What's the story behind Wordplay?

We recorded "Wordplay," our thirteenth CD, at various times during the spring, summer, and fall of 2006 -- a year in which we played over 130 concerts.

"Wordplay" was our first full-length CD of all-new material since "Adam Up" was released in Fall 2003. In the meantime, we released a "best of" compilation with seven new tracks ("New & Used Hits") in Fall 2004, a 12-song acoustic project ("Apol-acoustiX") in Spring 2005, and a live album ("Hits: The Road") in Fall 2005. "Wordplay" was also our first project to fully feature our newest member, Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner, who also played three tracks on "Hits: The Road."

We chose the title "Wordplay" for a number of reasons, and not just because we've been known to engage in a bit of wordplay in our parodies.

When studied in its original languages, the Bible is full of clever plays on words in both the Old and New Testaments. One example is when the Apostle Paul writes about Philemon's runaway slave, Onesimus, who had since become a Christian, in Philemon 1:11. Onesimus means "useful," so Paul makes the following pun: "Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me."

Of course, just because something is funny doesn't mean it isn't true. As we've said many times over the years in ApologetiX, we take the Bible very seriously; we just don't take ourselves very seriously.

Sharper than a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12), the Word of God is nothing to be played with. But it is something that can be played ... on musical instruments. As Psalm 33:3-4 says, "Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does."

Furthermore, many of the songs on "Wordplay" (and our other CDs) are miniature plays or musicals based on the Word of God. In fact, musicals such as "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" were every bit as influential on our style as "Weird Al" Yankovic and Mad Magazine. We even mention those musicals' composers, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, in "Somebody Sold Me," our own treatment of Joseph's story, on this CD.

So, you see, the title "Wordplay" is itself a play on words