Pretty early in the eighties but I don’t remember where or when. Most likely 1980-81 and something around a Boaz, JC Rose, Undercover or Lifesavors gig at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, or around Whitefield studios as those were my hangouts then. I know it was before Adam Again and Youth Choir existed as I remember Sim Wilson was playing with him and Shelly in a band I believe was called Martus. There were so many bands back then it’s hard to remember who was playing with who without a score card. Back then everyone just kind of knew everyone as we were all starting a movement of sorts without knowing it – so we all just sort of hung out or kept running into each other. I was more on a management, production, troublemaker end of things so I overlapped all the various camps and projects. Gene was working with a lot of the same people I knew and that pattern continued until his death.

2. What projects were you involved in with him?

If involved means hanging around watching my friends work and having lunches or watching TV – more than I can recall. If it means me actually doing something other than that – none. My position in the whole mix of things is best described by Joe Taylor, “whatever was going on Brian is just there” and that still holds true to this day. I happen to have been around a whole gang of extremely talented people who happened to be my friends. I got to hang out at the Broken office or the studio when Gene was recording projects with a ton of artists and albums, maybe I hit a button or moved a fader or played track sheet clerk during an Undercover, Lost Dogs, Boys Club thing… but to say I worked with Gene would be a real reach. I just hung out and I was really good at it.

3. How do you think Gene shaped and impacted the music scene?

He raised the bar for the types of music and the production quality in CCM with his own work and a lot of the stuff he and Joe Taylor released. He also recorded some unbelievably clean sounding tracks in the studio. His own music was poignant & great and I always love his stuff on the Adam Again records like No Regrets or River on Fire… just incredible. The stuff with the Lost Dogs is well known so that speaks for itself. He seemed to draw out the best in the people he worked with, even some of the most neurotic. He could be very disarming – like a little kid – and people really seem to find it hard to be mad at him, pretty hard to do in the music biz and life.

4. Three words that you would use to describe Gene, and why?

Smart, Eclectic and Tragic – you can interpret that as you see fit.

5. As a friend of yours, how did Gene influence you?

Just don’t take all the BS of so seriously, life goes on…..

Newspaper Clippings From High School
These were sent to us by Gene’s Mom:

• Gene elected Freshman of the Month (February 10, 1975)
• Gene Attends State Conference (June 1977)
• Student Body President Gene Greets Students (November 10, 1977)
• Gene Eugene, Pomona School Board’s Student Representative (May 1, 1978)
• More Coming Soon

Other Images:

• Gene With His Father in 1962 (sent in by Jeff Elbel)
• Newspaper clipping about Gene’s Death (sent in by Jeff Elbel)
• Gene in the Studio 1 (sent in by Todd Zeller)
• Gene in the Studio 2 (sent in by Todd Zeller)
• Gene in the Studio 3 (sent in by Todd Zeller)

I had to ask Brian Doidge about working with Knott. If you’ve ever seen the footage of Cornerstone ’93, or if you were fortunate enough to have been there, they always seemed to have a zany sense of humor. There were the outfits… Doidge in the clown mask next to Knott wearing a gigantic cookie monster head. Brian laughs and says, “Mike with the cookie monster hat… yeah, we went into a costume shop in the town where we played that festival and asked if we could rent the costumes (more laughter), then we just wore them for the show. It was some weird humor that we had.” Then I asked Brian about Michael’s penchant for dumping canned food all over himself. “Oh yeah,” Brian said, “and it gets all over everything. It used to be that white face clown make-up, and it would get all over everything, I could never get it out of my clothes. At least he switched from clown white to canned food, because I could get the food washed out. I would be playing and I didn’t know what he was going to do, or when he would do it, then I would smell something and think ‘Corn?’, and I would look over and there’s Mike covered in corn. Then sometimes it would smell like when you’re camping, and there’s Mike, covered in pork and beans… and I start to get hungry over here playing. Mike would become whatever he was pouring on him, it got everywhere.”

On playing with Michael he says, “I’ve always felt blessed that I got to play Christian music and send out a more positive message, even though at times it seemed we were addressing the more negative side of things, but I believe there are positive and negative things to life. I think Christians, whether they want to admit it or not, have a lot of hard things they have to go through… that’s part of being a human being.”

“Mike and I always worked really well because I could just follow along, we got stuff done really quick. Mike was always a privilege to play beside because he was a good showman and a great songwriter. He was my best friend and it was always just fun to see what he was going to do next. I was always like the little brother sitting behind him thinking, ‘Yep, he’s nuts, but I love him.’”