The Perth music scene is paying tribute today to one of its most respected figures. Paul McCarthy, member of Circus and formerly of The Wishers and The Boys has passed away of cancer.
Paul McCarthy was part of one of Perth’s first waves of live rock music with The Boys in the late 70s and early 80s. More recently he played in Circus. McCarthy also founded Groove The Western Australian Music Magazine, where he acted as editor and publisher from 2002 to 2007.
In a Facebook post on September 12, he revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer. “Dear friends I’ve been diagnosed with cancer. It’s all been very fast. Prior to the 30th of August, my health seemed fine, from that point onwards it declined rapidly. I lost all my strength, for instance, if I squatted down to open my guitar case I found that I couldn’t get back up under my own steam, if I walked as little as ten metres I found myself huffing and puffing as though I’d run a marathon.”
He was an active songwriter and member of the music scene right up until his passing. In the same post, he also apologised to fans about not being able to play at upcoming shows due to his condition. “My apologies also to all who have bought tickets to the Lyric Lane gig, unfortunately, Circus have to pull out of the gig which is really disappointing, I’ve written a whole new body of work that I think is the best I’ve done in many years and I was looking forward to debuting a complete new repertoire. I’ll keep you posted as events unfold but know that though my body is a bit knackered I’m actually in pretty good spirits.”
RIP Paul McCarthy.
