Berlin Stories

Canadian-born Trevor Lee Larson serves as a prime example of the unfettered and unpressured way in which this city’s young individualists live.

“It’s great to have the free time and the space to have a music studio and also to paint,” he says. “But sometimes there’s so much time you can get monumentally depressed.” Fortunately, as an artist and a musician, he’s able to take on plenty of projects — such as a recent music festival at HBC that featured 20 artists in six hours — and also teaches rock guitar to kids.

His own solo electric guitar sound doesn’t reflect the capital’s prevalent electronic style, though he did go on the road with the techno band Circlesquare. Since then, he and Marcus Ekroth have assembled a new band called Starving, which he describes as a “mix of Italian film music, actual thrash, plus a touch of psychedelic.” What prompted the name? “We’re starved for something new.”

GO-TO SHOP: Pale Blue Eyes. Co-owned by Marcus Ekroth, Pale Blue Eyes opened five years ago on the burgeoning youth boulevard Kastanienallee. Although it specializes in Swedish brands, the tiny shop carries a varied assortment, including Cheap Monday, Velour, Mini Market, Dr. Denim, Lee, Resteröds and Julian Red. Larson — who made the store’s sheet metal display table, using a flame thrower to give it a blue sheen — notes that his Cheap Monday jeans came from this store. He calls them “the only legitimate purchase I’ve made this year.”

FAVORITE BOITE: Würgengel. Named for the Luis Bunuel film The Exterminating Angel, this Kreuzberg bar offers nicely priced cocktails: the Berlin Station Chill (gin and malt whiskey), the Bunueloni (Punt e Mes, vermouth, gin) and the Corpse Reviver (brandy, Fernet Branca, crème de menthe). Still, Larson prefers a simple vodka and soda.

SECRET LONGING: “Good question,” he says. But apparently not one that deserves an answer.

WHERE TO RELAX: The spa at Bad Saarow. “You can hear the wind from the forest when you’re out in the pool,” Larson says. “Plus, I heard you can go tree climbing there. Which could be interesting: I’m terri- fied of heights.