The Art Of Reinvention: Claude VonStroke Becomes Barclay Crenshaw

At the end of 2023, Barclay Crenshaw announced he was taking a step back from his Claude VonStroke moniker. Since the early 2000s, he’s been a massive presence in the house music ecosystem both as a DJ and with his San Francisco-based label Dirtybird Records, founded in 2002, overseeing releases by Justin Martin, Walker & Royce, FISHER and more.

But Crenshaw wanted to experiment with something different. He started dabbling in bass music more often, releasing music under his real name and dropping a self-titled album in 2017. However, at the time of his first project, his focus was still largely centered on Claude VonStroke and Dirtybird Records.

“I started out as a jungle DJ and then I had hip-hop radio shows in high school; I was always into breaks,” Crenshaw says. “And then, I somehow got really good at house music and I went on a 20-year diversion.”

Barclay Crenshaw’s sophomore LP, Open Channel, didn’t arrive until March 8, 2024. He tells Pollstar he always wanted to make the type of music he’s creating now, but at the time he was getting his start, he wasn’t sure how to do it.

He explained that when he returned to Barclay Crenshaw, he had completed everything he wanted to do with Claude VonStroke. This isn’t the end of his house music moniker; he just plans on hanging it up for the time being.

He set out on a headline tour that kicked off at Webster Hall in New York City on March 8 and included stops in Chicago and Detroit (two dates Crenshaw says, as a Midwest kid at heart, he was most looking forward to), Los Angeles (the 52-year-old DJ’s current home) and more.

As Barclay Crenshaw, he’s currently managed by Motherbird Management’s Nicole Siag and booked by Wasserman Music’s Max Braun and Zach Berkowitz. The “Open Channel” tour featured dancers onstage with Crenshaw, their bodies in fluid movement throughout his set. He first went on tour as Barclay Crenshaw back in 2017 in support of his self-titled debut, including sold-out shows at Washington, D.C.’s U Street Music Hall (501 tickets sold, grossing $7,265) and Chicago’s Double Door (575 tickets sold, grossing $9,125). The tour also stopped at House Of Yes in Brooklyn, New York, grossing $13,870, according to reports submitted to Pollstar’s Boxoffice.

“House is more of a long game,” Crenshaw says of the difference between the two genres. “It’s more of a hangout and you can keep energy levels at 60 to 70% for a much longer period of time. And a show like this, I don’t only play bass. I play a lot of different stuff. That’s kind of my thing, I try to go everywhere — but I don’t play house. And the energy levels that you’re able to create are just much higher peak points. The crowd is able to release larger amounts of energy; it’s more hype in general.”

Crenshaw notes that for shorter sets bass music is easier to work with. House music can go on longer, each track playing out for several minutes, while bass music incorporates frequent change-ups allowing for more than 50 tracks to be played in a single hour. That’s why for longer shows, he prefers sticking to house. However, for bass music, there’s a lot to be said for the fun that can be had in a short amount of time.

“The level of concentration to play this kind of music is 500 times higher,” Crenshaw says. “There’s a lot of BPM changes and slowdowns and tricks that have to happen in order for it to sound like something. It requires a lot more work. Mentally, it’s harder. Even in the DJing end of it, it’s more of an energy expenditure to do this, so that’s why it’s shorter.”