Barclay Macbride Crenshaw, who is known by the stage name Claude VonStroke, is an American house producer based in Los Angeles. He owns Dirtybird Records based in San Francisco. In July 2006 he released his debut album, Beware of the Bird. He has produced a 'Fabric' mix, which was released in May 2009, and has also appeared on Pete Tong's Essential Mix Radio show in 2007, 2013, and 2020. In 2009, he released his second studio album, Bird Brain. In 2016, he was named America's Best DJ in Pioneer DJ and DJ Times’ annual poll. The rankings, which are based upon fan votes, both online and in-person, favored the beloved Dirtybird ringleader over global powerhouses such as Kaskade, The Chainsmokers, and Bassnectar. In 2017, he was nominated at the Electronic Music Awards for both DJ of the Year and Radio Show of the Year for "The Birdhouse".
Biography
Barclay Macbride Crenshaw was born in Cleveland, Ohio and lived there until he was in seventh grade. His family then moved to Detroit. Having his own radio show in high school, Crenshaw had an interest in hip-hop music at first, but then embraced electronic music. Later he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked on numerous movie productions as location scout and production assistant. From 2002 to 2003 he worked on the documentary Intellect: Techno House Progressive, for which he interviewed more than 50 well-known DJs. In the early 2000s, Claude met up with "The Martin Brothers," Justin Martin and Christian Martin. In January 2005 he formed the Dirtybird Records label. His wife, Aundy, helped fund the original start of the Dirtybird label under the holding Company Crenshaw Creative, of which Aundy is now the chief operating officer and chief marketing officer. She gave him one year to turn it into a successful record label and would have cut him off if the label did not succeed. The Fabric imprint invited Barclay early in his DJ career to do a mix, and he accepted saying, "Fabric called me, and of course I agreed without hesitation. I have wanted to mix one of the Fabric series since I started DJing house. I feel like it is a nice achievement for a DJ, something that says, 'OK, this person is legit."
Dirtybird records
Crenshaw's record label, Dirtybird Records has been recognized as one of the top independent electronic music record labels in the world. In 2017, Mixmag named Dirtybird "label of the decade," and Billboard Magazine named the label one of "the best 5 independent dance labels of 2017." Notable artists from the label include Justin Martin, Steve Darko, Walker & Royce, and Green Velvet.
Recent projects
Claude remains as dedicated as ever to his own music and his label but that hasn't stopped him from exploring new projects. In 2014, Claude joined forces with Green Velvet, to form a side project known as Get Real. With both having a noticeable impact on both the house and techno scenes, many wondered why this duo didn't happen sooner. In reality, the project was by accident. A recent interview with Claude revealed that the duo met for only their second time during the Winter Music Conference in Miami. There, the two were accidentally scheduled simultaneously and they decided to make the best of the situation. It couldn't have turned out better. Their first release came out as an EP on Dirtybird, with the appearance of “Mind Yo Bizness” and “Snuffaluffagus". Claude has stated, “Nobody is trying to steal the spotlight or take over the project which isn’t always the case in a duo. We each represent our style but we make a new style by working together.” Claude also debuted another project which he has continued with til today – Barclay Crenshaw. His self-titled debut album kicked off his "left-field departure from his better-known alias, Claude VonStroke" by delivering "slowed-down, emotive collection of collaborations and instrumentals" or otherwise touted as 'alien hop hop music'.
