DJ Jen Jones expands her reach

Electric Mix 

DJ Jen Jones expands her reach.

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

Jen Jones visualized living outside of Australia as a child Down Under. She wasn’t quite sure where or what she would do, but she just felt she didn’t belong.

Now living in North Phoenix, Jones has worked her way up to one of the top open-format DJs. Her occupation makes sense. Her father is in a band with his 10 brothers and sisters. Her brother is a DJ, while her sister worked for a record store.

“DJing was something I always wanted to do,” she says. “As a kid in primary school, I would bring my cassette player and play all the new music for the kids at lunch break. It was inevitable that I was going to be a DJ.”

Jones was inspired by her parents’ music—Deep Purple, ZZ Top, AC/DC, and Black Sabbath. It was her brother who turned her on to house. “We didn’t have hip-hop music at all,” she says. “I grew up right when the Internet was getting started. I would search and download music. I was in love with music because it was so unique.”

Since moving to the Valley, she has expanded her reach beyond Australia and the United States. Jones has performed in China, too, with her eye on the Middle East.

As an open-format DJ, she says she has “ADD when it comes to music.” Jones calls herself a “big hip-hop head,” who may be listening to Migos and Future one moment, and trap the next.

“I’m all over the place,” she says. “My mixes really depend on what mood I’m in. My sound is hip hop and bass, with the movement of what’s popular.

“There’s nothing better than expressing yourself through music and having people vibe with you on that level,” says Jones, who recently performed at Electronite at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe.

To learn more about Jones and to see a list of her upcoming performances, visit djjenjones.com.