SMALL PRINTS:THE LINE-UP for this year's Hard Working Class Heroes festival has just been announced, and the list shows just how far Irish bands have evolved when it comes to thinking up a name. This year, the annual showcase of new Irish music will feature 100 bands playing venues around Dublin's city centre from October 6th to 8th. So, what does this year's line-up tell us about the concerns of today's young rockers?

PET SOUNDSBands have always looked to the animal kingdom for names, and this lot are no exception. Go Panda Go , Moths, Autumn Owls, Goatboy, Bats, Mackerel the Cat, The Albatross – it's a menagerie in here.

FIELD MUSICThe current crop of bands are tuned in to the prevailing trend for nature-based names. The Kanyu Tree, Empty Trees, Beyond Olden Acre, Leaflog and Cloud Castle Lake all suggest wide open spaces, but leave little room for gritty urban realism.

LIT ROCKGood to see today's bands reading literature and watching movies. Airstrip One and Last Days of 1984 are clearly Orwellian; Biggles Flys Again is indubitably WE Johnsian; and Kid Karate is a popular 80s movie title inverted.

KILLER BANDSFuneral Suits, Little Xs for Eyes, The Dying Seconds and the Violet Roadkills all show a healthy obsession with death.

TECHNO-HEADSBands with futuristic or techie names, such as Datadrip, Le Galaxie, Futures Apart, The Infomatics, Nanobot, Zombie Computer and Sounds of System Breakdown, will be hoping not to become obsolete by Christmas.

KNOWING THEIR LIMITATIONSWe Cut Corners, We Are Losers.

SPEAKING IN RIDDLESPeople on Holiday (Who? Where?) The Danger Is (What?) Seeping into Cinemas (Anyone got a mop?)

CULT BANDSAll hail Youth Mass, The Holy Roman Army, Zealots, Mail Order Messiahs, Miracle Bell and The Followers of Otis

NICE GIRLS AND BOYSTurning Down Sex – don't expect to see any groupies backstage