From San Francisco to the Galapagos Islands with Claude VonStroke

Photo: Claude VonStroke

Ten years is a long time, particularity in dance music, and running a successful label for that long is damn near impossible. But that's exactly what Claude VonStroke's Dirtybird imprint has achieved.

Adored for its fun, tongue-in-cheek but critically adored modern ghetto house, the Dirtybird empire has conquered both its home in the US and over here in Europe, whilst Claude VonStroke remains busier than ever, championing a sound that wavers between techno, breakbeat and bass, something we British ravers can't get enough of.

Following on from his set at MADE Birmingham a few weeks back (read our glowing review of the festival here), Laura Zuanella and Claude VonStroke bonded over a can of Fanta Fruit Twist as they sat down to discuss the origins of Dirtybird, nineties dance music videos and imaginary animals from the Galapagos Islands.

First things first, it's been ten years since Dirtybird first started... Happy Birthday by the way!

Thank you.

What are some of the highlights that spring to mind from the past decade?

In the first year, when we had a couple of big records, that was really amazing. One of the highlights that I always remember is stamping the promos of the first record in my apartment with my friend Fernando. It was just so ghetto [laughs]. That's a really fond memory. Highlights are just, I don't know, like just tracks and people, but mostly people.

People like Justin Martin for example?

Mostly Justin!

How did you two meet?

I became friends with his older brother through the video world. Chris was working at a video start up company, and I was a video editor. They made a music video and needed help editing it, so I helped them. And then I liked Chris, so I was like 'let's go out and go to parties'. So we started going to parties.

But I hated the music. In San Francisco at the time, it was like... we'd go to the parties the girls were at, but the parties that the girls were at were just...

Awful?

Naked Music. You know that label? It was just all super sheeny vocals, kind of like Hed Kandi. 

Oh OK. Quite trashy?

Not so extreme [laughs], more groovy, but still sheeny vocals and stuff that I wasn't into at all.

Quite commercial?

Not as commercial but really vocal-ly. All I wanted to listen to was jungle and techno. When I was a drum & bass DJ there were like NO girls at those parties, ZERO. OK maybe four, or two. So Justin and Christian, me and a couple of other people just decided that we were going to do this other kind of music. And no one liked it, but we liked it. That was how is it went.

How did the label get going in the beginning?

That's also kind of Justin Martin's fault. Justin had just signed a track to Ben Watt's label Buzzin' Fly.

Oh yeah, isn't he in Everything But The Girl as well?

Yeah that's it. The track was called 'The Sad Piano' (above). I'd already learnt all about music business and I'd done so many tracks, so I just said I was going to be Justin's manager [laughs]. So I became Justin Martin's manager, and then I was like 'Justin, we're going to do a record label and you're going to put out the records, and I'm going to manage it'.

So he did the first two records, but I had done music for like 15 years at that point, maybe more, and so after his first two records I was like 'I know how to do records, I'm just going to do a record', and then that's kind of how it came about. My first record was that one with the throat sound.

'Deep Throat'? Did you do the noises on that?

Yeah [laughs].

I did not know that. Do you think nowadays it'd be easier to launch a record label?

No! Way harder!

Not even with social media?

It's too easy now, so there's too much competition. Actually I don't know if it would be way harder, because everyone told me it would be impossible when I started it. Everyone will always tell you it's impossible, so don't listen to them.

Your wife helped you quite a lot didn't she?

She did. She really did. She gave me respite from working. She had a really good job, so she helped me just focus for a year and only do the record label, and then she kind of said 'if you don't make it work you're screwed, you've got to go and get a job forever!' [laughs] So I had a high motivation level to get it together.

That's kind of how Eats Everything started off as well. Then I think he got signed by Catz 'N Dogz to Pets and it was literally the last chance for him, but they really picked up on 'Entrance Song'.

They did, and I had passed on like seven of his demos.

Oh no way! Why!? He's good, what went wrong?

[Laughs] No he is good, there's just a lot of stuff that comes in sometimes, and I only get like a second of each track. You know that I named Catz 'N Dogz and they put two albums out on my other label Mothership before now? 

No way?

Nobody knows the whole thing. Catz 'N Dogz are like part of Dirtybird almost.

I read somewhere that you listen to every demo that you get through.

Yeah. I do. But I don't listen to the whole demo.

So a few seconds?

I know, I miss one here and there.

How many do you get, per week?

I don't know, like three of four hundred.

That's ridiculous!

I know! It's a lot of listening. If I don't check it for a month it's easy a thousand. That's a lot of tracks. In fact it's probably a thousand right now, I've not been home for a month!

Is it just you that checks them?

It's just me doing that part of it, but I have a label manager who does the work. But there's a whole family of people behind it.

Does Justin Martin help?

