The Pacific profiles series shines a light on Pacific people in Aotearoa doing interesting and important work in their communities, as nominated by members of the public. Today, Charles Gillet.

All photos by Geoffery Matautia.

We stumbled across Charles on a night out in Ōtautahi. He was behind the bar making drinks when we got to chatting. The self-proclaimed “Rarotongan rum renegade” shared with me stories about growing up as a Polynesian boy in the deep south, his love for hip-hop music, and representing Aotearoa at international cocktail-making competitions.

How long have you been working in hospitality?

Over 15 years. I’ve been in Ōtautahi for the last decade.

Where did you grow up?

I’m first generation born and raised in Invercargill. My parents came from Rarotonga. I have four older brothers and two sisters. My parents are in their 80s, and the age gap between me and my eldest sibling is 21 years.

Back in the 1960s, the government reached out to the Pacific Islands because they needed extra labour. Dad was an engineer and helped his grandfather build boats. He moved to Aotearoa when he was 16, met my mum in Auckland, and then they moved down south. He started his own engineering business, doing work at the freezing works then he helped build salmon farms. 

What was it like being an Island kid growing up in Invercargill?

My parents raised me in English because they had that classic Islander dream of wanting their kids to have a good education and experience in New Zealand. I wasn’t around my reo that much. I learnt te reo Māori in school which is most similar to what we speak back home.

I was in a few cultural groups in intermediate but church was the place where we were around our culture the most. 

You’re an MC – what sparked your interest in music?

It’s always been there I suppose. When I was young my parents would have all their friends around and they’d play all the Motown classics. My older sister was a fan of early hip hop and I was a metalhead for a few years. Then I got into Michael Jackson and was a massive Bone Thugs-N-Harmony geek in high school. A big moment for me was when I first listened to the late Phil Fuemana’s album New Urban Polynesian (1994). It was like hearing something that sounded American but with a Kiwi twist. I thought “Oh cool I get that, I wanna write my own stuff.” Also, I love Che Fu. I remember when Navigator came out and he played in Invercargill. The early 2000s was the golden era of New Zealand hip hop. You had Scribe, P Money, Dawn Raid Entertainment, Aaradhna. That’s when I started MCing with a crew – The Deep South Collabros. Guillotine is my MC name. 

When and why did you move to Ōtautahi?

I actually moved to Queenstown in the last year of my Bachelor of Business and Hotel Management degree. After staying there for a couple of years, my first boss moved to Ōtautahi and rang me up. He said “Hey man, wanna come and work for me up here?” I was a bit sceptical because I saw Ōtautahi as a transitional place to get to Wellington or Auckland. Outside of that I never thought to move there. I said no, but as I hung up I noticed I’d opened the bar without even trying. That’s when it dawned on me that there was no challenge for me there anymore. So, I made the jump.

When I first moved here I was paranoid about white supremacists. As a kid in Invercargill, there were a lot of skirmishes between 20-year-olds chasing young Pacific Island teens in their cars. That happens here, but the Ōtautahi Pacific community run it straight. 

You’ve worked in hospo all your working life and have even competed in competitive cocktail making. I didn’t realise that was even a thing! Tell me more. 

I do a lot of cocktail stuff and compete internationally. In 2018, I represented New Zealand in at the Beefeater Mix London, the world’s largest gin-based cocktail making competition. To qualify, you have to make a drink and tell the judges a story about it. That year, the brief was to make a drink about your city. I called mine Renaissance City because there was such a cultural renaissance happening seven years on from the quakes. You had new bars opening, live music, events, everything. 

What was in the drink, 03 Renaissance?

Beefeater gin, grapefruit juice, almond syrup, violet liqueur and egg white. 

Are you still involved in the competitive cocktail making world?

I’m as humble as a big-headed bartender can be. I don’t talk about all the things I do. You know, I’m not the type to blow my own horn. But I’m proud to be one of the judges on the New Zealand Spirits Awards. People bring in their spirits and I rate them.

What keeps you working in hospo?

As Pacific Island people, hospitality is in our blood. It’s our reflex. I remember making 25 cups of tea with my cousin when relatives would come over. And when you do something for so long you get good at it. Music and hospo go well together. My life has been more bar orientated, but I’ve been trying to do more music stuff over the last few years.

Hospo always paid the bills, but music and MCing feeds the soul. Work-life balance is a foreign concept in hospo, but the owner of this place [Wilko Dive Bar] has really encouraged it. I’ll do a four-day week with three days off. In previous jobs, a 15–18 hour shift wasn’t foreign. It’s nice working for a company that tries to keep that from happening. 

What do you get up to in your days off?

I’ll have at least one where I’ll stay home to recharge and replenish the social battery. Then I’ll quickly want to see people again [laughs]. I try and do more music in my days off. 

I have a mate who’s a producer and he recently started making beats again. I go to his house to write and jam which is nice. I also like to check out new places and keep my finger on the pulse of what’s happening. I run a bar exchange Facebook page that has a pretty big following.

What do you enjoy about living in Ōtautahi?

The cultural range. After the 2011 earthquakes, I went to Auckland and worked in hospo for three years. When I came back, there was so much growth that needed to happen. Fast forward to now, it really looks like a proper city. You’ve gotta find it, but there is a lot of culture here. 

This is Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ On Air.