James Baker: Local punk legend and drummer for Hoodoo Gurus and Beasts of Bourbon has died aged 71

James Baker, the revered drummer for Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon, The Scientists, The Victims and other Australian rock bands, died on Monday at the age of 71. While charismatic singers such as Dave Faulkner, Tex Perkins and Kim Salmon may have been in the spotlight, Baker was always the coolest guy on stage. He was also one of the most important figures in the evolution of West Australian punk and rock music. A decade ago, Baker was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, which spread to his lungs early last year with doctors giving him six months to live. The future WA and ARIA Hall of Fame inductee was born in East Fremantle and grew up in Donnybrook, where it was difficult to find vinyl records. His older sister Barbara managed to bring home a few Beatles singles. Inspired by Ringo Starr, Baker bought his first drum kit at age 16. “Apparently, I used to bang on pots and pans when I was four years old,” he told The Sunday Times during an interview at his Bassendean home in August 2024. Baker played his first gigs in the mid-70s with local hard rockers Black Sun and glam-rockers Slick City Boys. In 1976, he travelled to the US and England on an epic punk-rock pilgrimage. He saw New York punk rock icons Ramones play seminal gigs at The Roxy in London and CBGB’s in Manhattan, met future Sex Pistols’ bassist Sid Vicious on a London bus and nearly joined The Clash after bumping into the band after a concert by pioneering British punk act The Damned. “It was a perfect time to go there,” Baker explained. “Six months before that, I wouldn’t have seen much. Six months after it was almost all over.” He returned home to Perth with a suitcase rammed with rare vinyl records and a fierce desire to start his own punk-rock band. Baker helped form The Geeks, one of Perth’s first punk outfits inspired by Ramones and The Stooges, which morphed into The Victims — a short-lived but highly influential local act co-starring Faulkner. The Hoodoo Gurus frontman regards Baker, who would sometimes wear women’s clothing in public despite the notable threat from skinheads during the era, as a talismanic figure in the development of WA music. “When I first met James in 1977, I knew immediately that here was a stylish person with impeccable taste,” Faulkner said. “He just had an aura about him.” Despite being in poor health, Baker joined Hoodoo Gurus on stage in Perth during a show to celebrate the 40th anniversary of classic debut album, Stoneage Romeos. The drummer co-wrote two tracks on the original Australian release, including the band’s debut single Leilani featuring his trademark propulsive tribal rhythm. Sacked from Hoodoo Gurus in August 1984 for musical differences, Baker was a founding member of Beasts of Bourbon alongside fellow Perth punk Salmon and Brisbane-raised frontman Perkins. The latter described Baker as “one of the finest humans” in Australian music. “For nearly 50 years, a creator of some of the greatest rock’n’roll I’ve ever heard,” Perkins said when a campaign to raise funds for Baker’s cancer treatment was launched in 2024. Baker continued to make music right up to the final months of his storied life, releasing debut album Born to Rock in early 2024 and writing and recording with Beasts of Bourbon, the Victims, the Painkillers and local luminary Dom Mariani. When he released Born to Rock, Baker reflected on more than half a century of music and his own mortality. “I think rock was always what I was meant to do,” he said. “It’s not the easiest path but I’ve had a blast and that will be my way till the very last.” Baker is survived by his wife Cathy, whom he married in 2015, his sister Barbara and two daughters from a previous relationship.

James Baker: Local punk legend and drummer for Hoodoo Gurus and Beasts of Bourbon has died aged 71

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