Latest news with #JamesBaker
Perth Now
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
‘Style influencer': Aussie drumming ‘king' dies aged 71
Revered Australian musician James Baker, drummer for bands including the Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon, Scientists and other rock groups, has died. Baker died at his home in Perth on Monday. He was 71. Music scribes have described him as a key figure in the evolution of punk and rock music in Western Australia, and he was lauded in a press statement as 'King of the Perth Big Beat, the godfather of Perth Punk and Australia's Garage Guru'. He was inducted into the WA Music Industry Hall of Fame in 2006. 'With a CV that reads like a who's who of Australian rock 'n' roll greatness ... James was also a genuine tastemaker and style influencer,' his reps said. 'He was a man who loved rock 'n' roll, and who shared that love with everybody. And he was loved. He was so loved.' The Hoodoo Gurus, inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2007, shared a picture of Baker on the drums to mark his passing. Born in Perth in 1954, Baker bought his first drum kit as a teen and was a member of short-lived bans Black Sun and the Slick City Boys. He travelled to the US and England in 1976 where he placed himself 'in the thick of punk's early days'. 'It was a perfect time to go there,' Baker told The West Australian. 'Six months before that, I wouldn't have seen much. Six months after, it was almost all over.' Rubbing shoulders with the likes of the Ramones, Sex Pistols and the Clash, he returned to Australia inspired to launch The Geeks, which later became the Victims. James Baker, pictured performing in Melbourne in 2023, has died. Credit: Martin Philbey / WireImage Baker had been living with terminal liver cancer for a decade. Despite his health battles, he continued to perform, write and record music. He released a solo album called Born to Rock in March 2024, and contributed his talents to several bands. 'I think rock was always what I was meant to do,' he told The West. '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, sister Barbara, two daughters and a grandson who is due this month.
7NEWS
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
Hoodoo Gurus drummer and big beat ‘king' James Baker dies aged 71
Revered Australian musician James Baker, drummer for bands including the Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon, Scientists and other rock groups, has died. Baker died at his home in Perth on Monday. He was 71. Music scribes have described him as a key figure in the evolution of punk and rock music in Western Australia, and he was lauded in a press statement as 'King of the Perth Big Beat, the godfather of Perth Punk and Australia's Garage Guru'. He was inducted into the WA Music Industry Hall of Fame in 2006. 'With a CV that reads like a who's who of Australian rock 'n' roll greatness ... James was also a genuine tastemaker and style influencer,' his reps said. 'He was a man who loved rock 'n' roll, and who shared that love with everybody. And he was loved. He was so loved.' The Hoodoo Gurus, inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2007, shared a picture of Baker on the drums to mark his passing. Born in Perth in 1954, Baker bought his first drum kit as a teen and was a member of short-lived bans Black Sun and the Slick City Boys. He travelled to the US and England in 1976 where he placed himself 'in the thick of punk's early days'. 'It was a perfect time to go there,' Baker told The West Australian. 'Six months before that, I wouldn't have seen much. Six months after, it was almost all over.' Rubbing shoulders with the likes of the Ramones, Sex Pistols and the Clash, he returned to Australia inspired to launch The Geeks, which later became the Victims. Baker had been living with terminal liver cancer for a decade. Despite his health battles, he continued to perform, write and record music. He released a solo album called Born to Rock in March 2024, and contributed his talents to several bands. 'I think rock was always what I was meant to do,' he told The West. '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, sister Barbara, two daughters and a grandson who is due this month.
The Guardian
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
James Baker dies aged 71: the big beat behind some of Australia's most influential garage-rock
J ames Baker was, as the title of his last solo release declared, Born to Rock. The musician, who died on Monday night aged 71, was the big beat behind the drums for a long list of influential Australian garage-rock bands including Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon, the Scientists, the Dubrovniks and the Victims. His impact went deeper than the many much-mythologised records he played on. With his Brian Jones-via-Ramones bowl cut, which he wore to the end, Baker was a one-man totem of style. The drummer played an important role in bringing the look and attitude of punk to Australia, after he flew to New York then London in 1976 to check out the burgeoning scene for himself. He thus became one of the few Australians to see the era's key bands for himself. One night, after a gig by the Damned, he found himself in conversation with Joe Strummer and Mick Jones. They told him their new group, the Clash, were looking for a drummer. It would be the only time Baker's nerve failed him and he failed to take up the offer. But he flew home to Perth brimful of ideas and became central to the punk scene that formed in one of the most isolated cities on the planet. Baker first joined a band called the Geeks (AKA the Beheaded), then co-founded two seminal groups: the Victims, with Dave Faulkner, and the Scientists, with Kim Salmon. Both bands cut singles that remain cult classics of Australian music. The Victims' Television Addict (1977) sees Faulkner – then known as Dave Flick – ridiculing the notion that exposure to 'too much sex and too much violence on the idiot box' might cause a young boy to act out such TV screen fantasies in real life. Behind him, Baker's Ringo-inspired drumming was like a caveman stomp – so basic he might as well have been playing with a couple of bare bones. After the Victims broke up, Baker joined Salmon in the Scientists. They cut a single, an EP and self-titled album (making an unlikely appearance on Countdown) before breaking up in 1981. But Baker stayed involved with both songwriters as all three moved east to Sydney. There they would play major roles in the post-Radio Birdman garage-rock explosion centred around the Strawberry Hills and Hopetoun hotels, and later the Trade Union Club. While Salmon retooled a new version of the Scientists, Baker teamed up again with Faulkner in the band originally known as Le Hoodoo Gurus with another ex-Scientist, Rod Radalj, and the future film director Kimble Rendall (Rendall's death was announced on 21 April). The band's first single, Leilani, was introduced by Baker's whomping tribal beat, which clearly referenced Suzi Quatro's song Can the Can. Baker's glam-and-garage drumming is key to the sound of the Gurus' 1984 album Stoneage Romeos, one of the most celebrated debuts in Australian music history. After the album's recording, he was dismissed. The band's then manager, Stuart Coupe, delivered the bad news; he later wrote in his memoir Shake Some Action that 'with [Baker's] departure went a big part of the spirit and soul of what made them great in the first place'. While such a statement is arguably unfair on the rest of the Gurus, especially Baker's replacement (the long-serving Mark Kingsmill), it reflects a commonly held opinion among fans at the time. Baker was loved for his looks, his irrepressible enthusiasm and insouciance, more than his musicianship – to many, he personified the group's early cartoonish image. But the Gurus were growing up, a US tour beckoned – and Baker was left behind. Baker in 2024 By this point he was moonlighting in Beasts of Bourbon with Salmon, along with yet another ex-Scientist, Boris Sujdovic, the Johnnys' Spencer P Jones and Tex Perkins. Indeed, that band had already made their own legendary debut album, The Axeman's Jazz, with the producer Tony Cohen. The album was cut in a single eight-hour session, fuelled by VB and amphetamines; it boasted the enduring Salmon/Baker composition Drop Out. Three albums with Beasts of Bourbon followed before Baker and Sujdovic defected to form the Dubrovniks with Rod Radalj (by this point, Radalj had played in early versions of the Scientists, Hoodoo Gurus and the Johnnys, with writing credits on many early songs). Baker also had the first release on Sydney's Red Eye Records, a novelty tribute to his beloved New York Dolls titled Born to Be Punched. Baker was inducted into the Aria Hall of Fame, as a member of Hoodoo Gurus, in 2007. He was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2015, which he fought doggedly and well past expectations of survival. He couldn't be kept off stage. After reconciling with Faulkner, he toured with the Victims and was a rapturously received special guest when the Gurus' 40th anniversary celebration of Stoneage Romeos rolled through Perth. Despite his illness, playing in a rock'n'roll band seemed to be good for Baker. In his last year he released Born to Rock with a new band, the Groundbreakers, and an album, Ultimo, with the rebadged Beasts. It featured one more co-write with Salmon, The Ballad of the Battle of Rock'n'Roll. Baker's final appearance was a single with the Stems' Dom Mariani, Friday Night Friend, released in January. He is survived by his wife, Cathy, daughters Lorna and Faye, sister Barbara and his unborn grandson, due in two weeks.
ABC News
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
James Baker, Australian drummer for The Scientists, Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon, dies aged 71
James Baker, the drummer for some of Australia's most important and influential rock bands, including The Scientists, Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon and The Dubrovniks, has died. He was 71. Baker died "around 7:30 last night" at his home in Perth, according to a press statement hailing him as "the King of the Perth Big Beat, the godfather of Perth Punk and Australia's Garage Guru". It continued: "With a CV that reads like a who's who of Australian rock'n'roll greatness … James was also a genuine tastemaker and style influencer. He was a man who LOVED rock'n'roll, and who shared that love with everybody. And he was loved. He was so loved." Baker was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer in 2015. Doctors gave him six months to live, but instead he thrived, continuing to perform live, write and record music. In March 2024, he released his first (and last) solo release: a mini-album titled Born To Rock. Last year, Support Act launched a Help A Mate campaign, which raised over $30,000 towards assisting with Baker's medical and household expenses as he continued palliative care courtesy of his partner, Cathy. James Baker (middle) and Dave Faulkner (far left) co-wrote The Victims' most well-known song, Television Addict. ( Supplied ) A key figure in Perth's pioneering punk scene, Baker's distinctive tub-thumping was the heartbeat to so many great Australian records that were the soundtrack to punk- and rock-loving teens of the 1970s and 80s. Born in Fremantle, Western Australia in 1954, Baker was inspired to take up the drums after seeing Ringo Starr play, beginning his drumming career in a Beatles covers band in the 1970s. He spent his early years touring with Perth acts such as Black Sun, Slick City Boys and The Geeks (aka Beheaded). In 1977, Baker co-founded Loading YouTube content While touring the US and UK in 1976, Baker also rubbed shoulders with punk royalty: Sex Pistols, Ramones and The Clash. "My first day in London, I had a New York Dolls T-shirt on and [Sid Vicious] came up and sat next to me and said how much he liked the New York Dolls," Baker recounted "And he was a nice guy, to me. I met up with him again at a Clash gig one night and these skinheads were going to beat me up. And he came in and said, 'leave him alone'. And they did." He also considered auditioning for The Clash after meeting members Joe Strummer and Mick Jones after a gig by The Damned. "I had a Ramones T-shirt on and they came up to me and talked to me about that. They said they needed a drummer. But I hadn't played for a year, so…" After The Victims disbanded in 1978, Baker joined another local favourite, The Invaders, who morphed into the equally influential band The Scientists, featuring Kim Salmon. Following the Scientists' first break-up in 1981, Baker rejoined Faulkner in his new Sydney-based band, Hoodoo Gurus, and co-wrote two tracks on their Stoneage Romeos (Leilani and (Let's All) Turn On .) Loading YouTube content Around the same time, Baker joined Australian rock supergroup Beasts of Bourbon — the original line-up featuring vocalist Tex Perkins, guitarist Spencer P Jones and former Scientists bandmates Salmon and bassist Boris Sujdovic. When Sujdovic and another ex-Scientist, Roddy Radalj, formed a new group in 1988, The Dubrovniks (named in honour of the pair's Croatian heritage), Baker filled the drum stool. The mid-80s also saw him fronting his own solo project, Inducted into the West Australian Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2006, and alongside Hoodoo Gurus in the ARIA Hall of Fame the following year, Baker continued touring, playing and writing even as he lived with terminal liver cancer. Recent activity included tours with The Victims, The Beasts of Bourbon, joining Hoodoo Gurus onstage at a Perth concert and, earlier this year, releasing Tex Perkins, James Baker and Kim Salmon backstage at Northcote Theatre in 2024. ( Getty Images: Martin Philbey ) Speaking to ABC Illawarra Drive host Lindsay McDougall earlier this year, both Kim Salmon and Tex Perkins talked about making new music with Baker, reflecting on his understated talent and legacy. "Back in the old days, when he and I were writing in The Scientists, that partnership was like the one I had with "You couldn't tell where whose contributions finished and started. He