Bio

Kenn Youngar was born in Ft. Erie, Ontario, Canada and feels he was somewhat of a musical late bloomer by taking the drums up at 14 years old in Paris, France. He gained most of his early skills being a “cellar dweller” practicing in his basement in the small town of Kemptville, Ontario, Canada. With a population of 2500, there wasn’t much of a selection of musicians, but he had higher hopes than the basement of “Small Town Canada.”

At 16 and still without formal training, Kenn’s mother had laminated a note giving permission for her son to play bars, and it’s never been the same since. In between sets, he would have to wait outside or in the coat check room when it was too cold to wait outside.

Kenn played the Canadian music scene for 10 years in cover and original bands and opened for such acts as Rik Emmett of Triumph fame, Helix, The Killer Dwarfs, Lee Aaron, and XYZ. It was also long miles for not so great gigs that convince him that stateside was the place to be. “More gigs, less traveling” he thought when comparing a map of Canada and the U.S, and then there was the day dream of leaving all that snow behind. Kenn moved to Dallas, Texas to find his niche in the rock and roll history books, or at least sneak his flier in there somehow.

He lined up two auditions, one in Phoenix, Arizona and one in San Jose, California where his relatives live. He ended up with $68.00 and a near maxed out credit card in Dallas, Texas in 1998, formed Strangleweed in 2000 and took off running. After a short year they quickly became local favorites and over the next 7 years became main support for Lillian Axe, Styx, L.A. Guns, Angel, Bullet Boys, Pretty Boy Floyd, Faster Pussycat, Cowboy Troy, Molly Hatchet, Seven Mary Three, Tantric, Fastball, Blackberry Smoke, The Romantics, Tracii Guns, and Drowning Pool to name a few.

From there, soundtrack credits like “Hempsters: Plant the Seed” with Woody Harrelson and Willie Nelson brought band cameo’s and the entire “Present 2 Pastime’s” album placement in “The Long Shot” movie soundtrack! That movie was best known for its 88 minute continuous one take, the first in film history for North America.

The band’s infamous reality court room appearance on “Eye for an Eye” brought them international fame as “the band that trashed that bar”. MTV, VH1 and the E! Channel's “Top 10 Best Courtroom Moments” brought fans and bands around the world laughing their praises of the “underdog” finally getting the upper hand for once after their band was stiffed their pay for running up a “free bar tab”. To everyone’s surprise that short hour show syndicated in 68 countries since 2005. Strangleweed’s history included annual rebooking at festivals, biker rallies and fairs but the highlight came when joining the US Armed Forces Entertainment Program. It was the song “Skeletonz” that was included on Small Guy’s Music’s “Operation Rock the Troops” compilation that changed the band forever.

In 2007 Strangleweed had the honor of playing for American, Australian, Canadian and British troops in such exotic locations as Japan, Singapore, Diego Garcia and beyond the Indian Ocean. Kenn became international coming to the states, now he was global. 15,000 units later, troops all over the world have a piece of home and Texas.

Endorsements from Page Drums, Los Cabos Drumsticks, Lizard Spit Drum Polish, S-Hoops and Peace Drum Hardware, Rock n’ Roll Gangstar Apparel followed as well as energy drinks, sunglasses, and many other sponsors. If that wasn’t enough to fill his plate his guitarist Josh Allen asked him to join his side project Turning Point for a video, album and national tour with Immortal Records recording act Adema. That tour led to openings for Alice Cooper, Heaven and Hell featuring Ronnie James Dio, Queensryche, Shadows Fall and Evans Blue to name only a few. Turning Points peak came in when they were nominated by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Committee for the 50th annual American Grammy Awards in 2008. Their nominations were for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rock Song by Duo or Group with Vocals, and Best Rock Song.

As they say “a rolling stone gathers no moss” and Kenn’s sights were then focused on organizing a 10 day long tour of Costa Rica ending with an all day music festival in the small town of Quepos/Manuel Antonio benefiting “the Roberta Felix Foundation” This non profit organization develops resources for disabled children and their families in rural communities. The first annual Costa-Bazooka concert series brought country wide attention and awareness as 6 American bands and 12 Costa Rican bands performed on a covered stage in the rainforest. The next Costa Rican Tour festival is slated for June 2009 and is already in the works as “In Rock We Trust” in support of “Rain Forest Aid 09.com”

Kenn’s next big adventure is to jump on another Armed Forces Entertainment tour with Palm Bay, Florida favorites Fallon in early 2010. This Florida based act just completed a 3 song EP with Brian Marshall (Creed) on bass. This fall tour has the potential to take them to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan, Diego Garcia as well as Italy, Greece, Spain, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt/Sinai, Portugal/Azores, Germany, UK, Norway, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Netherlands. While on tour a camera crew will be in tow filming a soon to be released music video from Fallon and a DVD “rockumentary” of the tour to follow filmed in all the exotic locations.

Kenn’s latest adventure has landed him on the spin off the popular VH1 reality show “Rock of Love” with Brett Michaels of Poison fame. Kenn’s VH1 debut on “Daisy of Love” aired this April 26th to fans across North America. From this Kenn is now in negotiations for hosting his own reality show with connections to his homeland Canada while still maintaining his local Dallas, Texas roots. Some call it shameless self promotion; Kenn’s says “get in where ya fit in”

Kenn is Sponsored/Endorsed by:
Page Drums ~ Monster Energy Drink ~ Rock n’ Roll Gangstar Apparel ~ S-Drum Hoops ~ Peace Drum Hardware ~ Los Cabos Drumsticks, Bajito Onda Clothing Company ~ Sun Bru ~ Lizard Spit Drum Polish ~ Skinz Wraps Graphics ~ Dirt Bag Clothing ~ Basson Sound Equipment ~ Todd Bloom Design House ~ Cympad ~ Kristie Luv Style