James Baker, the moptopped drummer who played a steady hand in the Victims, Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon, and the Scientists, died Monday night at his home in Perth, after succumbing to cancer. He was 71.
James discovered rock ‘n’ roll early, and never shook it from his system.
By his late teens, he was a member of Black Sun and the Slink City Boys, two short-lived bands that took their cues from the Stooges, MC5, Alice Cooper and New York Dolls. As punk took flight in 1976, so too did Baker, as he moved abroad to get closer to the action.
On returning to Western Australia, he formed the trailblazing local punk band the Geeks. Then, in 1977, teamed up with Dave Faulkner to form the Victims.
His next musical project with Faulkner would ultimately earn induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame – Hoodoo Gurus.
Baker played on the Gurus’ first studio album, the 1983 classic Stoneage Romeos, and in the same year co-formed Beasts of Bourbon. Baker and his iconic hairstyle can be easily spotted in those early Gurus music videos.
For the Gurus’ followup, 1985’s Mars Needs Guitars, Mark Kingsmill had assumed Baker’s duties behind the kit.
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The WA rocker also played with the Dubrovniks, the Painkillers, and “was also a genuine tastemaker and style influencer,” reads a statement from his reps. “He was a man who LOVED rock’n’roll, and who shared that love with everybody. And he was loved. He was so loved.”
Despite his battles with terminal cancer, Baker joined the Victims on stage in Sydney and Melbourne for their final shows in November and December 2024; he performed with the Beasts of Bourbon in 2024 and contributed to their recent studio album, Ultimo, the cover for which features a self portrait of Baker; he teamed up with the Gurus on stage in Perth last December; and released his first solo 12″ record “Born To Rock” in May last year, almost 40 years after his 1985 single “Born to Be Punched”/”I Can’t Control Myself”. Baker dropped the garage single “She Said (Bad Weekend)” with Dom Mariani as recently as January 2025.
Baker is survived by his wife Cathy, daughters Lorna and Faye and sister Barbara, and his unborn grandson who will be arriving on the scene in the next week or so.
