Wayne Is Retiring, What's Next for Him and Us?
Thu., Feb. 22. 2024 3:49pm EST
After 10 years with ApologetiX, Wayne Bartley is retiring at the end of this month. We realize that may seem abrupt to you, but he actually told us on February 1 so we would have four weeks' notice to make plans.
Simply put, our dear friend Wayne is just plain weary. He also has a full-time gig as a guitar instructor, and working every weekend for ApologetiX over the past decade hasn't given him much opportunity to rest and recharge his batteries. That takes its toll over time.
Wayne has been recording with us as one of our three guitarists since February 2014. He has also been mixing all of our singles since January 2017. In addition to being an all-around nice guy with a heart that wants to serve the Lord and His people, Wayne has exemplified excellence in everything he's done for ApologetiX.
We will be sad to see him go, but he's going out on the best of terms. Wayne's not currently planning to join any other bands, and we've made sure he knows that the door is wide open if he wants to come back and contribute guitars to any (or many) of our parodies in the future.
Tom Tincha will continue as the main guitarist on our recordings, with occasional appearances by Tom Milnes. Those two are planning to be our two guitarists when we play at Immortal Fest in Versailles OH on September 1, 2024. They have a lot of experience as a tandem, having played together in ApX from January 2009 through December 2011.
Wayne's mixing duties will be taken over by David Michael, an ApX fan since 2006, who already puts together our weekly Rock Through the Bible feature and runs our Instagram site. David has also participated as an audio consultant on our last eight CDs. Moreover, he's worked with us behind the scenes for the past few weeks to help ensure a smooth transition.
David's a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter who's been in a dozen bands (ranging from worship to folk to polka to alternative rock) in which he also served as mixer. The instruments he learned in progression, starting at age 13, were drums, percussion, piano, keyboard, guitar, bass, vocals, and accordion (the quintessential parody instrument).
We plan to tell you more about David in the near future, but in the meantime, we want to bid a fond farewell to Wayne and thank him for a decade of superlative service to this ministry. God bless you, Mr. Bartley. Please come back as often as you like!
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