James Baker (The Scientists, Hoodoo Gurus) dead at 71
The ”King of the Perth Big Beat” also played in The Victims, Beasts of Bourbon, The Dubrovniks, and more.
James Baker, drummer and rock n’ roll true believer who kept the beat in Australian bands The Scientists, Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon and more, died on Monday at age 71. He’d been diagnosed with liver cancer in 2015. “It is with heavy heart that we say that James Baker, the King of the Perth Big Beat, the godfather of Perth Punk and Australia’s Garage Guru passed away around 7:30 last night at home in Perth,” read the official statement on his passing.
Born in Perth in 1954, Baker heard The Beatles as a kid and that was it, he knew what he wanted to do. His first group was a Beatles cover band, but by the ’70s he was playing in bands doing their own music, and he cited Ronnie Bond of the Troggs as his biggest drumming influence. He would become a central figure in the Australian punk and alternative scene and his resume is exceptional. He played in early punk group The Victims with Dave Faulkner and they would later go on to form Hoodoo Gurus. In between those to groups, he spent time in cult heroes The Scientists, and was also part of Beasts of Bourbon (with The Scientists’ Kim Salmon and Boris Sujdovic), The Dubrovniks, Legendary Stardust Cowboys, and The Eternal Teenagers. He also led his own groups, including The Groundbreakers, who released the “Born to Rock” 12″ in 2024.
Baker was inducted into the Aria Hall of Fame, as part of Hoodoo Gurus, in 2007.
Rest easy, James.
