An unusual festival in Dublin aims to showcase new bands - and provide the lowdown on surviving the music industry, writes Brian Boyd
The Temple Bar area of Dublin will be put to one of its promised but rarely realised uses next weekend when it hosts the second Hard Working Class Heroes music festival. With performances taking place in six different venues and on an outdoor stage in Meeting House Square, there's plenty going on, including seminars on the ins and outs of the music industry and even a specially commissioned photo exhibition which captures the Irish music scene as it is right here and right now.
Organised by local musician Brian Carroll and Angela Dorgan of the Federation of Music Collectives, HWCH is an Irish independent music showcase which spotlights the best new bands around by attracting a rake of Irish and foreign A&R, management and other assorted industry types to the city for the three-day festival. A festival pass ticket costs €20 and allows access to every gig and every talk/seminar. With all the venues practically next to each other, there's a bit of a festive vibe as well.
Last year's inaugural event proved so popular that this year HWCH has more than doubled in size. "It was just a two-day event last time out, and we only had one venue in the Project Arts Centre," says Brian Carroll. "We still managed to put on about 40 promising unsigned bands in that timespan simply by using a Jools Holland 'Later'-style stage arrangement."
Gigs from Turn and Republic of Loose jollied things along, and Carroll found that the bands enjoyed meeting up with each other, as well as sharing contacts and industry information.
"As an example, one of the bands from last year, The Subtonics, got a management deal as a result of the festival and they went on to tour with The Darkness. A lot of the bands reported back that it helped raise their profile and that a lot of lessons were learnt about how to approach record companies etc."
This year there's space to put on 100 bands, but when HWCH sent out a nationwide search appeal earlier this year, more than 500 bands sent in their demos. "Trying to choose just 100 bands out of 500 is at best a daunting task," he says, "and with the quality of the music as high as it was it made the job all the more difficult. It just goes to show how healthy the state of the Irish independent music scene is now.
"Last year we had a lot of DJs showcasing their work, but this year we found that it was mostly rock bands approaching us, which I suppose reflects what is happening in the wider musical world." Most of the chosen 100 are new acts, though there will be a few well-known signed groups in the mix, including ex-Snow Patrol guitarist Iain Archer.
Music Seen, the photographic exhibition, will be at the Arthouse venue for the duration of the festival and is all the work of new young photographers. The talks and seminars will also take place in Arthouse; this year an array of industry types will speak on the business side of music; the re-emergence of the indie sector; management deals; and how to access the media.
"It's promising that already we know of a large contingent of UK A&R people coming over specifically for the festival, and there will also be industry people travelling from France and Germany," says Carroll. "It's helpful for a new band just starting out to be able to meet and talk to people like this. A lot of this is about giving bands the information to control their own careers."
It all sounds very much like In the City, the Tony Wilson-founded UK music industry showcase normally held in Manchester, which travelled over to Dublin a few years ago. "I see the similarities," says Carroll, "but I think HWCH is a more band-oriented affair - we're not going to be just another excuse for an industry piss-up."
If comparisons are to be made, Carroll would prefer something such as South by Southwest, the annual US festival. "I went over to it this year and apart from being very enjoyable, it was a real inspiration for what we're trying to do this year. Again, it's totally artist-led, something which some of these affairs can sometimes lose track of." With so many shows on next weekend, it can be difficult to find your way around the festival. But Carroll says it's probably best just to chance your luck in any of the participating venues as the standard, he thinks, is uniformly high across the board.
"There's a festival directory which will be widely available during the weekend and that will have a lot of necessary information about the bands. If I was to be really pushed, though, to come up with just five names out of the 100 that I think will really do well, I'd have to go for the following: New Vegas, Fighting With Wire,Humanzie,The Rags and Waiting Room. But my advice would be to get to see as much as you can."
Hard Working Class Heroes takes place all around Temple Bar on September 3rd, 4th and 5th. Tickets are available from Road Records, Fade Street, Dublin 2 or at www.ticketlord.ie. Further information at www.hwch.net
