Claude VonStroke
A Detroit-raised filmmaker who started a label in San Francisco: how Claude VonStroke built Dirtybird, and how a B-side became its signature record.
- Born Barclay Crenshaw in Cleveland in 1971, raised in Detroit.
- Founded Dirtybird in San Francisco in January 2005.
- Best known for “Who’s Afraid of Detroit?” (2006), a B-side that became the label’s signature track.
Claude VonStroke made tech house sound like it had a sense of humour. Barclay Crenshaw grew up in Detroit, made his name in San Francisco and turned a park barbecue into Dirtybird, a label that grew big enough to run its own festival.
Detroit, then a documentary
Crenshaw was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on 7 July 1971. His family moved to Detroit when he was in seventh grade. In 2002 and 2003 he worked on Intellect: Techno House Progressive, a documentary for which he interviewed more than 50 DJs and producers. The idea for a label came to him while he was making it.
Dirtybird
Dirtybird began as free barbecue parties in Golden Gate Park; in 2012 Crenshaw dated the first one to about ten years earlier. The label followed in January 2005 in San Francisco, set up partly to put out music by his friend Justin Martin. Its first artists were Crenshaw, Martin and Sammy D, and the first release was The Southern Draw EP by Martin and Sammy D. Crenshaw has said: “I didn’t actually think I was going to be an artist on the label.”
The roster later took in FISHER, Julio Bashmore, Shadow Child, Catz ’n Dogz and Walker & Royce. In 2015, the label’s tenth year, the first Dirtybird Campout festival took place in California. In October 2022 EMPIRE acquired the label, its catalogue and future releases, but not the live events.
Who’s Afraid of Detroit?
His debut on the label was “Deep Throat”. Next came The Whistler / Who’s Afraid of Detroit? in 2006, Dirtybird’s fifth release (DB005). The B-side’s melody and bassline began life in an unreleased track called “Dirtybird for President”. At first “The Whistler” got the attention; then DJs caught on to the flip. Richie Hawtin named it his favourite track of 2006 and closed his sets with it for months, and in April 2019 he used it to close Time Warp’s 25th anniversary. A tenth-anniversary remix package came out in 2016.
Albums, aliases and Get Real
His albums as Claude VonStroke are Beware of the Bird (2006), Bird Brain (2009), Urban Animal (2013) and Freaks & Beaks (2020). Under his own name he released a more left-field album, Barclay Crenshaw. Since 2014 he has also made records as Get Real with Green Velvet; the two met at the Winter Music Conference in Miami, and their first EP came out on Dirtybird.
In a set his tracks bring bounce and space: fat, playful basslines, few elements, plenty of swing. For the city in the title, dig into Detroit with “Big Fun” by Inner City and “For You” by Kenny Larkin.
FAQ
What is Claude VonStroke’s real name?
Barclay Macbride Crenshaw, born on 7 July 1971 in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in Detroit from seventh grade. He also records under his own name, Barclay Crenshaw.
When was Dirtybird founded?
In January 2005, in San Francisco. It grew out of free barbecue parties in Golden Gate Park, and EMPIRE acquired the label, without its live events, in October 2022.
When did Who’s Afraid of Detroit? come out?
In 2006, as the B-side of “The Whistler”, Dirtybird’s fifth release. Richie Hawtin named it his favourite track of that year.
