Hard Working Class Heroes 08 launched last night in the Button Factory with a couple of acts and three hours of free beer. On first impressions, it looks pretty good.

First off, it’s back to Temple Bar. That lovely new redbrick warehouse Andrew’s Lane Theatre looks like being the flagship venue, which is good news by most accounts. Tripod was a bit empty a lot of the time last year, and I don’t know how Andrew’s Lane matches up capacity-wise, but it seems like it could be an improvement. The Button Factory (good), Meeting House Square (very good), Eamonn Doran’s (em) and The Hub (smelly) are the other venues.

Budweiser aren’t on board any more, but there are various other “friends” who are chipping in. State are curating the photography exhibition, which was a genuine attraction last year. MUZU.tv are throwing up videos of all the bands. And entertainment.ie are in charge of the download chart.

The big news is the Invasion though. The bookies were leaning towards maybe electronic Byzantium, France, but it turns out to be Scotland. Sons and Daughters are curating it, which has both positive and negative connotations as I see it.

Positives: they’re a pretty big band, so maybe they can pull other reasonably big bands over; they’re not terrible; the fact that a band from Scotland are doing it lessens the chance of duds, or a really scatty, incoherent sense of what’s going on there.

Negatives: there is every chance they will just bring over all their mates; they’re not brilliant; Scotland isn’t really as much of a finger-on-the-pulse a choice as Canada and Scandanavia were (not to say that there won’t be a lot of great bands coming over).

In other news, new|amusement played. I think they get disproportionately good coverage, especially online, because they have one really good song (see if you can guess which one I mean). There’s nothing madly impressive about them, though. They’re harder and faster than Delorentos, but at the expense of hooks. The world doesn’t need a new Bloc Party, especially a less catchy one.

Anyway, bands and photographers have until July 2 to apply online, and tickets are on sale now, for €44.98.

Karl McDonald Generally either listening to music or asleep. Sometimes both simultaneously. Those Geese Were Stupefied
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