BRIDGWATER is to twin this Friday with one of West Coast America’s most famous cities, Seattle.

The twinning ceremony is somewhat unusual and unconventional as it will be signed on air in a radio link-up between The Engine Room in the High Street and Seattle radio station, KEXP.

And the reason is down to Joe Strummer, the late former band member of the Clash.

Mr Strummer moved to the town after seeing the carnival and deciding it was his kind of place.

Shortly after playing a gig with his new band the Mescaleros at the Palace Theatre in 2002, he died aged 50 from a heart attack.

Town councillor Brian Smedley said: “When Seattle radio station KEXP asked Bridgwater Town Council if we’d like to join in with their International Clash Day, we jumped at the chance.

“Clash Frontman Joe Strummer moved to the area after visiting Bridgwater Carnival and declaring ‘This is a Clash Town, I love this place, I want to live here’ – and we should be chuffed as anything about that’.”

The connection with the musician was added to when money from the Palace Theatre gig went towards establishing the Engine Room which opened in 2003 and became a base for Somerset Film.

The Engine Room has become a key part of the arts community in Bridgwater and is in the process of expanding its base into neighbouring buildings.

The International Clash Day event was devised in 2013 by Seattle based radio station KEXP 90.3, which The Radio station is based in King County, named after civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

Seattle is much larger than Bridgwater but in 1888 it had the same population as the Somerset town today, and there are other similarities as it is a port, there’s a small Hispanic population and it rains a lot – and after a few ciders in The Mansion House pub some people become Restless in Bridgwater.

Cllr Smedley said: “Part of this event will include the signing of a twinning declaration with King County, Seattle and Bridgwater jointly committing our endeavours to raise awareness of the life and works of Joe Strummer and the Clash.

“We will be streaming the radio station live from 2pm (6am Seattle time) and 7pm (UK time) as they programme Clash music all day, as well as rare interviews, live tracks, b-sides, covers, and side projects.

“We’ll also be showing clips from Julien Temple’s films and he will be there to talk to people about them. We welcome anyone who loves a devotion to the music and ideas of Strummer and The Clash to drop in to the Engine Room as they wish between 2pm and 7pm on Friday.

“The future may be unwritten but luckily the twinning proclamation isn’t so we’ll be signing that live on air, which is possibly a good idea.”

The Clash formed in London in 1976 made five albums and had 16 hit singles with their most famous album London Calling considered a classic of the early 1980s.

It was an era when some of the most famous bands played gigs in this area. David Bowie, Elvis Costello and The Buzzcocks all played Taunton, while the Who and The Small Faces came to Bridgwater in the 1960s when the Top Twenty Club was all the rage.

Which was your favourite band of the 1970s and early 1980s? Which gigs did you most remember from that time? Email your memories and choices to harry.mottram@nqsw.co.uk