Unless you’ve been crouched under a rock for the last week, word of the HWCH 2008 has reached your ears. For an alphabetical start we’ve got Angel Pier, BATS and Chequerboard, although I’m unsure why the alphabetically-last contender You’re Only Massive are still listed despite their recent split.

Over the past five years HWCH barrelled an upwardly-mobile course from the smallest of independent ventures to one of the biggest events on the Irish music calendar. Along with a Scottish invasion led by Sons and Daughters, eighty-nine Irish bands descend upon Temple Bar in mid-September for a non-stop weekend of great Irish music, many of them featuring on this very blog over the last year:

202’s // 79Cortinaz // A Lazarus Soul // Alphamono // Angel Pier // Armoured Bear // Autamata // Bats // Bravado // Carly Sings // Caruso // Chequerboard // Cian // Class Of 1984 // Crayonsmith // Cutaways // David Turpin // Deaf Animal Orchestra // Distractors // Dolbro Dan // Dublin Duck Dispensary // Exit: pursued by a bear // Fiach // Fighting With Wire // Fiona Melady // Fred // Gorbachov // Grand Pocket Orchestra // Groom // Halves // Headgear // Heartbreak Cartel // Heathers // Hooray for Humans // Hybrasil // John Shelly and the Creatures // Kill Krinkle Club // Le Galaxie // Lines Drawing Circles // Little XS For Eyes // Mackerel The Cat // Mark Austin // More tiny giants // My Brother Woody // Nakatomi plaza // Nick Carswell & The Elective Orchestra // Noise Control // Not Men But Giants // One Day International // Panama Kings // Pilotlight // Pocket Promise // Robotnik // Sickboy // Sideproject // So Cow // Sounds of System Breakdown // Sparks Fly // Super Extra Bonus Party // Supermodel Twins // Sweet Jane // The Aftermath // The Ambience Affair // The Beat Poets // The Brothers Movement // The Cades // The Dagger Lees // The Followers of Otis // The Holy Roman Army // The Hot Sprockets // The Kinetiks // The Last Tycoons // The Minutes // The Parks // The Rags // The Revellions // The Spook of The Thirteenth Lock // The Vinny Club // Tidal District // Tiger Empire // Tom McShane // Valerie Francis // Vodkopter // Walter Mitty & The Realists // Youre Only Massive //

The linked line-up above takes you to entertainment.ie and their excellent mini-site covering all acts appearing in this year’s festival. There you can comment on your favourites and each band’s page features a free track to download. As sponsors of the HWCH downloads chart, Entertainment.ie are carefully tallying all your clicks and the top twenty most-downloaded will feature on a special Hard Working Compilation album available at the festival.

Those I don’t know include Dolbro Dan, Heartbreak Cartel, Nick Carswell, Sparks Fly and Tiger Empire, so look forward to checking them out! It’s great to see Autamata, Groom, So Cow and Little Xs For Eyes get a look-in, along with The Ambience Affair and The Hot Sprockets. I suggested at the weekend that there are a few too many usual suspects in the line-up and Angela Dorgan told me almost 700 bands applied. I understand that it’s difficult to downsize to such a narrow corridor. I hope those bands who’ve played before make it mean something and give their all instead of taking for granted an opportunity many others would die for.

Despite the success of 2007’s experiment in the POD complex on Harcourt Street, this year Hard Working Class Heroes returns to Temple Bar with The Button Factory, Meeting House Square, Andrew’s Lane Theatre, The Hub and Eamonn Dorans confirmed as venues. Along with the choice of music on offer and with no major sponsors, it’ll be interesting to see how this return to roots compares to previous installations. It was dead handy having everything so close together in POD but I loved 2006’s performances from Betamax Format and Peaches in MHS (although the now-defunct Spirit Rock Room was very well-suited to a seamier side of Irish - Giveamanakick, Queen Kong, Sickboy and The Mighty Stef all went down a bomb).

Some details are still to be released: there is no word yet on the photography exhibiton curated by State Magazine. Previous snappers to showcase their talents include Dan Dennison, Mark Duggan, Ben Murphy, Loreana Rushe and Lili Forberg. Keep your eyes peeled!
Also to come are the seminar and mentor sessions of past years, a proactive step from the music industry behind the scenes of the showcase that offers direction and advice to fledgling musicians.
On a similar note, MUZU TV has promised every band of the weekend will receive a live music video from their set.

Phantom 105.2 broadcast live from Temple Bar throughout this year’s event and will feature different bands on-air in the run up to the weekend. You can catch Class of 1984 (on the run from British authorities and anti-Pitchfork mob) live on Sinead NiMhordha’s Front Row show today at 12:15.

www.hwch.net
12 - 14 September
Dublin

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 11:07 am and is filed under Festivals, Music, Unsigned Bands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.