Most artistes like sticking to one genre and keeping things simple when it comes to making music. Here is someone who does not want to follow the ‘master of one’ rule. When he is not Aqua Dominatrix, spinning dark techno and synthpop tunes for pumped up crowds, Mumbai-based Akshay Rajpurohit plays the guitar for metal bands Scribe and Pangea.
The dual avatar entertainer was in the city recently to perform at Koramangala Social. On the claim behind the name for his electronic persona, he laughs and says, “It is a long story,” and summarises: “I am a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes. Irene Adler, one of the characters in the show, is called the Dominatrix. She was my main influence in picking the name because I like her and that was the attitude I was going for with this persona.”
In was in 2005 that Akshay recalls beginning to create music in synthpop when he decided to do something different with his music.
“I have always done synth parts for both Scribe and Pangea. I use synthesisers as a base to fill tracks. They were never the main parts; they were always in the background adding layers and a textural variety to the sound, which otherwise would have contained only guitars. Every band uses synthesisers now. I wanted to see what synth would sound like without guitars; with their own identity instead of just background music.” As Aqua Dominatrix, Akshay experiments with synthesisers moving into the space of dark techno and synthpop. He has performed across the country as Aqua, apart from also performing with Scribe and Pangea.
On fans having to choose from the metal and techno scenes, he says, “Pangea and Scribe fall under the metal category. With Aqua, the genre is completely different and so is the fan base. I enjoy having fans from my metal side coming for my Aqua shows or people who hear me as Aqua attending my metal gigs. It is awesome that people don’t typecast you or refuse to attend your shows because ‘oh he is not metal anymore’. That used to happen before. But now people are evolving in their thinking and taste in music. An interest in all types of music is not limited to just musicians anymore.”
Aqua Dominatrix has released two albums so far and a third seems to be on the way, though Akshay didn’t have much to say about it. “My first two albums were evolutions. I am still trying to determine which direction this one will take. The iron is still hot so am just trying to ensure it sounds the way I want it to. As the year goes by, I will probably know where I am going with it.” Be it metal or techno, Akshay is, at the end of the day, a musician whose primary aim is to create music that expresses what he wants. “As long as people enjoy themselves, I don’t care about anything,” he sums up.
