Written On The Rocks

Pacific Wonderland

This is perhaps the mostly aptly named song and band for this compilation, and the voice singing it is the only one that appears twice on it. Lead singer Steve Lockwood founded Pacific Wonderland in Portland in the late 90’s and they remained active into the early 00’s. Sometime around 2001, when mp3 . com was a big thing, I discovered their song “Written on the Rocks” there. It became one of my absolute favorite songs by a local band! It had kind of a Stones meets The Wallflowers sort of vibe and featured some incredible backing vocals.

I reached out back then and ended up booking a show with them to play with Purusa in Feb of 2002 at the Fez Ballroom in Portland. I still have that poster! As music consumption began to change and streaming started to become dominant, I never forgot about that song. The band’s entire run pre-dated streaming and their catalog can only be found on used CD’s, if you can find any copies. When I began talking with Steve about another song for this compilation, I decided to see if “Written on the Rocks” could also be included. I am so pumped that he agreed. This song is the definition of a hidden gem, buried in an analog past, and unearthed for digital discovery on this compilation!