And it makes me sad
That I’m losing touch with you
I wish we had just one more memory so beautiful
It could make us turn
Come
Let’s finish what’s been dying to begin
Dohnraj is relaxed and non-intimidating in a good way. He’s tender. Can Rockstars be tender? He surely is. We talk about everything from past, present, future and God to his latest release- ‘Dying to Begin’.
At an intimate show in GK he gets on stage and announces cockily: ‘We’re as good as these records on display.’ The records on display were by The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Red Hot Chili Peppers. He lives up to those pretenses by being just as deeply lyrical as any of them.
Dohnraj’s music reminds me of Lou Reed. The poetry, nonchalance, flamboyance… The punk energy keeps leaking through his personality. His clothes are funky, tight and colorful. He carries himself well just like his songs…
Favorite book?
The book that changed my life was J Krishnamurthi’s Think on These Things…
Favorite writer?
Walt Whitman…
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Favorite song?
Beat It…
Favorites in the Scene?
The F16’s, Peter Cat Recording Co, Green Park, Shantanu Pandit, EXCISE DEPT…
How did you arrive at music?
Music isn’t a natural gift that I am following but more of a kind of a calling. It’s this something that I really love. I want to believe in a world where anybody can wake up any day and wake up with a dream and they can do it. You have to be the citizen of the world you believe.
I went to LA for music college. I picked up guitar at the age of 23…
My dad comes from a village near Bikaner. It took me two years to convince my parents that I had to do music. Communication really helps. We just need to talk and everybody has their language.
How was LA?
LA was a struggle. Struggling when you know you suck is the tough thing. I couldn’t sing. Nobody wanted me in an ensemble. I had this teacher who really believed in me. She told me that I had something in me. She stopped teaching right after I passed out… It’s like she was an angel…
How did you evolve in LA?
I learnt to play the guitar by myself. I learnt to produce my own music. I made and released my first EP in US…
I had a very sheltered childhood. No school picnics, no sleepovers. Staying at home gave me a strong imagination. Michael Jackson was my world. I must have heard that Thriller CD a thousand times…
I was born in two countries I could say. My name was changed from Dhananjai to Dhanraj by my mother. In LA they mispronounced my name Dhanraj and gave me a new name instead. That name was my rebirth as Dohnraj…
How did Dohnraj & The Peculiars come about?
You can’t have a band if you want to have a band. It’s like thinking I want to have a girlfriend. Something has to be aligned for the same kind of people to meet at the same time.
People reached out because I was putting myself out there. I got in touch with Arpan (Green Park) and then we were singing The Beatles on a call that lasted for hours…
Favorite lyric?
God is a concept
By which we measure our pain
Favorite lyric of yourself?
The world is just a load of
Bullshit and beauty
You gotta be so okay
With people calling you crazy
Do you believe in God?
My kind of God…
Tell me about Dying to Begin?
The song is about the everchanging nature of intimate relationships of any kind. This song aches, reflects, and hopes for a change, for understanding, maybe even for a new beginning born from all that went wrong.
There’s this line on the song that I love which goes- ‘I wish all this pain could go up in the sky and pour back as rain.’
What’s next?
Things Are Going Terrible… Title of my next single… (Laughter)
