Auckland House DJ Soane Watkins (nee Filatonga) has certainly come a long way since he first started DJ-ing hip hop in 1989. Then he was working as a doorman at The Box/Cause Celebre in Auckland's High St.

This was the same time as other influential DJs and musicians like Nathan Haines, Manuel Bundy and Rob Salmon were residents at the now sadly defunct nightclub.

Soane is now one of New Zealand's most popular and highly paid DJs, who has compiled three mix CDs to date and frequently plays around the country and overseas in countries such as Australia, Britain and France.

Not content with spinning other people's tunes all the time, the 33 year old, Vava'u, Tonga-born DJ first started making his own tunes in 1998 and, after many years of hard work, has finally released, his long-awaited debut album, 'TonganChic', named after his former 95bFM radio show.

"I've often said that the defining moment was when I was working the door of The Box / Cause Celebre and standing at the top or the bottom door between the two rooms," recalls Soane when I meet him at a Karangahape Road pub.

"There would be this 'oomph oomph' coming out of The Box but every now and again, someone would walk out of Cause Celebre and they'd be tinges of jazz filtering through over the top of the 'oomph oomph.' I'd be like 'this is amazing!' I was exposed to some really great music and great musicians.

"I used to hang around in Celebre as well because I was friends with Nathan and that. I remember before samplers had come out, Nathan and I would go into the studio and make loops off records, put them onto DAT and take the DAT player down to the club. Manuel Bundy would be in the booth and I'd be sitting there with a DAT player. I'd play the DAT with the backing track and then the band would come out and jam over the top of it. Then Nathan would cut the backing track and the band would play on."

Soane first began making music around five years ago after meeting his 'TonganChic' collaborator, producer and engineer Luke Tomes, who has since worked with the likes of Bic Runga, Stellar* and King Kapisi.

"We got hooked up through Esther (Watkins - Soane's wife)," recalls Tomes. "I'd been working at a studio doing soundtracks, commercials and stuff which was kind of like slow torture for me because I didn't enjoy it musically. I was at an advertising function, standing there in my hoodie amongst a hundred suits and Esther was at the bar. She was like, 'You don't fit in here, do you Luke?' 'Yeah, I've just noticed that too.' 'You should hook up with Soane and do some music.' Esther then put Soane up to calling me and doing something."

Soane may have first worked in a studio with Tomes but it was his burgeoning friendship and musical partnership with touring English DJs Ben Davis and the now Auckland resident Dick Johnson that was to prove pivotal. The trio released Le Saucier, the first 12 inch vinyl single under their 'Troffman' alias on Blackpool-based Shaboom Records in 2000. Soane's inaugural solo outing Go Master emerged in 2001 on the closely-linked Manchester label paperecordings, who also signed him to an album deal.

Unfortunately, delays inevitably occurred as Soane took time out to master the necessary technology and by the time 'TonganChic' neared completion mid last year, paper had folded. The album was then picked for worldwide release by Karangahape Road-based independent In Music, who had previously distributed paperecordings in New Zealand and had already enjoyed success with their Soane-helmed first mix CD in 2002.

"We decided to go with In Music because it was going to be released on an independent label anyway, which gives you creative freedom. The major labels have a colour-by-numbers way of marketing and it's not necessarily always the best way. I didn't want to get lost and become yet another act on a major label."

Despite house being Soane's main DJ staple, 'TonganChic' encompasses a much wider musical palette, which harks back to his hip hop roots on tracks like Feelstyle (former King Kapisi cohort/ House of Downtown rapper) and Boh Runga-sung first single All I Need.

"We were working at the Red Bull Studios when we made the backing track," explains Soane. "Boh was in the studio. She'd come to see Luke about something so we played it to her. She said 'That's cool' and started humming a bit of a melody to it. I was like 'Do you want to sing on it' and she was happy to. Then Feelstyle popped in as well and we got them both to it. It was like first in best dressed basically."

Other vocalists featured on 'TonganChic' are Robson Santos from One Million Dollars, Anthony Gold from Solidarity and most notably ex-Sistas Underground singer, Hassanah Iroegbu on the sumptuous album closer Runaway.

"That was one of the first tracks we made," says Soane. "We already had the backing track. It was quite strong but we thought it really needed a nice vocal. The way Luke and I have worked the whole time is that we've made the beats, about 80% of the track, and then we'd decide if it needed a vocal or not. Hassanah lives in Florida now but was over here at the time we did the track, re-doing the TV2 music (Sistas Underground's In the Neighbourhood) so we got in touch with her. We gave her the backing track and within a couple of days, she'd written the vocals and gone in the studio and recorded it!"

Soane also worked with many live musicians on 'TonganChic' including Isaac Aesili on trumpet, Andy 'Submariner' Morton on Rhodes, Ned 'Killamanraro' Ngatai on guitar, DJ Manuel Bundy and drummer/ percussionists Kurt Dyer (from Solaa) and Benny Staples of Newmatics/ Lava Lava/ T-Son fame.

"I wanted to avoid samples as much as possible," says Soane. "When you make a track, you might start off with a few samples here and there but then you phase them out. I've got access to good musicians so why not use them? One track in particular, Syncopated Music, Benny and Isaac really lifted to another level and made it go from sounding very good in mind to awesome in the studio. We'd made the backing track and it had a big African vibe, although not by design or thinking about it too much. It just happened that way. So as a producer, I thought, 'This really needs a nice horn and some drums'."

'TonganChic' may have been in the works for two years but, apart from a few older tracks, was mostly recorded over an intense eight month period late last year at The Fale, Rising Sun and Red Bull Studios, in the downtime between the pair's more lucrative paying work. To date, Soane has received very little NZ On Air or Creative NZ funding although he has enjoyed plenty of corporate support.

"I'm up for funding though it's not going to be something I rely on," says Soane. "But I have to say that I have had a considerable amount of backing from Red Bull. They've been more than generous and they kick-started things for me. They provided for my engineer's time and paid for various musicians that I've used throughout the album. That's where the money's supposed to go.

"I have tried a couple of times with Creative NZ funding in two different categories - the Maori/Polynesian side and the normal recording artist side - but I got turned down for both of them. So I thought, 'I really want to achieve with this album so I'm going to have to think outside of the square a bit and go how can I get some money together?'"

"I've had this really good relationship with Red Bull right from the get-go (the opening of their studio). The deal was that Luke would be a part of setting the studio up and getting it up and running and we'd then get as much time in the studio as we wanted. My clothing sponsor, Dickies has also helped with the final push and manufacture of the album as well. And we've just been given a video grant to do a video for the single, All I Need, which is going to be a surprise for most people because it's a poppy hip hop track. In fact, I think the whole album is going to be a surprise for people!"

'TonganChic' is out now on In Music.