About Dress Code

Biography
Derek Holley grew up in Dayton, OH with an interest in funk, rock, and dance music.

"I get bored listening to just one kind of music all the time", Derek says of his eclectic influences. "I wanted a sound that would be a mix of what I liked most about music--something that could be groove based, be catchy, and have energy."

Derek co-founded Dress Code as a duo and "musical experiment" with a style that had rock, funk, dance, and pop influences. Dress Code later released their debut CD, About Time. Music from this release has been featured in various MTV, VH1, and independent film projects.

Dress Code returned as a "virtual band" after the duo break-up, with Derek writing and performing all new material more of an electronic/dance style than in the duo version of Dress Code--combining throbbing bass lines, crunchy rock power chords, funky rhythms with hip-hop delivery and banging beats.

Dress Code's music has been featured in the indie feature film, "Limbo", and on the Red Night Records "Electronic Surge" and Hot Sauce Records "Groovetonics Vol. 1" CD compilations.

Derek, a former writer/publisher with Bug Music, signed a digital digital distribution contract with Chicago-based dance music label, Phuture Trax Records and released the self-titled "Dress Code EP" to online stores worldwide. Music from the EP has had many positive reviews, reached the top 20 in DJ charts in the UK, and was licensed to cable TV networks MTV, VH1, E!, and Oxygen.

Now Derek returns with, "Electricity", Dress Code's latest collection of funky rocktronic dance music madness. This new release has already landed in the Top 10 (#6) of UK-based DJ Geordie Parker.

Why the name, Dress Code? Derek explains, "The name is sort of an irony or play on words, since a dress code is a rule about style or appearace. I want to do the oppostie of that in a musical sense--to mix different styles and influences."

Band Members