The Tim “Napalm” Stegall Substack Interview: James Baker, Part One

You probably haven’t heard of this Australian punk legend, but you’ve heard his beat—he’s drummed for The Scientists, The Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts Of Bourbon, and more.

Shake Some Action, Psychotic Reaction,

No Satisfaction, Sky Pilot, Sky Saxon.

That's what I like.

Blitzkrieg Bop to the Jailhouse Rock

Stop Stop Stop At The Hop do the Bluejean Bop.

That's what I like.

Those lyrics—an ode to everything primal in rock 'n' roll—landed six tracks into Stoneage Romeos, the Hoodoo Gurus’ debut album that dominated my first semester of college. This record was delightfully all-over-the-map: power pop (“I Want You Back”), a Cramps-meets-Gary-Glitter appreciation of New York Dolls bassist Arthur “Killer” Kane (“Arthur,” naturally), then a track that sounded like the Dolls themselves had crash-landed (“I Was A Kamikaze Pilot”). And right in the middle of it all was “(Let’s All) Turn On,” a Hoodoo Gurus manifesto in song. 

Well Chief, wouldja believe the drummer co-wrote it?

Yeah, I know. There’s an old joke about the last words the drummer said before getting fired: “Hey, guys! I wrote a song!” Thing is, James Baker is the world’s most prominent exception to that rule. The list of bands for whom he’s slammed skins since ‘77 is pretty staggering:  The Victims, The Scientists, the aforementioned Hoodoo Gurus, Beasts of Bourbon, and The Dubrovniks, just to name a few. His drumming? Legendary—fiery, skilled, always in the pocket, with Jerry Nolan’s energy and groove and Clem Burke’s power. And his look? Like Brian Jones reincarnated as a punk rocker with a penchant for writing impeccable pop songs.

Baker’s solo mini-album Born To Rock, released earlier this year, sold out almost immediately. The title track alone captures the spirit of everything he loves in rock ‘n’ roll. Sadly, there’s a reason we’re only now seeing his first solo work since 1985: he’s battling terminal liver cancer. According to a fundraiser set up for him, Baker requires constant care, with his partner Cathy by his side. The fight to stay longer with us is getting harder, and time is limited. 

So let’s dive into the story of a man who gave his all to punk rock. James Baker was interviewed by transoceanic phone call, 06/10/24.

TIM: First things first: Terminal liver cancer? That's a possible side effect of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, for sure.

JAMES:  [laughs] Yeah, I read an article with Lester Bangs, and he was reviewing Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers, and he said, “Let's face it, rock ‘n’ roll bands are supposed to get drunk.”

TIM: And let’s face it: As musicians on this level, our job description frequently includes “liquor salesman!” [laughs] I understand that you were basically Perth's first glam rocker?

JAMES:  Oh yeah! As soon as I saw the front cover of the first New York Dolls album, I said, “Alright, this is the look I want.” I went out and tried to copy that. I didn't succeed, but they were my teenage idols.

Slink City Boy James Baker in 1974: “Did you see the suits and the platform boots?” (pic courtesy James Baker)

TIM: I've seen a photo of you looking very, very Arthur Kane-like.

JAMES: Arthur Kane! Oh, yeah! I met Arthur in New York. He was playing guitar in a band called Killer Kane Band. I helped him load his Fender Twin downstairs. At that point, about four people had seen them, 1976.

TIM: That was on that on that famous trip that you made to L.A., New York and London?

JAMES: Yeah.  I spent a week in Seattle. I had a good time out there. 

TIM:  Oh, so did you catch The Tupperwares while you were up there? 

JAMES:  Who's that? 

TIM:  The Tupperwares, they were basically Seattle's first punk band. They basically evolved into The Screamers.

