Born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, Derek Bennett has been creating music ever since getting his first guitar/amp beginner's set as a teenager in the mid-90s. 

Worshipping at the altar of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Tool, Bennett obsessed over every riff as he developed his guitar sound – picking up a knack for songwriting along the way. He eventually moved out of the bedroom and onto the stage as he played lead and eventually fronted several bands over the following two decades. 

After performing hundreds of gigs at just about every type of venue, Bennett has refocused his musical aspirations to include sounds he’d previously dismissed. Entering the new (to him) world of synths, drum machines and previously untapped textures, Bennett approaches the Kiro Skiro project with the mindset of someone discovering music for the first time.