InterviewsScene
The neighboring country has always had a great reputation when it comes to nightlife. The Serbian capital, Belgrade, is a city that never sleeps. With dozens of clubs floating on both rivers and inside the city’s neighborhoods, their clubbing offer stands out as the richest in the Ex-Yu region. The home country of the EXIT festival delivers various new artists each year, and some of them get to the globally renowned stages.
One of the examples of such artists is surely Innēr Sense, a DJ duo formed by Filip Fisher and basketball player Nino Čelabić. In the past three years, they have released music for established labels owned by Joris Voorn and Franky Wah, with performances in clubs and festivals across Europe. In anticipation of their debut gig in Peti Kupe, Zagreb at ElectriCity event, we had a conversation about their career path, production plans, their views on the Serbian socio-political situation, and its influence on the clubbing scene.
You came together just a few years ago and have made numerous guest appearances and releases on world-renowned labels. What were your beginnings like and what were your most significant moments?
INNĒR SENSE: “Hello guys, thank you for the invitation and trust — we are very glad that we received the opportunity to introduce ourselves to your audience. Although the project is quite young, we have only been working together for three years. Some things happened to us at an accelerated pace, but not because we skipped steps; quite the opposite. From the very beginning, we agreed to build a career smartly and systematically, step by step. We didn’t want to chase viral success or short-term hype — for us, the focus was about quality, so that people recognize our sound and that we build our brand and community from the start.
As for the most significant moments, we would single out the B2B set with Joris Voorn on Armada Showcase during the Amsterdam Dance Event, then a performance with Armin van Buuren in Istanbul as part of his “The Orb” world tour, of course, Exit Festival Dance Arena, as well as our very favorite set at the Sea Star Festival two years ago. These are definitely moments that are very important to us in our career so far.”
When we talk about B2B sets, DJs often say that they prefer a solo set in order to be able to fully express themselves. Since Innēr Sense is a duo, what do your work dynamics and preparation for a DJ set look like? Is the selection of tracks completely shared, or does everyone do their part and insert their own USB?
INNĒR SENSE: “It is an interesting story that once upon a time we played solo in a club in Belgrade and realized that Back 2 Back comes completely naturally. Without any agreement, we did a set of two or three hours, completely intuitive, which inspired us to enter the studio together after that, to listen to music and see who had what. Then we realized that we shared very similar music tastes and playing styles, and that was actually the main trigger for us to start this project as a duo.
Even today, we perceive our sets as one joint process, as if we are constantly doing B2B — yes, one always follows the other, without the audience noticing who is behind the mix. Certain parts of the set we plan, usually the first 15-20 minutes, to warm up without pressure, but we always leave room for improvisation and monitoring the atmosphere. We choose and sort music together — we create shared folders and always know where everything is. So we can play for 6-7 hours, and that everything flows completely naturally, because we trust each other and know very well how each person breathes behind the DJ counter.”
You have releases for Joris Voorn and Franky Wah’s label. What are your upcoming plans in terms of production? Can you reveal some of the upcoming releases?
INNĒR SENSE: “Yes, we have been part of the Spectrum family since the very beginning, and they accepted us wonderfully — they recognized our sound and gave us the freedom to be what we want. Joris Voorn is a great inspiration and a mentor to us. With Franky Wah, we were part of the compilation with the track “Feelings” on Shen Recordings, and then we also worked for UV NOIR, ICONIC, while the biggest focus is currently on ours Inner Circle Recordings label.
As for the plans, we are working on constant development and improvement of our sound, we are trying to be unique in the sea of music that exists today and we believe that we are on the right path. Next release is out on December 5th, again on the Spectrum NL label. The EP contains two new tracks — ACID 303 and People Can Fly. In addition, we had the opportunity to see Joris Voorn play “ACID 303” on Awakenings festival just a few weeks ago, and the whole set is now available on YouTube.”
The Belgrade scene is very dynamic, and we see a constant growth in the number of events and new young forces that your scene is ‘giving birth to’? How do you comment on the scene in the past few years? How much have recent socio-political events influenced the further development of the scene and clubbing?
INNĒR SENSE: “Electronic music is growing year by year, and so is it here in Belgrade, which also brings new challenges. Trends are short-lived, everything changes very quickly, and the number of artists is constant and growing. However, what is interesting is that the audience is still looking for quality, consistency, and identity, as well as a community that gathers around a certain sound. That’s exactly what we’re building — our community, our own audience, and its recognizable musical identity. That is why we are especially glad that we are coming to Zagreb for the first time to present what we do and to show our direction, sound, and story.
As for the connection between music and politics, music has always been a part of it. We support young people and students who are fighting for better conditions in our country, and through our work, we want to provide support. If you want to hear more about it in detail, you can watch our YouTube series “Behind The Stage“, where we talk more openly about everything. The current political situation has made the past year more difficult, but we believe that from all this comes a new lesson and new strength.”
Where do you see yourself in the next five years? What are your goals in DJing and production?
INNĒR SENSE: “In five years, we see ourselves as actors who actively influence the scene with our sound. That is a clear plan to us — to educate the audience through music and through what Innēr Sense represents.
In DJing, our goal is for the audience to fully experience the breadth of our selection through all-night sets, narrative, and knowledge. Through long sets, we best show what we can do and in which directions we can go take the audience.
In production, we will always work on the evolution of sound, but without chasing trends and passing waves — we preserve our identity and build something authentic. Of course, we would like our sound in the future period resonates even at the world’s biggest festivals — but, as before, step by step.
A gig in a club or at a festival? Which suits you better and why?
INNĒR SENSE: In the club, we like doing all-night sets the most — that’s where we’re most recognizable. The club provides us space to show the breadth of our sound, to travel through different musical directions, and to spend hours together with the audience, where we build the story.
The festival is different — there we present a more powerful Innēr Sense sound in a concentrated hour or
two. It is an opportunity to show our essence and energy in a compact format on the big stage. So we love both, but for different reasons.
The upcoming weekend, you will be performing in front of a Zagreb audience for the first time with ElectriCity residents and Hardt Antoine. What do you expect from your debut performance at Peti Kupe?
INNĒR SENSE: “We have been waiting for this invitation for a very long time, because Peti Kupe is one of the best clubs in the region. The desire to perform there has been around for a long time, but the negotiations for the past two years have been constantly slipping by each other. That’s why we are especially glad that everything has now come at the right time. Many thanks for that, we owe it to our close friend and owner of And Again Agency, who connected us with the ElectriCity team.”
As per the local audience, the duo said they expect great energy and hope they welcome them ready and in a good mood. “We’ll do our best to let them hear something new, fresh, and sincere — and if the atmosphere matches, we’d love to stay a few hours longer“, concluded Filip and Nino. The chance to hear them live is already this Friday, November 21 – starting from 11 P.M., possibly until the morning hours.
