James Baker (musician)
Encyclopedia
James Baker is a rock music
ian from Perth, Western Australia
. He has drum
med with, and was instrumental in the founding of several influential Australian bands including The Scientists
, Le Hoodoo Gurus
, Beasts of Bourbon
, and The Dubrovniks
.
as the main influence on his drumming style. He first started drumming for a local Perth band, Black Sun (1973–1974), followed by The Slick City Boys (1974–1975). When he was 16 he travelled to the United States and England, where he was influenced by early live performances of The Ramones, Flamin' Groovies, The Dictators
and Johnny Thunders
. It was during these travels that he met Sid Vicious
He also almost auditioned for The Clash
Baker was a member in 1976 of protopunk
band The Geeks, who are regarded as one of the first punk rock
groups in Australia, although they played no gig
s and did not release any recorded material until fairly recently. After Dave Faulkner
joined, the band became known as The Victims. Baker and Faulkner co-wrote the band's first single, "Television Addict
", which is widely regarded as a classic and has featured on several punk compilations.
(guitar, vocals), Roddy Radalj
(guitar, vocals) and Boris Sujdovic (bass), replacing the bands original drummer, John Rowlings. With the inclusion of Baker, the band was renamed The Scientists
however with Sujdovic leaving in August 1978 the band didn't start playing again until January 1979 with Dennis Byrne on bass. The band released its first single in April 1979, "Frantic Romantic" b/w "Shake (Together Tonight)" on the DNA label. Radalj and Byrne left in April 1979, to be replaced by Ben Juniper (guitar) and Ian Sharples (bass). This lineup recorded the band's second release, The Scientists EP (released February 1980) and did two tours of Melbourne and Sydney, in December 1979 and February/March 1980.
Juniper left the band in May 1980 and Salmon, Baker and Sharples continued as a three-piece. The band broke up in January 1981 after recording their album, The Scientists (commonly referred to as The Pink Album), released in August 1981.
and Roddy Radalj
as founders of Sydney
based band Le Hoodoo Gurus
(aka Hoodoo Gurus).
Rendall left in 1982, just prior to the release of "Leilani", and was replaced by Clyde Bramley (bass guitar, backing vocals) from Sydney bands The Hitmen
and Super K. Radalj was next to leave the band as he was unhappy with Rendall's leaving and Faulkner's greater influence on the band's direction. He was replaced by ex-Fun Things guitarist Brad Shepherd
, who had been Bramley's flatmate and in The Hitmen and Super K.
Gurus new line-up (Baker, Bramley, Faulkner and Shepherd) recorded the band's first album, Stoneage Romeos
(1984). with Baker co-writing several of the band's songs, but was sacked from the band in August 1984 before the album was released.
Hoodoo Gurus iconic status on the Australian rock scene was acknowledged when they were inducted into the 2007 ARIA Hall of Fame
.
in 1984, together with Tex Perkins
, Spencer P. Jones
(The Johnnys), Boris Sudjovic and Kim Salmon
of The Scientists
. The group were initially thrown together by vocalist Perkins
to fulfill a booking his previous band, Tex Deadly and the Dum-Dums, could no longer make and began by playing together in small venues in Sydney. This lineup was featured on the band's first album, The Axeman's Jazz, recorded in 1984 in a single afternoon for one hundred dollars by Tony Cohen
. Although the album became an underground success (a cover of "Psycho" being a hit on alternative radio), the band continued to be just a side project for its members until the original line-up fell apart in 1984 when the Scientists left Australia to tour overseas.
In 1985-86, Baker recorded vocals on a single, a cover of The Troggs’ "I Can’t Control Myself" with an original, "Born to Be Punched" on the B-side. It was credited to The James Baker Experience.
When both the Johnnys and the Scientists fell apart, however, the original line-up reunited in 1987, to record another album, Sour Mash in 1988. The swamp-rock of The Axeman's Jazz had given way to a fusion of blues-based pub rock and punk with great effect. Black Milk, recorded in 1990, expanded on this idea. The band grew particularly confident and powerful while touring Europe on the back of Sour Mash and grew in popularity. In 1991, Baker and Sujdovic left to be replaced by Brian Hooper and Tony Pola - the bassist and drummer of Kim Salmon's new band, The Surrealists
.
, with Roddy Radalj
, Peter Simpson and Boris Sujdovic. The band's name was coined from the fact that Radalj and Sujdovic were both born in Dubrovnik
, a town in Croatia
. The band released several albums including, Dubrovnik Blues, Audio Sonic Love Affair, Chrome and Medicine Wheel. After they broke up in the 1994, following the release of the band's fourth album, with Baker returning to Perth.
