Barclay Crenshaw Will Go His Own Way at the Miami Beach Bandshell

Barclay Crenshaw's first time in Miami was for the 1999 edition of Winter Music Conference. He didn't make the trip to spin; instead, he was working on his documentary, Intellect. For the project, Crenshaw interviewed some of the biggest names in dance music who were in town for the conference.

The documentary showcases the underground scene by interviewing the best DJs in the world, including Derrick Carter and Nigel Richards, who were in Miami for the weeklong event series. For Crenshaw, the experience also served as a much-needed masterclass on becoming a full-fledged DJ and producer.

"I realized I had to come to Miami," the Cleveland-born, Detroit-raised producer tells New Times. "My first memory of Miami was me running around with 100 pounds of film equipment by myself and freaking out, trying to get interviews all across town. I had made a ton of music since I was 11, but I never figured out the middle step of how to make it in the scene. I thought, What is the easiest way to find the steps that were impossible to find out? So I decided to ask all the famous DJs how to do it."

Twenty-five years later, it's all coming full circle for Crenshaw when he takes the stage at the Miami Beach Bandshell on Sunday, December 1. The current tour is in support of his album, Open Channel, celebrating the music of bass and experimental artist Barclay Crenshaw rather than his better-known house alias, Claude VonStroke. While Crenshaw has released abstract music for the last decade, VonStroke and his imprint Dirtybird Records took up much of his bandwidth over the years.

"My first foray into this project was in 2017 with my album Barclay Crenshaw. This time, I made Open Channel into my main project this year," he says. "There were no house sets or anything with the alias."

The 53-year-old produced parts of Open Channel in London, working with different artists and grime MCs. The album is not meant to please the VonStroke die-hards but rather a hat tip to UK grime and hip-hop. The track "King of Monsters," for example, barely has a beat, featuring instead ironed voices and a long-drawn-out bassline. Meanwhile, "Shyboy" has an almost lo-fi quality to it.

Crenshaw remarks he may be the first-ever house DJ who morphed into a bass DJ.

In 2022, Billboard reported that Crenshaw sold Dirtybird, including the label's back catalogue and future releases, to label, distributor, and publisher Empire. Crenshaw says the goal of the sale wasn't to cash in, given that house music is far more lucrative than bass music these days. Instead, he says he was bored with the direction mainstream house music was going.
"I made money, and that was awesome, but I never did this to make money. I sold my label because I did everything I could possibly do with it," he explains. "I thought house was going commercial — not that that is bad, but I wasn't sure I wanted to go on that next wave."

Crenshaw has relished diversifying his sound, finding bass music fun and explosive. "It's like you can play all your hyper, insane tracks, and no one bats an eye. There are no limitations on the BPM; it's almost open format," he adds.

Nonetheless, Crenshaw isn't retiring the VonStroke alias, with some new house-meets-experimental tracks in the works for next year. There will also be Open Channel Remixes coming out in January, with Shanghai Doom, LYNY, Sfam, Super Future, Ashez, and So Sus each putting their spin on the album's original tracks.

"The tracks are hard," Crenshaw says, laughing. "They are not light tracks, but they are cool."

While Crenshaw has adapted throughout his career as industry tastes have changed, he's now ready to see where his music will take him on his terms.

"I don't just want to be that guy who plays the same stuff as everyone else," he says. "I want to play hip-hop, drum 'n' bass, experimental music, and I want it to work it all into one set, where you say, 'Oh, that actually makes sense.'"

Barclay Crenshaw. 6:30 p.m. Sunday, December 1, at the Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; miamibeachbandshell.com. Tickets cost $29.87 via dice.fm.