BRIAN BOYDlooks forward to (parts of) this weekend's Hard Working Class Heroes festival

YOU should know the Hard Working Class Heroes drill by now: a phalanx of unsigned bands (“tomorrow’s stars today” and all of that) play their indie hearts out in various venues around Dublin all this weekend. Now in its seventh year, HWCH does manage to get a bunch of music heads (from labels, publishers and booking agents) into the city to run the rule over what’s shaking in terms of new music.

In the past, HWCH has included international acts, but this year all 100 bands are Irish. It's a sort of an indie X-Factorin that any act who want to play have to submit songs to www.breakingtunes.com during the year. Hundreds of acts do so in the hope of getting a slot on the bill, but a HWCH panel whittle it down to 100 – which is still too many, but never mind.

Here’s a shortcut for the AR folks: go straight to Andrews Lane Theatre tonight for the 8pm gig, and afterwards sign We Cut Corners to a five-album deal. These Dubliners are a minimalist guitar-and-drums set-up who, on a good day, sound like Bright Eyes after he has elbowed his way into The White Stripes.

Take a listen to We Cut Corners' superb Pirate's Lifesong on www.myspace.com/ wecutcorners. It's the sound of a band who aren't stuck in an indie quagmire and (unlike so many of their contemporaries) don't offer up a re-cooked version of The Stooges or The Strokes. You could imagine Emmylou Harris covering Pirate's Life– and how many Irish bands can say that?

Elsewhere, there seem to be as many expert panellists putting their spoke in as there are bands playing. Any time and any place a bunch of bands gather together to play, people carrying tables, chairs and their notes won’t be far behind. You can now spend the best part of the calendar year attending similar panels, talks and seminars, from Midem to SXSW, and everywhere in between: it’s a mini-industry in itself.

Yes, you may well want to know what sort of publishing deal to sign, how to get your songs onto a popular TV series, how to get radio play, how to deal with lawyers, how to deal with people who advise you on how to deal with lawyers, etc.

These are all predicated on the notion that bands already have the songs in place. The majority don’t and never will if they spend their time taking advice. How do you get radio play? Write a good song and they’ll come to you. www.hwch.net.