On 10 February 1995 the original 1980s lineup of The Scientists
, Salmon, Baker, Sharples and Juniper, reformed for a one-off show in Perth
.
Baker's current projects are Rockin' Hendy (with Rik van der Velde - guitar, and Lou Boy - bass and vocals) and The Painkillers. Baker forming The Painkillers in May 2005 together with Joe Bludge on guitar and vocals. The Painkillers have played support in Perth for bands such as The Fuzz, Little Birdy
, The Panda Band
, Brian Hooper, Pharaohs, and the Beasts of Bourbon
. On 25 August 2005 The Painkillers released their debut album, Drunk on a Train on Blazing Strumpet Records, through Reverberation
.. Early in 2008 James briefly joined Perth 'stupor-group' Potato Stars, thus becoming the 48th "Spud".
In 2006 Baker was inducted into the West Australian Music Industry Hall of Fame.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
ian from Perth, Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
. He has drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
med with, and was instrumental in the founding of several influential Australian bands including The Scientists
The Scientists
The Scientists are an influential post-punk band from Perth, Australia, led by Kim Salmon, initially known as Exterminators and then Invaders. The band had two primary incarnations: the Perth-based punk band of the late 1970s and the Sydney/London-based swamp rock band of the 1980s...
, Le Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band, formed in Sydney in 1981, by the mainstay Dave Faulkner and later joined by Richard Grossman , Mark Kingsmill , and Brad Shepherd...
, Beasts of Bourbon
Beasts of Bourbon
Beasts of Bourbon was an Australian alternative rock band formed in 1983, with a line-up that has changed as the band splintered and reformed several times - Beginnings :...
, and The Dubrovniks
Dubrovniks
The Dubrovniks are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1987. The band's name was coined from the fact that founding members Roddy Radalj and Boris Sujdovic were born in Dubrovnik, a town in Croatia....
.
Early days
Baker has named Ronnie Bond of The TroggsThe Troggs
The Troggs are an English rock band from the 1960s that had a number of hits in UK and the US. Their most famous songs include, "Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You", and "Love Is All Around"...
as the main influence on his drumming style. He first started drumming for a local Perth band, Black Sun (1973–1974), followed by The Slick City Boys (1974–1975). When he was 16 he travelled to the United States and England, where he was influenced by early live performances of The Ramones, Flamin' Groovies, The Dictators
The Dictators
The Dictators are an American punk rock band formed in New York City in 1973. Critic John Dougan said that they were "one of the finest and most influential proto-punk bands to walk the earth." The Dictators are represented in the "Punk Wing" of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in Cleveland, Ohio...
and Johnny Thunders
Johnny Thunders
Johnny Thunders, born John Anthony Genzale, Jr. , was an American protopunk guitarist, singer and songwriter.He came to prominence in the early '70s as a member of the New York Dolls...
. It was during these travels that he met Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious was an English musician best known as the bassist of the influential punk rock group Sex Pistols...
He also almost auditioned for The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
Baker was a member in 1976 of protopunk
Protopunk
Protopunk is a term used retrospectively to describe a number of musicians who were important precursors of punk rock in the late 1960s to mid-1970s, or who have been cited by early punk musicians as influential...
band The Geeks, who are regarded as one of the first punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
groups in Australia, although they played no gig
Gig (musical performance)
Gig is slang for a musical engagement in which musicians are hired. Originally coined in the 1920s by jazz musicians, the term, short for the word "engagement", now refers to any aspect of performing such as assisting with performance and attending musical performance...
s and did not release any recorded material until fairly recently. After Dave Faulkner
Dave Faulkner (musician)
Dave Faulkner is an Australian rock musician who also performed as Dave Flick. Faulkner is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist; he has performed with several bands, but is best known as a member of Hoodoo Gurus...
joined, the band became known as The Victims. Baker and Faulkner co-wrote the band's first single, "Television Addict
Television Addict
"Television Addict" was the A-side of the debut single by The Victims, an early punk rock band from Perth, Western Australia. The song is a mainstay of compilations of Australian punk from the 1970s, and has been recorded by the Hoodoo Gurus, You Am I, The Hellacopters and Teengenerate.It was...
", which is widely regarded as a classic and has featured on several punk compilations.
