Mt. Vernon Register-News

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November 20, 2009

Musically Speaking: Eye of the Needle takes on new sound

By JACK CLARK

jackclark@mvn.net

This past August I had the unique opportunity to interview the members of the band, Eye of the Needle.

This band’s sound is based on the English band “Camel,” which thrived in the 1970s and 80s, with a following here in the United States.

Eye of the Needle consists of Rick Kirkpatrick from Sesser, as well as Brent Hahn, Keith Woods and Roger Greenwalt, all from Mt. Vernon. The band takes its name from a passage in the New Testament, Matthew 19:24 (New International Version): “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

The band’s scenario suggests that the music of Camel is heard through the Eye of the Needle.

Greenwalt is also the keyboardist for the legendary Southern Illinois band, Farm. He has been listening to Camel since the early 1970s.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for about 20 years,” said Greenwalt. “Camel’s music is one of those things that you either like it or you don’t. This is something that I have been thinking about for years and years.”

Twenty years is a long time. Why now?

“I thought that there was no better time than now,” Greenwalt said. “So, I got ahold of these guys.”

This kind of project is unlike other tribute bands, in that Eye of the Needle is not trying to learn songs that were popular on commercial radio back in the day, but rather mostly album cuts, which didn’t get as much air play.

“It’s very hard work,” said Greenwalt. “Because it’s very complicated music. But, it’s very rewarding once we get it down.”

Hahn is the drummer in the band. He said that the idea has long been coming.

“Roger approached me several years ago, but, it didn’t happen,” said Hahn. “We talked about it again about a year ago (summer 2008) and I said ‘OK.’ And here we are.”

Kirkpatrick said that even though he and Greenwalt had talked about this idea over the years, he still had his own personal obstacle to overcome.

“Roger and I started working together about 18 years ago and we’ve talked about doing this,” said Kirkpatrick. “We’ve listened to a lot of Camel music at work. I was excited about the music, I just wasn’t excited about picking up the bass (guitar) again after 25 years. So, it was way outside my comfort zone.”

Guitarist Woods has been in numerous bands around the area over the years, including Ded Ringer, with Greenwalt. I think that Woods summed up the whole thing quite nicely.

“We’re just having fun playing,” said Woods. “I’m enjoying challenging myself. This is something that I didn’t really know a lot about before and I wanted to see if we could pull it off. We’re helping Roger realize his dream of playing Camel songs.”

Will you get to see Eye of the Needle perform anywhere soon? I don’t know.

But, I can tell you that you can hear selected Camel tunes at: www.camelproductions.com

Be careful out there.

The Illinois State Police are counting on it.

n Jack Clark is the host of Musically Speaking, a local radio program heard Sunday evenings at 6 p.m. on 102.1 WIBV.

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