DJ battling P addiction

DJ Soane

A prominent disc jockey who has performed with some of the biggest names in the New Zealand music industry has fled to Tonga to dry out after admitting to a battle with P.

Soane Watkins, better known as DJ Soane, left Auckland for the islands two months ago to avoid a methamphetamine - or P - addiction.

"I'll be pretty blunt and admit that, yeah, I smoked. But that's the reason why I left because I didn't want it to get to the point where I lost everything," Watkins told the Herald on Sunday from Tonga last week.

"I just thought I was really getting away from everything. It felt like was starting to consume me so I suppose that's why I left."

Watkins, 34, was a founding father of Auckland's hip-hop and dance scene and is one of the country's best-known DJs.

He has an impressive CV that includes performances alongside industry heavyweights such as Stellar, Bic Runga and King Kapisi.

He has also produced several dance compilation albums and remixed tracks for the likes of Che-Fu, King Kapisi, Runga and Annie Crummer.

More recently he has run a popular music show on Auckland radio station George FM.

Colleagues of Watkins said the effects of methamphetamine began to show on the DJ last year.

He started becoming less reliable, missing gigs and giving excuses for failing to turn up for his radio show.

George FM's Thane Kirby, although surprised to hear of Watkins' battle with P, said there were clear signals that he had a problem.

"Some of the signs we had at the radio station - not showing up for shows, saying he was going to send a replacement and the replacement never happened," Mr Kirby said.

"Nothing incredibly big - 'I've got to pick my daughter up, my daughter's sick' when maybe he couldn't operate."

Mr Kirby said Watkins did not have a reputation in the industry as a big drug user - hence his surprise when he heard Watkins had fled to Tonga to dry out.

But sorting himself out before the problem got out of hand was a wise and intelligent move, Mr Kirby said.

"I think it's great. Having time out and getting everything under control is brilliant," he said.

Despite Watkins' problems, Mr Kirby said he would be welcomed back once he had cleaned himself up.

"I'm all for giving someone second chances if they can come back from that - man, they deserve it."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY