International Clash Day Comes to Hastings
Hastings has been chosen as the key UK location to mark International Clash Day on the 1st February 2025 with a major show at the Pig on the seafront. The event, which has already attracted ticket sales from across the UK and Europe, is being promoted by the team behind Joe Strummer’s last show, a benefit for striking fire fighters at Acton Town Hall in November 2002. They have regularly organised sell-out Strummer and Clash-related events under the ‘Arms Aloft in Acton Town’ banner in memory of Joe.
The line up for the show at the Pig on Saturday 1 February reflects the strong Clash connections in our town. DJ for the night will be Ray Gange, who played the lead in the Clash movie Rude Boy, and who now runs the Rogue Gallery in St Leonard’s. Also performing is Tymon Dogg, another local resident, who taught Strummer his first guitar chords and was with him right through from his first band, The 101ers, up to his final outfit, The Mescaleros. Compère and opening act is Hastings-based musician Geoff “Comrade X” Martin.
Two other solo artists, The Lone Groover and Joe “48 Thrills” Williams, are both stalwarts of previous Clash celebration events and are guaranteed to get the Pig bouncing. Headliners are Take The Fifth, who will be playing a full set of Clash tunes from the extensive back catalogue Joe and the band have left us with.
Geoff Martin said:
“As a Hastings resident I am delighted that we are able to bring this International Clash Day celebration to the town. There is a long and deep connection between Hastings and the Clash. Strummer had strong connections here and Mick Jones is often seen rifling through the racks in local record shops.”
Mark Bedford from Arms Aloft added: “International Clash Day was established by Seattle alt-radio station KEXP in 2013 to celebrate ‘the enduring influence of the Clash’s music and human rights message.’ We are taking that baton and bringing it all back home to Hastings on the south coast on Saturday 1st February 2025.
“Hastings is a ‘Clash town’. Both The Clash and Joe Strummer’s last band, The Mescaleros, played storming shows on Hastings Pier. The Pig music venue is the perfect location for the UK celebration of International Clash Day. We hope that the first International Clash Day event – which will also be supporting The Joe Strummer Single Homeless Project – will become an annual event in Hastings on the first Saturday of February for years to come!”
Tickets for the show, which starts at 7pm at The Pig on Hastings seafront on Saturday 1st February, are £18 and are available from: armsaloftinactontown.company.site
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