Indianapolis Band: Dale Lawrence – Guitar, Vocals; Matt Speake – Guitar; Eric Baade – Bass; Jake Smith – Bass; Andy Richards – Drums; Kathy Kolata – Viola; Janas Hoyt Westcott – Vocals

Florida Band: Robert Ray – Vocals; Helen Kirklin, Viola, Carey Crane – Vocals; Jonathan Kaley-Isley – Drums, Organ, Vocals; Michael Derry – Guitar, Drums; Walter Salas-Humara – Guitar, Vocals; J. D. Foster; Jim Bays

The Vulgar Boatmen is a popular, long-running Indianapolis band. The band has a complex history.  Originally the band formed in Gainesville, Florida, led by Robert Ray and Walter Salas-Humara of The Silos, with involvement from Dale Lawrence. Ray and Lawrence formed a songwriting partnership, working out material long-distance, with Ray in Florida and Lawrence in Indianapolis. This led to three studio albums.  Salas-Humara left in the early days to focus on The Silos and his solo career, but served as producer for the first album, You and Your Sister.  

The early performing band was the Florida version.  Lawrence, however, had written much of the material, so he converted his band, Right To Left, into the Indianapolis Vulgar Boatmen.  They began performing regularly in Indianapolis as well as in Chicago, where the first album, You and Your Sister, received considerable airplay following its 1989 release.  The Florida band became less active; the Indianapolis version toured and did frequent shows in Indianapolis, Bloomington and other Indiana localities.

Each of the three albums were recorded in Florida with Ray’s involvement; much of the studio work was done by Florida band members, along with Lawrence.  The third album, Opposite Sex, was released in Europe only in 1995 as the band’s signing to Warner Brothers fell through.  The compilation album Wide Awake was issued on CD on its own label, No Nostalgia, by Lawrence in 2003 due primarily to the unavailability of the three original albums.

In 2015, You and Your Sister was reissued on CD with bonus tracks as a 25th Anniversary commemorative on Indianapolis label Timechange Records.  In 2018, all three of the original albums were issued on vinyl by German label Play Loud! Productions.

The sound of the Vulgar Boatmen is influenced by Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, and Velvet Underground, among others. The Indianapolis band still performs, albeit infrequently, as bassist Jake Smith lives in the Chicago area.  The Florida band has been dormant in recent years.

Ex-background vocalist Janas Hoyt Westcott, formerly of Red Square, launched her band The Mary Janes in the late 1990’s, naming the band after a Vulgar Boatmen song. Erik Baade formerly played with The Mathbats, while Jake Smith has been in the Mysteries of Life, Antenna, and Steve Kowalski.