Claiming to be from Brooklyn (but possibly from some other galaxy altogether), Kenny Young and the Eggplants are an oddball semi-acoustic trio who sing about giant squirrels, super-powered frogs, scary bits of cheese, and finding Elvis in a pizza, among other important rock and roll concerns.

Various attempts to describe their music have been made, but perhaps the most entertaining quote comes from the New York Times, which said that the Eggplants "give eloquent voice to the multifaceted neuroses of prolonged adolescence."
In the U.K., the Sunday Herald (Glasgow) said the Eggplants "mix the wit of Jonathan Richman with the sound of the Nico-era Velvets to create a surreal and satirical gumbo." They have also been described as a "deeply eccentric pop band" (The Guardian), and a "wonderful weird band" (The Scotsman). In New York, the Village Voice said, "The naivete Kenny wears on his sleeve is genuine - think of an East Village Brian Wilson, without the money but still tilted in his own wacked-out way."

The band members are: Eddie Logue (hand percussion and electronic drum machine); Gil Shuster (bass and occasional screaming); and Kenny Young (acoustic guitar and vocals).
The songs are written by Kenny and arranged by the band.

The Eggplants perform frequently in New York City, where their venues have included CBGB, the Mercury Lounge, Brownie's, the Sidewalk Cafe, and Fez.
They have also spent substantial time touring in the U.K. They performed at the 2001 Planet Pop festival in Edinburgh after many years of playing extended runs at the Fringe Festival. Their Edinburgh venues have included The Venue, La Belle Angele, Bannerman's, the Spiegeltent, the Pleasance, the Fringe Club, the Acoustic Music Centre, the Virgin Megastore, Princes Street Gardens, and Cafe Grafitti.
In London, they have performed at the 100 Club, Ronnie Scott's, the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican Centre, the 12-Bar Club and the Betsey Trotwood.
Other Eggplants UK tour stops have included Glasgow, East Kilbride, Chester, Bristol, Oxford, and York.
They have played live on the radio in the U.K numerous times, including performances on BBC 6Music, Radio 2, Radio 4 ("Kaleidoscope"), Radio 5 Live, Radio Scotland, Radio Wales, Greater London Radio (with Phil Jupitus), Talk Radio UK (with James Whale), and Radio Forth.

The U.K. press has been very good to the Eggplants. In 1998, for example, the Scotsman placed the band on their "Hit List" and declared Eggplants badges (featuring the grinning Eggplants logo) to be a "festival icon." The Eggplants have been a "Hot Ticket" selection in the London Evening Standard and a "Pick of the Day" in Time Out (London) several times, and their shows have also been recommended in the Evening News (Edinburgh), the Sunday Herald (Glasgow), The Independent, The List (Edinburgh and Glasgow), The Times, the Oxford Times, the Oxford Mail, and on Radio One's "Session in Scotland" website.
After one Edinburgh show in 2002, the Sunday Mail said: "They don't come much zanier than this New York trio. They sang goofy songs about partying worms with artistic temperaments and Rambo going on shopping sprees . . . But behind the surreal antics were technically proficient musicians who know how to write a good pop tune and work an audience. 'Alien Love Song' had a chorus so infectious I was humming it all the way home. There is genius among the Eggplants . . . Energetic, unpredictable and fun . . . if it's surreal entertainment you are after then they're your boys."

The band's initial connection to the U.K. was made through punk icon (and current DJ) Tom Robinson, who heard a demo tape and invited Kenny to play as a guest performer at a series of Fringe Festival shows in Edinburgh, and on a subsequent tour of Ireland. One highlight from those shows occurred at Marco's Leisure Centre in Edinburgh, where Tom, Kenny, and surprise performer Nigel Kennedy played a loopy version of "Walk on the Wild Side." Since then, Tom and the Eggplants have performed together many times in New York, Edinburgh and London, including a sold-out show in 1999 in the Purcell Room at the Royal Festival Hall. On another tour, the Eggplants were joined by Tom and T.V. Smith (formerly of the Adverts) for a free performance at the Milestone House AIDS Hospice outside Edinburgh.
In 2002 and 2003, the Eggplants played live sessions on Tom's radio show on BBC 6Music, "The Evening Sequence."


Eggplant CDs:
Even One is Quite a Few (1996)
Toxic Swamp and other Love Songs (1998)
The Search for Eggplantis (2002)
... can be bought from Amazon and CD Baby

sample songs available here: Earl the Squirrel and 186,000 Miles Per Second