Clash at Karma meshed music genres, weaving original live music through downtown Mansfield’s sole dance club.
Tonight, adventurous music seekers are encouraged to experience Karma and the male and female harmonies of Hedgehogs’ Dilemma, a band from Cleveland that weaves alternative country, folk, and rock. They incorporate saxophone, and lap steel guitar. They will be joined by Seaside Holiday, from Ashland, bringing Electronic Brit Pop with delicate female vocals; Jonathan Hape, from Lexington, with layers of Post Rock guitar and percussion; 99 Spirits, a Mellow Folk style from Mansfield that sometimes kicks and sometimes lounges.
Karma is a unique experience. For James Amos, bandleader of TV Movie and The Village Druids, it’s been more than just a push to deliver an electronic music scene. The partnering he’s done with Karma, the club on Fourth Street owned by Martini’s, is about bringing an authentic variety of music.
There were doubters for his project, but Amos and his experience with music had gone further than once around the block. He’s lived in London, Nashville, and Austin.
When Amos returned to Mansfield in 2008, having already spearheaded the electronic foundation for TV Movie, he was ready to either to find the scene in Mansfield, or help build it. “There was a demand for original music, and the venues weren’t getting it in this town,” Amos said. “Athens, Bowling Green, and these other smaller cities were bringing in nationally touring acts.” Amos, in a year’s time, has made that happen in Mansfield with Clash at Karma.
It started on a Thursday, when Village Druids played a zombie themed show with Honeymoon, Northern Junkyard Orchestra, and Small Town Drama at Karma. Amos organized the event for no money, and still does, and began the Thursday show with a cover charge to pay the bands. Amos suggested they repeat the clash of music varieties once each month, and things clicked. Clash at Karma emerged from the groundwork, swayed, rocked and electrified audiences.
“Once I started honing it a while, it became something Karma liked, and they backed me,” said Amos. “They let me do it for free. Some places charge, you know. The door charge pays for the bands and a photographer.” It was clear, to both Karma and Amos, that their show was establishing a local following. The music scene Amos had hoped for was growing. “They want me to succeed too,” Amos stated. And once Karma decided to establish the show on Fridays, “the attendance immediately doubled.”
Since January, they’ve held crowds of 80-90 people in a 100-110 capacity venue. “Even if you get 50 people in there, it seems crowded.” The intersection between styles which Amos had sought out “really blew people away.” He brought in a noise band, an avant-garde approach to music as experimental art.
Amos also conceived the Clash at Karma website, designed to help artists, with a player and tracks picked specifically by Karma for the big city club look and feel, in downtown Mansfield. Amos said “The marketing is key” and he promotes events through posters, announcements on radio and calendar events online.
Amos stated, “This is not spoon-fed music. I want a lot of variety. We’re really seeking something different.”
Karma is located at 29 East Fourth Street, Mansfield Ohio with an entrance from Temple Court. And visit Clash at Karma online.