No. Not at all [laughs]. Not even a tiny bit! But he does make incredible music.

Is that how he gets away with it?

No that's a misconception... he is not a non helper [laughs].

I read ten years ago you worked on a documentary and you interviewed over 50 well known DJs. What were your favourites, and who really stood out for you?

It's interesting because my favourite ones were really inspiring, they really helped me do this. They were Derrick Carter, Theo Parrish, Paul van Dyk, Derrick May, those were the ones. There were other really good interviews, but those were the ones that really stood out. I was like 'whoa, what good advice'. I got the Detroit guys first and that's how I got everyone else to do it.

So you've remixed The Chemical Brothers new tune 'Go' (listen to it above). 

I played it tonight, I wasn't going to but I said 'fuck it, I'm playing it'.

Haha! It got a good reaction.

Yeah it's super breakbeat, it's not house at all.

That's how they were in the beginning though, they were breakbeat.

Yeah, I was like, I'm going to do a Chemical Brothers remix and its going to be breakbeat. No matter what. I tried to make it like Afrika Bambaataa.

'Planet Rock' kind of vibes?

Yeah, kind of. I tried to give it that kind of feeling.

What do you think of the current scene in the US at the moment, like the techno scene?

It's very interesting because I never thought in a million years that the American techno scene would be bigger than Europe, it's pretty wild. It's not all techno in America though, there's a lot of crap but you know there's a lot of crap everywhere.

It's like when you're going though those promos, you've got to weed out the rubbish to get to the good stuff.

Yeah, it can be a long process. If you think that I get a lot of demos, think about the other pile of promos. It's thousands! But I listen to all those too. I don't know why, I just do.

I always find stuff on there, it's great. I found a really crazy record on there that I opened with tonight. It's just... it's awesome. His name is like Dr Alfred or something. I tell people about him and they're like 'we don't know who that is, we don't know where you got it from' [laughs].

It's a good name though. Your recent EP Barrump has been getting a lot of plays, Heidi plays it, Annie Mac plays it on her show.

Oh good. Heidi and Annie have been great supporters of what we do… I didn’t realise quite how well it was doing here.

Well it's getting rinsed, but the video, yeah, it's interesting...

[Laughs]

How did the idea come about for it? Was it yours?

No! Actually I had nothing to do with it, the only notes I made on the video was that I wanted the whole idea to be weirder, and have more of a nineties, Mr Oizo feeling.

Like the 'Flat Beat' video?

Yeah, and I think they did a good job. But they did whole thing without me, in up-state New York, I wasn't even there.

See I thought you were the guy in the costume.

No it was all them. I had a terrible idea where I wanted to do a video of women picking bikinis out of their butts to the scratchy sounds in the song, but I thought, that's terrible! We''re never going to get the footage!

No that sounds really good! Back in the nineties Fatboy Slim released a record, 'Bushes' I think it was called, and the video was just loads of girls getting bikini waxes (above). It's really good - it's about four minutes long and it's just literally their reactions.

Oh my god, that's hilarious. I feel like in the nineties people made really funny music videos, but now everything's either really dark, or just bad. The video to 'Make a Cake', if you look at it, is funny but it's a little dark, a little jaded. And that's perfect, that's what we're looking for.

The ending's nice though, they end up together.

Married I think [laughs] . 

What about the record cover, what kind of creature is it? Is it half octopus, half cat?

This is the thing that I really love - I got sick of just doing album artwork, so I decided every year to find a really good artist to do the whole year.

I found the artist this year because he made these like animal sketches from the fake Galapagos Islands where animals had bred together and made new animals, and I was like 'this guy is insane'. It's so cool, so that's what that is, it's like a 'slothtapus'. The new one he did is unbelievable, it's a rabbit dragonfly. He's really talented.

Where did you find him?

He lives in Rotterdam. I just do internet searches to the ends of the earth.

You're back in the UK at the end of August playing Creamfields. 

Yeah this will be like my eighth Creamfields. 

No way! What was your favourite time playing there?

My first time, back in 2005 / 2006 I think. I came on and the whole tent was completely empty. I'd just made this track 'Chimps' and I just put it on. The whole tent was full by the end of the track. I just thought 'this is awesome!' 

Have you seen the video for Slam Tent at this year's T in The Park, where the tent's totally empty, and 30 second in to playing the first track the whole tent is full (watch it below)? 

Oh really, that's cos they probably personally know everyone at the festival [laughs]. They've been doing it for about 25 years. I played T in the Park this year actually, it was great. I really like those guys.

I find the Scottish crowds and the Northern crowds really go for it.

They like to drink, they're crazy. I've seen some things...

Things that you shouldn't have seen?

Yeah, absolutely not!

Head here for all forthcoming Claude VonStroke dates.