Perfect benefit gig

The band – who have played for a whopping 22 years – are your hosts for a night’s entertainment at Cumbernauld Theatre on Saturday which will raise thousands for Strathcarron Hospice.

The night, which is almost sold out at time of going to press, is the first charity show Perfect Remedy have done.

We caught up with PR manager John Gough, who said: “The idea of doing a charity show first developed around a year ago. We chose Strathcarron because it’s an organisation everyone round here has heard of and the good work they do is greatly admired.

“We play a wide variety of covers, from ‘middle of the road’ to some harder stuff like Pink Floyd. It’s also become something of a running joke that we threaten to do a Jedward number at our shows, though we haven’t done it yet!”

Perfect Remedy are founder members Arch Fisher, John O’Donnell, Wullie McKeown and ‘new members’ Paul Gribbin and Kenny Kiernan who have been in the lineup for a “mere” six years. They will be supported by 17-year-old Calum Wilson.

“This is our first show at Cumbernauld Theatre,” added John.

“We mostly play pubs in Glasgow, and occasionally a biker rally, and we were also involved in this year’s Kirkintilloch Canal Festival.

“Depending on the size of the pub, we can perform to up to 500 people every week and that’s helped us build up a good following, a lot of people in Glasgow and Lanarkshire know who we are and come to our gigs.

“We also did an interview at Cumbernauld College last week which was broadcast to other colleges all over the world, I wasn’t there but I’m told it went well.”

The Saturday gig, which starts at 7.45pm, will also feature some more fundraising fun to boost the cash total. “Representatives of Strathcarron Hospice will be there on the night to help out in various ways including running a raffle,” said John. “There will be some nice prizes up for grabs.”

John added that ticket sales for the night have been brisk: “We’ve been very busy promoting this night through local radio stations, poster campaigns and talking to the press whenever we can. We’ve had posters up everywhere we can, including Cumbernauld, Airdrie, Kirkintilloch and Kilsyth.”

Irene McKie, hospice director at Strathcarron Hospice, said: “It’s great that the band have chosen to do this to help us, it’s quite humbling to think of people going to all this effort on their own initiative and very much appreciated as we need to raise more than £60,000 every week in running costs alone, it’s great to see events like this.

Tickets for Saturday, priced £10/£8/£5, can be booked from the Theatre on 01236 7342887.