Filip Sulić, mostly known by his project alias DANCElectric, is a well-known figure on the Croatian scene. With his 28-year-long career in the electronic music industry, Sulić started DJing as a teenager in clubs on the coast, mostly Makarska Riviera, which led to his music production. As he often points out, his career upgrade was the residency at Culture Club Revelin in Dubrovnik, a partnership that started in 2011 and is still ongoing. Besides DJing each summer night, Filip got the opportunity to take part in the artists booking process.
Over the past decade, Culture Club Revelin has hosted many A-list DJs and producers, including Shaquille O’Neal, Fatboy Slim, Diplo, Vintage Culture, Sam Paganini, Sven Vath, Mark Knight, Hot Since 82, John Summit, and many others.
We had a long conversation about his career highlights, the electronic music industry, booking processes, and the meaning of project DANCElectric.
You have been on the local scene for over 25 years. With clubs on the coast when you were 16, you started to build your career as a DJ. Soon after, you started producing music and, ultimately, became the booking manager for Culture Club Revelin. Can you tell us about the highlights of your career? What’s your ‘favourite job’ among the three of those?
I thought 25 years is a big number for one career but actually, in 2026 it will be 30 years. I’m getting old but still not too old for this job. It is really hard to point out a highlight of the career but residency in Club Revelin would be the No.1 experience that started in 2011.
And my favorite ‘job’ was and still is playing music, getting on stage, and looking at all those people having fun. It is the best reward I can get.
Even though many think DANCElectric is your DJ name, it is actually your project. Can you tell us more about DANCElectric? How did it all start, and what is it about?
DANCElectric intended to become a clubbing brand with a special program that promotes certain music in cooperation with young talented people who share similar enthusiasm towards music as I do. Slowly, it became a residential program in Club Revelin for each Wednesday, and with great results, we decided to start hosting international names alongside local music lovers.
In previous interviews, you frequently mentioned your almost 15-year-long residency at Culture Club Revelin – a venue that greatly impacted your career. Besides your residency as a DJ, you started creating the whole summer programs and thus became the booking manager of the club that mostly brings A-list DJs. How did you get in contact with all the A-list DJs? How did it all begin?
Actually, that is a pretty simple story. At the request of the owner of Club Revelin, I started scouting some artists for the Summer program. With the great help of Mark Knight, a good friend of mine, we found ourselves in the middle of a whole new business opportunity closely connected to my job as a DJ. The next step was to expand the program to other venues with Vedran Rako, the current owner Peti Kupe, Zagreb. He started negotiations with various venues, and I did a “behind the scenes” negotiation. Good times. Our professional attitude quickly resulted in even more requests from international management to take over their artist to represent them in this part of Europe.
What’s your favourite booking so far, and who holds the first place on your wishlist? Why?
We have done over 400-500 bookings so far so it’s like asking who is your favorite kid [laughs]. My No.1 wish artist I never worked with would be Rufus Du Sol. We had them confirmed in 2023 for Croatia and then due to third-party issues we had to cancel the whole project. But I’m hoping. one day….
In 2019, you collaborated with Cercle and brought Hot Since 82 to film the set on the famous, UNESCO-protected, terrace of Revelin. Phil & Derek, creative director and founder of Cercle, have become frequent guests at the club since then, and you became a guest DJ at their Cercle events in Paris. How did the collaboration happen? What did it mean for your career and the club?
Oh yes, that was definitely one for the books. Amazing event, venue, people – the whole package. It was an unforgettable day and night for everyone involved.
The Cercle crew was spot on as you would expect and I loved what they did. Friendship just happened, when you meet freaks like yourself it’s not that hard to ‘click’. Now they are planning an Odyssey project, a whole new story in 2025 under their brand. I strongly advise you to keep an eye, it will be epic.
Besides Revelin, you booked artists for other clubs and festivals in Croatia. What does the booking process look like? Besides the budget, what are your main criteria?
Nowadays it is a pretty basic process, the client (club, management, or owner) contacts us with
a request or budget. If it’s only budget then we create a program based on the client’s requests.
If it’s a specific name, we contact them through our channels and start negotiation for the requested project. Some artists decide to accept the offer, some don’t. Depends on how realistic the request is from both sides.
Croatia has established itself as a well-known summer destination for electronic music festivals and events and various festivals and clubs, including Revelin, have found their places high on the prestigious Top 100 list by DJ Mag. How important is electronic music in the development of Croatian tourism? How does it, in your opinion, affect our economy?
Well, if we had more understanding from the government I’m certain this industry would double if not triple the income that we generate at this point in our country. But there is not much understanding from their side so we are left to ourselves to fight our battles on our own. And if I may say considering everything (especially high taxes) we are doing an amazing job, and by WE I mean every single member of the electronic music scene in Croatia. We would not do it if we didn’t have unconditional love for music. That’s our driving force.
If we compare the summer season (cca June – September), there is a major gap in terms of the number of events, especially on the coast. How is seasonality affecting the electronic music scene in Croatia? Can we prolong the ‘peak season’?
Well in this case I can speak for Club Revelin, we just did a test of that season extension as we started at the end of April with every night events and took a huge lift off on May 1st, 2024. That way, we just discovered almost an extra 40 days (nights), resulting in a record-breaking 165 nights in a row for Summer 2024. I’d say that would be enough for every hard-core dancer :D.
What are your highlights of 2024 and plans for next year? Any New Year’s resolutions?
In 2024 I was invited back to the Cercle Festival in Paris where I played on the Concorde stage which was my second time on that festival, and it was even better than the first time. Unbelievable, no words to describe that feeling. I have one major New Year resolution, I’m cutting down on the number of my gigs in the future. Last year that number climbed to almost 165 nights and I don’t intend to do that ever again. It was special and amazing but at the same time exhausting, and I’m not getting any younger [laughs]. But don’t worry I’m still ready to do around 100 gigs per year for the next 2-3 years at least.
Looking back at his rich career, we asked him what would he advise young generations starting in the electronic music industry. “Believe in yourself, take advice from others but listen to your inner voice. If you are doing the right thing, you will know it no matter what everyone else says”, said DANCElectricPhillipe, and pointed out the importance of not giving up, as hard work comes back with even better rewards.