The Scientists
In May 1978 Baker joined another punk rock band, The Invaders, joining Kim SalmonKim Salmon
Kim Leith Salmon is an Australian indie rock musician and songwriter, who attained fame in June 2004, when he was inducted into the West Australian Music Industry Association Hall of Fame....
(guitar, vocals), Roddy Radalj
Roddy Radalj
Roddy Radalj is a rock musician and singer-songwriter who grew up in Perth, Western Australia...
(guitar, vocals) and Boris Sujdovic (bass), replacing the bands original drummer, John Rowlings. With the inclusion of Baker, the band was renamed The Scientists
The Scientists
The Scientists are an influential post-punk band from Perth, Australia, led by Kim Salmon, initially known as Exterminators and then Invaders. The band had two primary incarnations: the Perth-based punk band of the late 1970s and the Sydney/London-based swamp rock band of the 1980s...
however with Sujdovic leaving in August 1978 the band didn't start playing again until January 1979 with Dennis Byrne on bass. The band released its first single in April 1979, "Frantic Romantic" b/w "Shake (Together Tonight)" on the DNA label. Radalj and Byrne left in April 1979, to be replaced by Ben Juniper (guitar) and Ian Sharples (bass). This lineup recorded the band's second release, The Scientists EP (released February 1980) and did two tours of Melbourne and Sydney, in December 1979 and February/March 1980.
Juniper left the band in May 1980 and Salmon, Baker and Sharples continued as a three-piece. The band broke up in January 1981 after recording their album, The Scientists (commonly referred to as The Pink Album), released in August 1981.
Hoodoo Gurus
In January 1981, Baker joined Faulkner, Kimble RendallKimble Rendall
Kimble Rendall is an Australian director, musician and writer mostly known for his Second unit direction of Matrix Reloaded , Matrix Revolutions , I, Robot , Casanova and Ghost Rider...
and Roddy Radalj
Roddy Radalj
Roddy Radalj is a rock musician and singer-songwriter who grew up in Perth, Western Australia...
as founders of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
based band Le Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band, formed in Sydney in 1981, by the mainstay Dave Faulkner and later joined by Richard Grossman , Mark Kingsmill , and Brad Shepherd...
(aka Hoodoo Gurus).
Rendall left in 1982, just prior to the release of "Leilani", and was replaced by Clyde Bramley (bass guitar, backing vocals) from Sydney bands The Hitmen
The Hitmen
Hitmen are an Australian Hard rock band. The group went through a large number of lineup changes in its short late 1970s and early 1980s run, then regrouped under a new name, Hitmen DTK, between 1989 and 1992. They reformed in 2007 and continue to play....
and Super K. Radalj was next to leave the band as he was unhappy with Rendall's leaving and Faulkner's greater influence on the band's direction. He was replaced by ex-Fun Things guitarist Brad Shepherd
Brad Shepherd
Brad Shepherd is an Australian rock musician. Shepherd is a guitarist, singer-songwriter and harmonica player; he has performed with several bands, especially the Hoodoo Gurus...
, who had been Bramley's flatmate and in The Hitmen and Super K.
Gurus new line-up (Baker, Bramley, Faulkner and Shepherd) recorded the band's first album, Stoneage Romeos
Stoneage Romeos
Stoneage Romeos was iconic Australian rock group Hoodoo Gurus' first album and saw them receive record sales to complement their already strong reputation for live performances. The album name is from a Three Stooges short film...
(1984). with Baker co-writing several of the band's songs, but was sacked from the band in August 1984 before the album was released.
Hoodoo Gurus iconic status on the Australian rock scene was acknowledged when they were inducted into the 2007 ARIA Hall of Fame
ARIA Hall of Fame
Since 1988 the Australian Recording Industry Association has inducted artists into its ARIA Hall of Fame. While most have been recognised at the annual ARIA Music Awards, in 2005 ARIA sought to create a separate standalone "ARIA Icons: Hall of Fame" event as only one or two acts could be inducted...
.
Beasts of Bourbon
Baker joined the Beasts of BourbonBeasts of Bourbon
Beasts of Bourbon was an Australian alternative rock band formed in 1983, with a line-up that has changed as the band splintered and reformed several times - Beginnings :...
in 1984, together with Tex Perkins
Tex Perkins
Tex Perkins is an Australian singer-songwriter, who is widely known for fronting the popular Australian rock-band The Cruel Sea, but has also performed with the Beasts of Bourbon, Thug, James Baker Experience, The Butcher Shop, Salamander Jim, and Tex, Don and Charlie. He has also released many...
