Hard Working Class Heroes returns from Thursday 28th to 30th September in Dublin and the new music showcase festival has some changes afoot for its 15th year.
The biggest one is that rather than having 100 bands the organisers are promising their will be less on the bills across the weekend. The live showcases will happen on Friday and dSaturday night only and there’s more changes to be revealed.
If you’re a band that is at all serious about making music as a career then playing the showcases and participating in the conference is a way of getting yourself in front of the music industry of Ireland and international visiting delegates.
For bands, Log on to hwch.net and click on the “BANDS APPLY HERE” button – applications will be through the artists’ Breaking Tunes profile. Closing date for applications is July 14th.
Hard Working Class Heroes is run by First Music Contact, who offer advice to bands starting out and run Irish music showcases at festivals around the world.
First Music Contact under the Irish Music Export office Music From Ireland help fund artists and present Irish showcases throughout the year at Eurosonic, SXSW, Canadian Music Week, The Great Escape, Reeperbahn, Mondo NYC and many more.
This year, HWCH is inviting bookers from BIME Portugal, Primavera Sound, and the Central Park Summer Stage to the event this year.
HWCH is supported by The Arts Council, Culture Ireland and Failte Ireland/Tourism Ireland.

Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.