History
Coveted Souls was a band formed with friends my sophomore year of high school. After a bit of shuffling around through various member changes the group locked into a configuration which produced roughly 7-8 original songs in it’s three year existence. Will Mott (guitars) and I became a writing team that would last years beyond the life of Coveted Souls; me the wordsmith, Will the maestro.


The Recording of Defiled
A generous donation of $600 from Will’s older brother allowed us to head into a studio for our first attempt at recording. This was my introduction into the world of audio production and the lessons of this first session have never left me. In all, the tracks below account for roughly 12 hours of production time. You will undoubtedly hear where things were never fixed as we ran out of time. They have a special place in my heart though and I find myself listening to them at least once a year as a reminder of a) how far I’ve come as a musician and b) how not to do a mix down.


Track: This Eternity (Alone)
Musicians: John Martin (Vocals/Guitars), Will Mott (Guitars), Mike Albright (Bass), Jon Kisner (Drums)
Year: 1993
Notes: At the time of writing, I’d have probably told you this was about fighting with someone I wanted but couldn’t have. I find it interesting though that there is a verse in there about my absent father, which makes me think about my original intention in writing the song.

Track: Raffish Clown
Musicians: John Martin (Vocals/Guitars), Will Mott (Guitars), Mike Albright (Bass), Jon Kisner (Drums)
Year: 1993
Notes: Written on a dare some odd Halloween. In a group of mid-twenty somethings I knew there was a guy who tended to prey on the younger girls, ten years his junior on the average. One night someone dared Will & I to write a heavy metal-ish tune about what a slimebag based on this guy (whose last name happened to be Raff) and we produced Raffish Clown. I remember coming out of the vocal booth after recording this and the producer staring at me with wide eyes saying, “I certainly did not expect a sound like that to come out of you.”

Track: Defiled
Musicians: John Martin (Vocals/Guitars), Will Mott (Guitars), Mike Albright (Bass), Jon Kisner (Drums)
Year: 1993
Notes: Defiled was my middle-finger to religion. An atheist through most of high school, I viewed “the church” with such disdain it crept into my writing. Defiled was what I thought happened to atheists like myself: we would be abandoned by the world for not sharing their view.