, Spencer P. Jones
Spencer P. Jones
Spencer P. Jones is a Melbourne based guitar player from Te Awamutu, New Zealand. He has been a member of The Emotional Retreads, Country Killed the Cow Penalty, Escape Committee, Cuban Heels, Beats Working, North 2 Alaskans, The Johnnys, The Beasts of Bourbon, Olympic Sideburns, Paul Kelly and The...
(The Johnnys), Boris Sudjovic and Kim Salmon
Kim Salmon
Kim Leith Salmon is an Australian indie rock musician and songwriter, who attained fame in June 2004, when he was inducted into the West Australian Music Industry Association Hall of Fame....
of The Scientists
The Scientists
The Scientists are an influential post-punk band from Perth, Australia, led by Kim Salmon, initially known as Exterminators and then Invaders. The band had two primary incarnations: the Perth-based punk band of the late 1970s and the Sydney/London-based swamp rock band of the 1980s...
. The group were initially thrown together by vocalist Perkins
Tex Perkins
Tex Perkins is an Australian singer-songwriter, who is widely known for fronting the popular Australian rock-band The Cruel Sea, but has also performed with the Beasts of Bourbon, Thug, James Baker Experience, The Butcher Shop, Salamander Jim, and Tex, Don and Charlie. He has also released many...
to fulfill a booking his previous band, Tex Deadly and the Dum-Dums, could no longer make and began by playing together in small venues in Sydney. This lineup was featured on the band's first album, The Axeman's Jazz, recorded in 1984 in a single afternoon for one hundred dollars by Tony Cohen
Tony Cohen
Tony Cohen is an acclaimed Australian record producer and sound engineer based in Melbourne, best known for his work with The Birthday Party and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in the 1980s...
. Although the album became an underground success (a cover of "Psycho" being a hit on alternative radio), the band continued to be just a side project for its members until the original line-up fell apart in 1984 when the Scientists left Australia to tour overseas.
In 1985-86, Baker recorded vocals on a single, a cover of The Troggs’ "I Can’t Control Myself" with an original, "Born to Be Punched" on the B-side. It was credited to The James Baker Experience.
When both the Johnnys and the Scientists fell apart, however, the original line-up reunited in 1987, to record another album, Sour Mash in 1988. The swamp-rock of The Axeman's Jazz had given way to a fusion of blues-based pub rock and punk with great effect. Black Milk, recorded in 1990, expanded on this idea. The band grew particularly confident and powerful while touring Europe on the back of Sour Mash and grew in popularity. In 1991, Baker and Sujdovic left to be replaced by Brian Hooper and Tony Pola - the bassist and drummer of Kim Salmon's new band, The Surrealists
Kim Salmon and the Surrealists
Kim Salmon and the Surrealists were an Australian indie rock band formed by Kim Salmon in 1987 when he was living in Perth between the final two tours by The Scientists...
.
The Dubrovniks and beyond
In 1988 Baker joined a new band, The DubrovniksDubrovniks
The Dubrovniks are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1987. The band's name was coined from the fact that founding members Roddy Radalj and Boris Sujdovic were born in Dubrovnik, a town in Croatia....
, with Roddy Radalj
Roddy Radalj
Roddy Radalj is a rock musician and singer-songwriter who grew up in Perth, Western Australia...
, Peter Simpson and Boris Sujdovic. The band's name was coined from the fact that Radalj and Sujdovic were both born in Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
, a town in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. The band released several albums including, Dubrovnik Blues, Audio Sonic Love Affair, Chrome and Medicine Wheel. After they broke up in the 1994, following the release of the band's fourth album, with Baker returning to Perth.
On 10 February 1995 the original 1980s lineup of The Scientists
The Scientists
The Scientists are an influential post-punk band from Perth, Australia, led by Kim Salmon, initially known as Exterminators and then Invaders. The band had two primary incarnations: the Perth-based punk band of the late 1970s and the Sydney/London-based swamp rock band of the 1980s...
, Salmon, Baker, Sharples and Juniper, reformed for a one-off show in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
.
Baker's current projects are Rockin' Hendy (with Rik van der Velde - guitar, and Lou Boy - bass and vocals) and The Painkillers. Baker forming The Painkillers in May 2005 together with Joe Bludge on guitar and vocals. The Painkillers have played support in Perth for bands such as The Fuzz, Little Birdy
Little Birdy
Little Birdy are an Australian indie rock band formed in Perth, Western Australia in 2002 by singer and guitarist Katy Steele, drummer Matt Chequer, guitarist and keyboardist Simon Leach, and bass guitarist Scott O'Donoghue...
