On Friday, February 6th, 5AM-7PM Pacific, KEXP celebrated International Clash Day: Know Your Rights.
We honored the legacy of The Clash with deep cuts, covers, and, of course ,your favorite Clash tracks, while also celebrating the rights we all hold as human beings. At a time when some of those rights feel under attack, it's time for a public service announcement - with guitar. It’s a GIGANTIC radio clash, right here on KEXP.
Listen on demand. Stream expires Friday, February 20th.
We started International Clash Day on the Morning Show over a dozen years ago, more or less on a whim. We just got on a roll playing Clash songs, and didn't want to stop. Simple as that — good music sounds good, so keep playing it.
But it struck a chord with the listeners. Clearly, there was something bigger going on. So we did it again the next year, and the year after that. The thing kept growing, until we eventually put together a whole international trip complete with a dozen Live on KEXP sessions with favorites like IDLES and Ibibio Sound Machine, and we had civic and world leaders making official proclamations for International Clash Day: the Mayor of Toronto, the Governor of Washington State, Katy Perry's boyfriend, etc.
It got to be a pretty big deal not just for KEXP listeners, but for fans of the music all around the world. It took off because the Clash rules, obviously. But even more than that, it’s what the band stands for — and what the band stands against. As Joe Strummer put it, "I think people ought to know that we're anti-fascist, we're anti-violence, we're anti-racist and we're pro-creative. We're against ignorance."
In celebration of International Clash Day, KEXP presents the first ever Clash video game, Lost in the Supermarket. Can you make it out of the supermarket? Find out below!
Learn more about the history of International Clash Day and its evolution since 2013, plus get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into KEXP’s broadcast in London celebrating the 7th annual International Clash Day, on February 7, 2019.
Special thanks to Studio 9294, in Hackney Wick, London, and all the artists who performed during KEXP's broadcast.
Over the past eight years of celebrating International Clash Day, KEXP has spotlighted a wealth of artists who were influenced by The Clash. But what bands mattered to the “only band that matters”?
What connected the musical and ideological work of The Clash with the music of a young man born in the Caribbean province of San Jacinto, Colombia, determined to become a benchmark for the Sabanero accordion? What sonorous path connects the independence of Jamaica, the skinheads of London, the Colo…
With Billy Bragg playing three sold-out shows in Seattle, February 28th through March 2nd, KEXP revisits our chat with him during International Clash Day.
