Stone Coal White was perhaps the most underground act in a scene that was already vastly subterranean. Bassist Melvin Payne, guitarist Tommy Mundy, and drummer Joey “Lobo” Rodrick released their sound from the deepest chasm of the black experience. Channeling Vietnam nightmares, grass, LSD, unhinged sexuality, poverty, and violence into a spiritual sound that was uniquely their own, the trio managed to find an audience in those seeking something different from the flash and show-band glitz of the other outfits playing clubs like the Astro House on Salem Avenue or the Twenty Grand on Germantown Pike. Known for their exhaustive, psychedelic stage show with an often risqué element, Stone Coal White were for a time forced to add “Rated X” to their name in order to be plain about what the average club-goer would experience.