kind of wrote the lyrics but I did as well. I kind of wrote the music but he informed it. I could read his mind." During their creative peak, he remembers "giving away" tunes to other artists, including Drop Out to Beasts Of Bourbon for their 2005 album The Axeman's Jazz. "That was a leftover Scientists song." Baker, Salmon and Perkins also co-wrote The Battle Of The Ballad Of Rock N Roll, the closing track to 2024's Ultimo, "I just had to sniff the lyrics to know that they were classic. I didn't have to look at them," Salmon remembered. " I love that song … It's a great intersection of what Perkins, Baker and me could do. I was just so proud of that song. " Loading YouTube content Baker also joined The Beasts for a Hailed as a "genuine tastemaker and style influencer", Baker was initially given six months to live by doctors but "thrived" for nearly a decade more. ( Supplied: Dave Laing Publicity ) Perkins continued: "The Beasts activity was really based on me, all of us, wanting to spend time with James. Then it turned out to be good for him, actually playing music and having something to look forward to. "I've known James for 40 years. I love the guy, and "Rather than being about entering the marketplace and wanting to put out a new record … It's really about just honouring the results of long-standing friendships and working relationships." Upon the release of his swan song record, Born To Rock, Baker shared in a statement: "I think rock was always what I was meant to do. As many of you know, it's not the easiest path, but I've had a blast and that will be my way till the very last. "As you know, I'm heading towards the end of the show but hey I've made my music for me and all of you, I really hope and almost know you will all continue to enjoy and love rock 'n' roll as much as I have." Baker is survived by his wife, Cathy, daughters Lorna and Faye and sister, Barbara. A grandson will be "arriving on the scene in the next week or so," according to a statement.
Business Insider
05-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
10 vintage photos show how the Black Monday stock market crash unfolded
For some, this economic instability has brought to mind past financial crises, like the Great Recession, the Great Depression, and the October 19, 1987, crisis known as Black Monday. On Black Monday, the S&P 500 saw a historic 20.5% downturn, and the Dow Jones plummeted by 22.6%. This was the biggest plunge the markets had taken since October 28, 1929, the start of the Great Depression, which lasted until 1932. These 10 pictures show how Black Monday impacted markets worldwide and explain the factors that contributed to the financial crash. Following a few years of economic strength, stock prices climbed up 44% in the first half of 1987, creating an asset bubble that began imploding on October 16, when reports of a growing trade deficit started the time the markets closed on Friday, October 16, 1987, economic uncertainty signaled what would come at the beginning of the week as the Dow Jones began to decline, seeing a 4.6% downturn by the end of the Saturday, Treasury Secretary James Baker's proposal to devalue the US dollar to minimize the growing trade deficit escalated anxieties, heightening financial panic. As the global markets plunged, newscasts turned their focus to the economy. However, the technologies mass media relied on at the time — mostly newspapers and TV news — failed to update consumers quickly enough about the market movements as they progressed by the minute, adding to the existing panic and heightening the misinformation experienced in and outside Wall Street. Following the crash, the US Securities and Exchange Commission began asking stock exchanges to employ circuit breakers to halt market activity during extreme volatility. This aimed to both prevent panic from spreading and incentivize traders to think through their circuit breakers have only been used a handful of times since their inception, including during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and, most recently, following Trump's tariff announcements. On Black Monday, the New York Stock Exchange lost over $500 billion in market value, according to Goldman the markets were able to begin recovering in the following weeks, and by 1988, the markets had surpassed their pre-crash record short-lived, the financial crash helped reform the stock exchanges and put mechanisms in place to prevent a drastic downturn and widespread panic from impacting US and global markets.
