Tue, 9 February 2010
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Expatica meets cult Scottish musician and Berlin expat Momus - and his rabbit.Momus and Baker
The first thing I see when Momus opens the door of his flat in Berlin's Neukoelln district is a large, black rabbit sitting on the wooden floor. 
I was not expecting to see a rabbit. Somehow I had never imagined that the oft-controversial Scottish musician and writer, who made his name with albums like 1988's Tender Pervert, would have a pet rabbit.
But, as Momus explains as he ushers me through to his living room, the rabbit is not as cuddly as he seems. Baker (his original name was Topo, and Momus's Japanese girlfriend has never accepted the name Baker, which sounds too much like 'baka', the Japanese word for idiot *) is a Lion Head and has a fierce bite. I should be careful where I put my fingers, Momus says.
Magazine pages pasted to the corners of the living room walls at rabbit height testify to where Baker's teeth have already been wreaking havoc. Other pages from Japanese magazines constitute the wallpaper on an entire wall. Ikea storage boxes, which I recognise from a recent posting on Momus's popular Berlin blog Click Opera, are stacked around the room.
If the flat is a little sparsely-furnished, it is partly because he has just moved in, but also because he barely stops moving long enough to get established in one city--he says he has boxes in storage in several places.
Originally from Edinburgh, Momus (aka Nick Currie) left Scotland straight after university--it turns out we both went to Aberdeen University and even took some of the same courses--and has spent the last couple of decades in London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, and now, since 2003, Berlin ("I have this very complicated CV," he says).
Glamorous and liberal
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