JAMES:   I don't think they were playing. I mean, this is before I'd seen the Ramones as well, so I didn't quite know what to expect. I didn't have the actual Ramones album. I wasn't even out, you know. And they got it out in time for me to be in Los Angeles, and they played with the Flamin' Groovies on the Sunset Strip, a place called The Roxy. I left Seattle, I was by myself,  and I went down to LA to see the Ramones and the Flamin' Groovies. And again, I saw them in New York about three weeks later, playing at CBGB. But I went to a party in Los Angeles with Dee Dee and Danny Fields. He was the manager of the Ramones.

TIM:  He was at the intersection of a lot of great stuff in music that we love, the guy who got the MC5 and The Stooges signed to Elektra, etc. etc. 

JAMES:  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, no, no, I didn't see MC5 or The Stooges. They were well and truly gone by then. I think they were doing Kill City at the time with James Williamson producing. But they weren't doing any shows. There was a place called Whisky A Go Go, but that was shut for renovations, so I didn't see anything there. 

TIM: Well, I see here that you actually had a band going back to the early ‘70s called Black Sun that was very much in the Stooges/MC5 mold.

JAMES:  Yeah, we used to play “Down On The Street” by The Stooges and we used to play "I Want You Right Now" which is on Kick Out The Jams. So that's a band that we liked, and we also learned “Personality Crisis" when that came out.

TIM:  Were you playing drums back then, too?

JAMES:  Yeah, yeah, I always played drums. I don't very often sing, but it's a one-off thing.

TIM: Right. And that evolved into The Slink City Boys.

JAMES:  Yeah, that was just a rip-off name of the New York Dolls. It was like two of us, there were only two of us. And we just played a lot of colleges, school balls at the end of the year. We had a dance, a ball, whatever you want to call it. And we did a couple of them. We didn't really play that much, but that was the influence –  Exile On Main Street meets the New York Dolls. 

TIM:  I know there were a few bands like that, The Hollywood Brats in London,  The Berlin Brats in Los Angeles, for that matter….

JAMES:  Hang on! I might’ve met those guys in Los Angeles!

TIM: Oh yeah? 

JAMES: Yeah, recently from Detroit. Now that was the... 

TIM:  Recently from Detroit, were they? That was The Dogs. 

JAMES:  Ah, okay! Yeah, it was, yeah. I lived over the road from those guys in Hollywood.

TIM: Did either Black Sun or Slink City Boys have any original material?

JAMES:  They did, but I didn't even think about it. I didn't even go anywhere near a studio to put it down. No. There's nothing left there.

TIM:  Did any of those songs make it to your future bands?

JAMES:  A little bit. The song called “Bet Ya Lyin’” on The Scientists E.P. that came out, that's pretty much what the Slink City Boys played, that style of music. It was trashy. But that's the only song that I can think of that we used later on.

TIM:   Right. So you did the trip in ‘76, you went to Seattle and then you went to LA. I understand you got to New York and saw the Heartbreakers?

JAMES:  Yeah, the Heartbreakers, the Ramones and The Dictators. And Blondie and Talking Heads. Uh, I missed out on Television, but I saw the main bands, really. Television's a great band, but they just didn't play. The Runaways didn't play when I was in Los Angeles. and they were still going then. I read about them in Perth here before I left. So you had to be in the right time at the right place, and I was lucky to be around CBGB and they had those three weekends. Late in the evening, opening the door at CBGB's and the sun's up, and you were going to work and I was coming out of a nightclub. It was weird. So I thought, this is what I want to do. And I did. When I came back to Perth, we started a nightclub and we were allowed to play until 3 o'clock in the morning. It was like a jazz club, but only used one night a week for jazz. So we could choose any other night we wanted. The Victims started that, you know? So we just played there for a while.

End of Part One

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Thank you for reading to the end of today’s post. James Baker’s story isn’t just about drumming or rock ‘n’ roll; it’s about giving everything to an art form that rarely rewards the passionate like it should. And for punk journalism to survive and thrive, it demands the same level of uncompromising dedication to telling stories that matter, no matter the fallout.

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