One of Sydney's most versatile selectors since stepping behind the decks in 2010, Nes has graced festivals such as Splendour In The Grass, Listen Out and FOMO, not to mention warming up the stage for the likes of Post Malone, Rae Sremmurd and YG.

Over the past decade, Nes has been an omnipresent force in Sydney's club circuit, holding residencies at Ivy, The World Bar and The Cliff Dive. Recently, she has also stepped in as a DJ for local heroes Kaiit and ChillinIt during their live performances.

A mix you'll definitely want to add to your playlist, Nes brings For The Honeys Volume 16 inspired by global sounds and female energy for your listening pleasure. You can also find out what she has planned for the very near future via our interview below.

For those who don’t know, could you please tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?

Hi I’m Nes! I’m a Sydney DJ and I’ve been on the club circuit for 10 years now. I love and play a lot of different genres including but not limited to Rap, R&B, Dancehall, Reggaeton and Disco. Old, new, I love it all.

What led you to get into music and DJing?

I got into DJing when I got my first bar job, at what was known back then as The Fringe Bar in Paddington. I would stay back after work to practice at staff drinks and DJ for my workmates in the early hours of the morning. After 6 months of playing every Saturday night staffies, I had my first official gig there.

How has lockdown life been for you and what have you been doing to keep busy?

It’s actually been a nice break from DJing after so many years, shifting my perspective on how I see my work. It’s been a challenging time to say the least but ultimately it's been an opportunity for personal growth and self reflection. It’s given me the time and space to reevaluate and reprioritise the things I like to do and people I like to spend my time with.

I’m actually working on launching a streetwear label at the moment, so that has been keeping me busy. I’ve also been spending a lot more time on self care and relaxing activities such as meditation, cooking, reading, long coastal walks and napping lol.

What’s been your go-to isolation-style?

My style is always comfort over anything else, which is very fitting for lockdown lol. To be specific though, a current staple look is a cropped skivvy, high waisted track pants, sneakers and lots of gold jewellery.

Can you tell us what your sneaker collection is like at the moment and some of your all time favourites?

I run a tight collection because I tend to wear one or two pairs until they fall apart. I love to get the most wear out of them. The ones on rotation right now are a pair of all black Nike Air Max 97 and the Nike Zoom X Vista Grind courtesy of Sole Finess.

Was there any inspiration behind the For The Honeys Vol.16 playlist?

I generally play a wide range of genres and from different decades but lately I’ve been particularly listening to current artists from all over the world, singing or rapping in different languages. There’s so much going on in the world right now and I was inspired to bring together a bit more global sounds, focusing on female energy. I’ve got some Dancehall, Reggaeton, Rap, R&B, French Rap, Baile Funk, I even found some Serbian rap that connected me to part of my heritage. I’m still yet to find Filipino rappers spitting in Tagalog though.

Do you have any tracks or albums that you could listen to forever on repeat?

There’s so many but the most recent album that comes to mind is PARTYNEXTDOOR’s PARTYMOBILE. Then some of my all-time favourites are Lauryn Hill’s ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’, Erykah Badu’s ‘Worldwide Underground’ and N.E.R.D’s ‘Seeing Sounds’.

What are you looking forward to for the rest of 2020?

I am really excited for my streetwear label to launch and to put it out there into the world. It’s unknown territory launching a label right now but I am excited for it to take shape.

Gig wise, I’ve actually got a few things lined up in the next few months but it is yet to be announced. Watch this space and keep bopping with me at @nes.music

Favourite spots in Sydney to:

Shop: Tempe Salvos

Eat: Boon Cafe, RaRa Ramen, Alimentari, 10 William & Jimmy’s Falafel

Chill: Along coastal walks, Botanical Gardens or Centennial Park

Party: Settings and Sauti Systems