specifically for today?s 18-year-old. At no stage has my work been particularly generational ? I sing broadly about things like isolation or the alienated in some way. That has been a godsend in a way, because my subject matter doesn?t have to change. I can carry on talking about the things that I feel and think about the most.”
So, don’t forget to nip out and get yourself a copy of the Sunday Express tomorrow morning, it’s a great piece with loads of colour pix and this little bit of re-written history:
The reviews hailed it [‘Heathen’] as the best thing from Bowie for a very long time and it won the Mercury Prize for music.
Of course, even though ‘Heathen’ was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize 2002, we all know that it didn’t actually win… Though I do have a feeling that the error won’t do too much damage to DB’s reputation. };-)
*I’m certain the URL mistake is the magazine’s, David will have said BowieNet, as he usually does.