The Vulgar Boatmen were formed in
Gainesville,
Florida, in 1982 by a group of students at the
University of Florida, including John Eder and
Walter Salas-Humara, later of
The Silos. In its original configuration the group issued several cassette-only releases, including
Women and Boatmen First (1982) and
All Bands on Deck (1984). As first Eder and then Salas-Humara departed, the group coalesced around Robert Ray, a film studies professor at the university, who became one of the group's two principal songwriters and vocalists, the other being Indiana musician Dale Lawrence, a former student of Ray's who was a veteran of the early punk band
the Gizmos.. In 2003, the band issued a compilation album on CD,
Wide Awake. As of 2020, the Indiana branch of the Boatmen remains active under the leadership of Lawrence. ==Legacy==