, The Panda Band
The Panda Band
The Panda Band are an indie pop band originating from Perth, Western Australia. They have a reputation for combining numerous musical genres. They have toured nationally as support acts for bands such as The Sleepy Jackson, Little Birdy, The Grates and Evermore.-Biography:The band originally...
, Brian Hooper, Pharaohs, and the Beasts of Bourbon
Beasts of Bourbon
Beasts of Bourbon was an Australian alternative rock band formed in 1983, with a line-up that has changed as the band splintered and reformed several times - Beginnings :...
. On 25 August 2005 The Painkillers released their debut album, Drunk on a Train on Blazing Strumpet Records, through Reverberation
Reverberation (record label)
Reverberation is an Australian independent record label distributor. It helps distribute records from independent overseas records labels such as Alternative Tentacles and Eyeball Records, and also for small record labels such as Love Police Records and their own label Reverberation.Reverberation...
.. Early in 2008 James briefly joined Perth 'stupor-group' Potato Stars, thus becoming the 48th "Spud".
In 2006 Baker was inducted into the West Australian Music Industry Hall of Fame.
Discography
Baker has been a member of the following bands:- Black Sun (1973–1974)
- The Slick City Boys (1974–1975)
- The Geeks (1977)
- The Victims (1977–1978)
- "Television AddictTelevision Addict"Television Addict" was the A-side of the debut single by The Victims, an early punk rock band from Perth, Western Australia. The song is a mainstay of compilations of Australian punk from the 1970s, and has been recorded by the Hoodoo Gurus, You Am I, The Hellacopters and Teengenerate.It was...
" (1977) - No Thanks to the Human Turd (aka The Victims) (1978)
- All Loud on the Western Front (1989)
- "Television Addict
- The ScientistsThe ScientistsThe Scientists are an influential post-punk band from Perth, Australia, led by Kim Salmon, initially known as Exterminators and then Invaders. The band had two primary incarnations: the Perth-based punk band of the late 1970s and the Sydney/London-based swamp rock band of the 1980s...
(1978–1982, 1988–1990)- "Frantic Romantic" (1979)
- The Scientists EP (1981)
- The Scientists (The Pink Album) (1981)
- The Scientists (1995)
- The Hoodoo GurusHoodoo GurusHoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band, formed in Sydney in 1981, by the mainstay Dave Faulkner and later joined by Richard Grossman , Mark Kingsmill , and Brad Shepherd...
(1983)- "LeilaniLeilani (song)"Leilani" was the first single by iconic Australian rock group Hoodoo Gurus when they were called Le Hoodoo Gurus and was released on Phantom Records in October 1982. It had been written by all four Gurus: James Baker, Dave Faulkner, Roddy Radalj and Kimble Rendall. Rendall left shortly before its...
" (1982) - Stoneage RomeosStoneage RomeosStoneage Romeos was iconic Australian rock group Hoodoo Gurus' first album and saw them receive record sales to complement their already strong reputation for live performances. The album name is from a Three Stooges short film...
(1984)
- "Leilani
- The Beasts of BourbonBeasts of BourbonBeasts of Bourbon was an Australian alternative rock band formed in 1983, with a line-up that has changed as the band splintered and reformed several times - Beginnings :...
(1983–1985, 1988–1990)- The Axeman's Jazz (1984)
- Sour Mash (1988)
- Black Milk (1990)
- The James Baker Experience (1985–1986)
- "I Can’t Control Myself" / "Born to be Punched" (1985)
- The Eternal Teenagers (1986)
- Legendary Stardust Cowboys (1986)
- The Adorable Ones/The DubrovniksDubrovniksThe Dubrovniks are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1987. The band's name was coined from the fact that founding members Roddy Radalj and Boris Sujdovic were born in Dubrovnik, a town in Croatia....
(1986–1994)- "Fireball of Love / "If I Had a Gun" (April 1988)
- "My Coo Ca Choo" / "Girls Go Maniac" (November 1988)
- "Speedway Girls" / "Freezing Rain" (June 1989)
- Dubrovnik Blues
- "Love is on the Loose Tonight" (1990)
- Audio Sonic Love Affair (1990)
- "French Revolution" (1992)
- Chrome (1992)
- Medicine Wheel (1994)
- Novakill (1998)
- Rockin' Hendy (2000–present)
- The Painkillers (2005–present)
- Drunk on a Train (August 2006)
- Potato Stars (2008)