Now in its fourth year, the 1998 Bacardi/Hot Press Unplugged Band of the Year competition is yet another attempt to tap into the growth of interest in the art of the rock song. A somewhat more cynical reading of the previous sentence is that a company with considerable money for sponsorship funds to spare is hoping that, through its involvement, it will become aligned to a commercially successful rock act, if only by association, resulting in a small degree of kudos and a large amount of brand identification. The bottom line is this, however: the winning band walks off with a prize package of more than £14,000. If you were a member of that winning band, would you really care who is involved for any particular reason?

"The Bacardi Unplugged competition has become a major fixture on a young band's calendar," confirms one of the resident judging panel, music publisher Johnny Lappin. "The prize money for the winners is akin to putting a band on rung one or two of the success ladder. I meet bands all the time, and some of them haven't a clue. This competition gives bands like that 500 CDs of a single release, a CD distribution deal, a video recording session, a home recording unit, PR support, a cash prize of £1,000 and more besides. Groups struggle for years to achieve that. There are a lot of them out there who think it's ridiculous entering competitions - `sure what would we be doing entering a song contest?' But that's a very naive view."

Specifically designed to highlight Irish talent in an unplugged (i.e. completely acoustic) format, 30 bands were selected from over 400 tape entries that flooded into the Hot Press offices before Christmas of last year. That's well over 1,000 songs to listen to, a daunting task thatyou could only do if you were paid very well and/or are pathologically (and patiently) obsessive about music. With the likelihood of a nascent U2 or REM extremely remote (but not, in fairness, totally out of the question), it's a recipe for terminal boredom. Or potential brain damage.

"I tend to start listening as soon as I get the tapes," says Jackie Hayden, Hot Press General Manager and instigator of the competition. "I listen to them in small quantities - perhaps five to six at a time. Three songs on a tape comes to about 10 minutes, which averages out to six tapes an hour. I need to allow myself time to get back to some songs I reckon I might need to hear a second or third time. I then spread that over a long period of time."

The result of hours listening to tapes from Irish bands who are established only in the comfort of their garages and bedrooms was on show last week at the UCC College Bar. Five bands from the Cork area played for 20 minutes apiece, amidst an atmosphere of partisan revelry. But while the home crowd cheerfully rooted for the band of their choice, the overall experience was a dispiriting one. The judging panel was made up of music journalists, radio presenters and producers, sponsors, and other figures from the Irish music industry (including former Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding, who lives in Clonakilty). While there was a veneer of cynicism in some of the panel, there was no doubting the thoroughness with which they all applied their critical faculties.

Like myself, the members of the panel were waiting for a song to stop them in their tracks. Not one song came close. All of the bands at this regional heat (Anomie, The Happy Enchiladas, Hooky, The Nellies, and Rumble Fish) seemed derivative of one type of musical genre or another. The defining factor here was, not how original a selection of songwriters they were, but how good they were at showcasing their on-stage talents, and how thoroughly and creatively they used their influences to their own advantage.

The major virtue and flaw of a competition such as this is that the format strips away the sonic decoration that production values (studio overdubs, synthesisers, guitar effects, backing tapes, etc) can impose upon a song. These values might complement a song but they can't alter its basic outline. Bands cannot hide their shortcomings in Bacardi Unplugged. Similarly, obvious brilliance would be there for all to see and hear.

"A good song can be played in any environment," stresses Jackie Hayden, "and that's where this competition scores. Adding studio trickery, effects and amplification enhances what you've got. But if what you've got, at its core, isn't good to begin with you're really only camouflaging it."

An important element in the competition is the sense of fellowship amongst the bands. With a certain caution, they bounce ideas off each other, swap hard luck and good luck stories, and talk about mutual experiences that face them in the months ahead. While some bands initially view their participation as a serious joke, they gradually take into consideration the high level of organisation that goes into securing a decent venue and a good sound system.

So it's all good clean fun, then? Most of the time. While Jackie Hayden says he has heard of "no dispute or unpleasantness or unhelpfulness at all among the bands" it's only natural that various members of some bands view the experienced judging panel as a necessary evil. Over the past couple of years, at least two of the judging panels have experienced threats of one kind or another from groups who didn't get through the heats. Who was it said competition was always healthy?

Despite the high degree of song craftsmanship involved (they may be derivative, but mostly they're well structured in a by-the-numbers fashion), I felt there was little sense of occasion about the songs this year. However, Jackie Hayden says the standard of songs listened to for this year's competition was far more consistent and focused than has been the case in the past. That said, Jackie also reckons that "overall there's a dearth of really great songs coming out of Ireland. Not just on the evidence of the Bacardi Unplugged competition, but various other things. I don't think rock people are great at coming up with great songs - that tends to be the exception."

Winners of the first regional heat, Hooky, would probably disagree. By far the best band on the night at projecting themselves on stage, the members are songwriters who decided to pool resources when news of the competition was announced in the latter half of last year.

"The word `competition' itself is not a pleasant one in relation to musicians because of egos," claims Hooky's guitarist Bobby Lee. "But it does make you more organised."

While winning is a bonus, for bands like Hooky it's almost as important that "people see you, and talk about you."

"There are more excellent bands with no money than awful bands with loads of money," states the band's lead singer, Mike Lyon. "It's a great idea having a competition like this. Everybody's skint, on the dole, and they just do what they can. Winning lets you know for a brief moment that you're not wasting your time."

The next regional heat of the Bacardi/Hot Press Unplugged Band of the Year takes place in Whelan's, Dublin, on Thursday, January 29th. The bands playing are Shifting Sands, Joseph, Blowtooth, Beach and Eskape. Further details can be found in the latest issue of Hot Press.