Interview
Claude VonStroke Interview On ‘Wrong Number’ Album In 2026
Claude VonStroke interview about ‘Wrong Number’, his forthcoming album, stepping away from Dirtybird, and why making music entirely on his own terms feels like the right move.
Claude VonStroke has never been particularly interested in doing things the easy way, and ‘Wrong Number’, his forthcoming album, makes that clearer than ever. More than two decades into his career, the Dirtybird founder is stepping away from the label, stripping things back, and making exactly the kind of music he wants to make: patient, detailed, and completely unbothered by what’s trending. We sat down with him to talk about the album, the family members who voiced it, and why turning down big paydays right now feels like the right call.
When you started writing Wrong Number after the Dirtybird chapter ended, what direction did you want the album to take compared with the music you had been releasing in recent years?
I was able to drop expectations because I took year off from all house music. This album is not so much weirder or so drastically different, but just for example there was a massive banger on the album and I actually took it off because it didn’t feel right. In the past that would have probably been single AA1.
While working on Wrong Number, which producers or labels from the early minimal and house scenes did you find yourself returning to?
I kept going back to labels like Playhouse, Poker Flat, Planet E—stuff that felt like it had space and identity. Records that weren’t trying too hard. There’s a confidence in that era the records don’t always go left when they are supposed to go left. Sometimes they go right or up or down, and that mindset definitely crept into this album. A the same time I’m not a guy who makes grasshoppers on tinfoil – my records are easy to dance to.
“Static In The Deep End” is the first single from Wrong Number, so what about that track made you feel it was the right introduction to the album?
It sets the tone without over-explaining anything. It’s restrained, a little hypnotic, a little uneasy. It doesn’t try to win you over immediately, which is kind of the point of the whole project. I led with a deep cut on purpose just to let the fans know where Im headed. I dont need 1000 bro-tastic commercial tech house fans showing up and being disappointed on my tour dates because I didn’t play 15 drum roll breakdowns and a bunch of bongos at 132bpm. I’m trying to tip my hand early.
Nearly all the vocals on Wrong Number come from inside your own family, especially your son Jasper, so what made you decide to keep the vocal side of the album completely within the VonStroke household?
The whole project is more personal, so it made sense that the voices were too. Both Jasper and Ella are incredible musicians and singer songwriters. They know more about music theory than I ever will. For example Ella and I created an entire choral section with just our two voices and she directed all of it herself. Jasper came in and just riffed magical R&B vibes all of the place. They are just so talented I am a proud Dad.
Jasper appears across several tracks on Wrong Number while studying pop vocals at USC, so how did the two of you actually work together when recording those parts?
It was pretty loose. I made most of the record then he came in and just riffed on top of it. Then I would spend tons of hours chopping and effecting things. At one point Jasper and Ella made the track Two Line Groove with me which is them singing in the round. It was tough to record becuase I couldn’t get them in at the same time but I think this is one of the coolest records on the album. They go back and forth until it resolves in a giant harmony moment.
Since the music on Wrong Number was written with club spaces in mind, what made you decide this tour should focus on smaller venues like Vent in Tokyo or Panorama Bar in Berlin?
Because that’s where this music actually works. These tracks are built on detail and patience—you need a room where people are really listening with a nice sound system that isnt all muffled and massive. Smaller spaces, better systems – It’s less about spectacle and more about immersion. That environment lets the music breathe the way it’s supposed to. I’m also adding some free open air events I think that is also a space where this music can work.
After spending years building Dirtybird and helping launch artists like Fisher and Eats Everything, how has completing Wrong Number changed the way you think about your place in dance music today?
I used to actually worry about things like this which in my opinion is a waste of time. Now, if you are lucky enough to book me, you will get something that isnt generic that has been crafted and honed and is fucking dope. That’s all I can offer. Before, there was a responsibility to a sound and a whole ecosystem. Now I can follow ideas that don’t make sense commercially or strategically. I’m making a ton of terrible business decisions and it’s awesome.
When people listen through Wrong Number from beginning to end, what do you hope they understand about where you are creatively today?
I’m not trying to be the loudest voice in the room. If the record feels a little unexpected, a little more human, then it’s doing its job. I mixed and mastered this record myself for the very first time I didn’t ship it off to get finalized in some expensive mastering suite – so you are getting this straight from my home studio warts and all. This is what I do now.
Stream the first single ‘Static In The Deep End’ from this album below.
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