After twenty years performing under the alias Claude VonStroke, Barclay Crenshaw is set to blast off on a brand-new adventure. The legendary house producer is dedicating 2024 to his longstanding passion for the sounds of bass, dub, hip-hop, funk, and jungle that he’s always treasured. On behalf of HEAR Magazine, I caught up with him before his second-to-last performance as Claude VonStroke for the near future. On December 23, 2023, Barclay and I sat for a chat about where his newest embarkment through the sonic realm is set to extend.
Barclay’s duties through Dirtybird kept him focused on a multitasking manifest of planning and launching ventures. That’s changed, he doesn’t work there anymore, as he’s primed to unveil a brand-new album and experience through his upcoming Open Channels Tour. I asked about his newly narrowed focus, to which he detailed the following.
“I’m really just doing Barclay Crenshaw stuff, which is not only bass music, but it’s some funk and rap, grime, and UK stuff. I have this monkey mind, where I always want to start, like, six companies a day, so I’m promising myself this year that I’m only doing this, but it’s hard! I’ve already thought about (launching) three other companies. There is enough work to do if you really want to focus on it. I’ll do it all if you let me, but I’m trying not to.”
Originally born in Cleveland, Barclay’s family moved to Detroit during his teenage years, where he embraced electronic music during high school. Detroit’s synonymous with techno’s mecca, and Barclay’s sound didn’t find a following until he made his way to San Francisco. I inquired if he felt changing surroundings helps a person’s growth, to which he reflected.
“Absolutely. I was making the wrong genre for where I was living. I was making Jungle in Detroit, which no one wanted to listen to. Detroit is awesome, really inspiring, but it’s also moody. It can get a little bit pessimistic. It just depends on who you hang out with. There’s an attitude in Detroit that I appreciate. It’s not as free flowing as San Francisco where I kind of like, opened up and figured it out.”
Fascinated by his origins, I queried if Barclay considers himself a student of the industry. He concurred.
“I came up just learning everything by interviewing everyone else and making a documentary about how to become a famous DJ. [I interviewed] Fifty DJs, and then I edited it all together, but I ran out of money. And then I had to make all the songs that sounded like them, because I couldn’t afford to license their actual tracks. By the end of the movie, I had talked to them, edited their footage, and made songs that sounded like them, and then I made my first house record.”
As a fan of his work, his creative process piques my interest. In his words, “I have a system that I do with this guy Mike Monday. The shortest way to summarize the system is, you know the NCAA basketball tournament? So, I make hundreds of beats, whether they are good or not, in a very short amount of time. Then they’re just all on, like, a wall and then they just beat each other out until there’s ten left.”
Within this topic, I was curious to examine if this was an example of preventing the pursuit of perfection from working against him. After a brief analysis of my query, he concluded, “In the beginning I think that’s why I never made it, because I did make electronic music since I was 11, and I didn’t have a record come out until I was 32. So, yes, I was really a perfectionist and then I was like, ooh, that’s not worth it. I still have that gene, though, where I can rework a track, way too long. It’s in me.”
During our conversation, Barclay consistently demonstrated himself as affable, funny, and down to earth. There were many terrific moments, one of my favorites being his feelings towards sushi.
“Every promoter in the history of mankind for like ten years only took you to sushi for dinner. It was like this run, I don’t know what year it was, but sushi was the thing where everybody was like, ‘we’re going to sushi’ like they were trying to impress you or something. Then I just started saying, ‘We’re not going for sushi’ and then I started saying, ‘We’re not going to dinner.’ After like a thousand dinners, you don’t want to go to dinner anymore.”
Since the bear in me loves to eat, even sushi, I questioned about foods he does enjoy. “I like fried chicken, Greek salad, sweet potatoes, and I kind of like broccoli. I love ice cream, unfortunately. New York Double Fudge Chunk, Ben & Jerry’s. I don’t really have anything I don’t like, except for horseradish.”
As we continued, we touched on past performances from Wakaan Music Festival that I count myself blessed to have witnessed. In 2022, he performed a staggering set that blew minds. It was awesome, weirdly ominous of aliens and outer space. For 2023, we got a special present of both Barclay Crenshaw during primetime, and Claude VonStroke afterhours, to which he notified, “That’s rare.” Santa Barclay gave many gifts to his fandom throughout 2023. If any are curious what can be expected from one of Barclay Crenshaw’s sets, allow me to describe his sounds as spectral and anomalous, like signals received from beyond the ether. He smiled at my interpretation, reciprocating, “This is a good review, thank you. That’s awesome. That’s what I’m going for.”
I’m obsessed with socks, and before wrapping up our interview, I asked what kinds he likes to wear. This prompted him to admit that he’s going through some changes.
“I mostly wear black socks. This is gonna be terrible, but I started wearing these crazy crocs to the airport, and now I’m on it. They’re white, and I wear them with white socks. It’s pretty bad. It does look kind of futuristic. They’re crazy looking! I don’t know what’s happening to me, I’m turning into someone from Florida, more every day. I love monster trucks, I love [WWE], I’m wearing Crocs, I love alligators. I don’t know what’s going on with me.” In a way, it’s quite fortuitous. Manned missions to outer space are launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida.
For Barclay Crenshaw and his fans, 2024 is shaping up to be a banner year. His tour will showcase a brand-new album and refreshed focus, featuring sixteen tour dates in cities and festivals across the country. His Open Channels tour kicks off February 23rd in Dallas, with stops in Chicago on March 9th and Detroit on March 29th. For more information on Barclay Crenshaw, exclusive merchandise, music, upcoming tour dates, and to purchase tickets, check out his website at barclaycrenshaw.com. For those that worry they’ll never experience a Claude VonStroke performance again: fear not my friends. I’ve been enlightened through official channels, his alter ego is on hiatus merely for a year. Ending Claude VonStroke for the present is the launch pad for the newest mission in Barclay’s voyage through the expanding universe of music and sound he’s designing.
Be well, be successful. Bear Swiftly
–Electro Scribe–
