Moana Pasifika’s rugby player, Samuel Slade, is not only a talented lock who excels on the field, but he is also skilled in the art of DJing during his downtime.
He has always loved music and the start of his second life began at an end-of-season gig a few years ago on Auckland’s Ponsonby road at Chapel Bar.
“I thought to ask if I could jump on the decks and they let me and I did a pretty good job so, after that, they asked me to come back and I also brought my own decks, practising at home whenever I can.”
When Slade performs his sets, he said he usually reads the room to see what the crowd would most likely want him to play.
“I try to play to what I think will be popular but if it were up to me I would just play hip hop, RnB, a little bit of old-school house and a little dabble of DNB as well.”
Unfortunately, due to an injury to his pectoral muscle during a game against the Highlanders early on, he was unable to play for the rest of the season.
Playing but not on the field
“It was pretty disappointing, to say the least. I had big goals for this season and not being able to achieve those is not the greatest but I was sad for probably 20 minutes and when I got on with it I just got stuck into my rehab.
“I changed my aim. I had certain goals for Moana but now I’m looking forward to [playing with] Samoa and Counties Manukau,” he said.
Although he wasn’t participating on the field this year with his teammates, that didn’t mean he didn’t entertain the crowd with his skills, and some were privileged to see the lock perform at some of the Moana Pasifika games.
“I actually performed at three home games this year. The first one was up north at Semco, that was pretty cool.
“I did a pre-match and a half-time set and I did two more at Mount Smart.
“I Just asked the people up top, if there was something I could do, to gain the experience since I’m not playing or training or doing anything and they let me and so it was pretty cool, pretty grateful to be able to play out there for a sold-out crowd.”
Backing Pitch in charity
He told Te Ao Māori News the rest of the Moana Pasifika team have just gotten used to his second life.
“I bring my speaker into training every day, and it’s louder than everyone else’s speaker, and so they can’t really disagree with it.”
He isn’t just passionate about rugby and spinning tracks as a DJ: he’s also a jack of many other trades.
“I’ve got a film account that I’m really passionate about l take a lot of film cameras on my pointers shoot, I’ve got a little VHS camera that I use to document my life.
“I enjoy helping people, as cheesy as that sounds, I’m part of a food charity that helps give food to those who need it the most, the Food Network NZ, I’m part of their Pitch in campaign as well.”
The Pitch in campaign is to help struggling Kiwis through the cost of living. The goal is to virtually fill the Eden Park rugby field with kai and household needs.
