At The Moment

Taking a major turn since The Inevitable Breakups (indie/powerpop/rock), Daniel Stampfel has begun to explore the exciting world of pop music. Band-less with no set direction for the future, he was able to let the music come naturally leading to his latest project under the name, At The Moment. The moniker seems fitting considering the approach Daniel has taken in surprising the world with joyous, fun-filled pop music for easy listening.

His release of a three song EP titled Monte Carlo can seem risky to potential listeners as his first debut. I admit, I was skeptical about the EP since there are only three songs, however; I was pleased with the direction the songs took. It starts out as an honest, light-hearted ballad (“Still Love You”) seamlessly leading into the wonders of what went wrong in a relationship (“Make You Mad”) to finally coming full circle in wanting what you already had (“Want You Back”). This album has a fun, romantic manner that is definitely attention worthy and most importantly; relatable.

Daniel’s voice is simply radiant and shines through in every song. The Monte Carlo EP was produced by Steve Schiltz of Hurricane Bells and he does a great job focusing on a consistent theme throughout. This EP categorizes Daniel Stampfel’s new music endeavors and shows us what to expect from him in the future. I am anxiously awaiting his next release.

- Pop-Break.com

From 2012, here's At The Moment with "Make You Mad."

Enjoy! - Culturebrats.com

You might think that naming a band “The Inevitable Breakups” would jinx it. And eventually, the Inevitable Breakups did break up. But they had a good run, playing together from 1999 to 2007. Their catchy, power pop sound endeared them to the New York City music scene, but eventually their time came to an end. Before the Inevitable Breakups, songwriter Daniel Stampfel had played with a ska band, the Skastafarians. And then in 2007, after a solid chunk of time always spent playing in a band, Stampfel was without one. And he took some time off.

But it turns out he couldn’t stay away from music, and eventually started writing again. Without a particular sound or genre in mind, Stampfel wrote the songs that he wanted to write. The resulting music may remind you a bit of his work with the Inevitable Breakups, but it’s a little lighter, and reminds us more of the Smiths. This is Stampfel’s new project At the Moment, which he says won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

Read on for our interview with Daniel and his music video for “Make You Mad.”
Crushable: How did At the Moment come to be?

Daniel Stampfel: At the Moment really started as my solo project, a new avenue to get the songs that I’d been writing out there. I’d taken a few years off from writing after my old band, The Inevitable Breakups, broke up. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do, and what kind of sound I wanted. But eventually everything kind of came together. I made home demos of the songs I had been writing, but I wanted to record them with a producer I knew before getting a band together. I wanted to keep the emotion of the songs that I had written the way they were, without other influences. I teamed up with a really great producer, Steve Schiltz, from Hurricane Bells and Longwave. We recorded three songs together with a friend of ours, Benjamin Cartel, on drums. He’s an amazing drummer. And then from there my goal was to bring the band alive. So I brought together musicians I had played with before to put together this band, and get out there and start playing again.

What was it like to work as a solo artist after having spent so much time in various bands? Did that change your writing process?

It didn’t change my writing process at all, except for the fact that normally I’d write songs and then I’d bring them to the band and get feedback from them. This time I wrote songs and put them away, and I didn’t quite know if they were good or not. I didn’t have anybody to play them for, so they just sat there. And I actually didn’t think they were good, just because they sounded different from what I had done. So when I finally pulled them out again and started sharing them with people, then I realized that they were good. And that I should continue on that progression I was on.

How do you decide which songs make the cut when you’re making an EP like “Monte Carlo”?

It’s hard to pull back and assess them all, because they all mean something to me. I’m probably too attached to each of the songs. So I kind of just trusted in Steve, and I gave him fifteen, and told him that whatever three he picked would be the ones that I would do. And it was kind of interesting, because the three that he picked were some of the earlier songs that I had written, so it was sort of like the beginning of that process. I was happy that they were songs that I was excited about recording, but also that they marked that beginning phase of writing.

When you’re writing, do you think of writing for a particular audience or genre?

I did with all my other bands, and with this one I didn’t. So that’s how this is different. Because I didn’t know what I was writing them for. If I had an idea, I would just write it. Whereas in my old band, The Inevitable Breakups, my brother was the bass player, and he always liked a little bit more of a punk rock edge. I mean I liked that, too, but he was a little bit more on the harder end of the spectrum. So I wanted to bring songs that he would like, or songs that would fit for the New York scene at the moment. Or in my old band before that, the ska band, obviously it had to be somewhat ska-influenced and fit a certain style. So this was kind of a nice change for me.

What’s some of your favorite music to listen to right now?

I’ve actually been listening to a lot of country, which is different for me. I never really liked it, and I’ve been listening to sort of a broad spectrum of country, from top 20 to old 50s country, or Roger Miller, or Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams. But new stuff as well, you know, Brad Paisley, and Eli Young Band. I still play with Michael T and the Vanities, and Michael T puts on these different event nights that have a theme or genre. So I spend a lot of time for those shows listening to all those songs that we have to play and I have to learn. So David Bowie, and Elvis Presley, and Roxy Music, and things like that. I’ve listened to Bowie before, but I’ve been introduced to different tracks that I maybe didn’t always pay attention to.

The name At the Moment suggests something that’s kind of fleeting. What sort of future do you see for this project?

It’s not a fleeting as the Inevitable Breakups! I think the reason why I liked At the Moment was just because I was writing songs about how I felt at the moment. I like thinking about not trying to write stuff that other people would like, but stuff that I would like. And that’s what I plan on continuing to do for a long time. So I’m excited about this project. There’s no next step beyond just trying to keep doing this and to grow as a songwriter.

Is At the Moment going to continue as a solo project, or are you planning to work more collaboratively with your band?

I think I’m leaning toward more of a collaborative effort. One of the reasons why I originally wanted to keep it with me and a producer was because I want some sort of finished product to say, ok, this is the sound I want to do, and to build off that. It’s a little bit more defined than maybe some of my demos were. And right now I’m really enjoying the guys I’m playing with, and they’re amazing musicians. So I’m looking forward to getting their input.

What’s coming up for At the Moment?

I’m definitely planning on playing more shows in New York. I’m kind of splitting full band shows with acoustic shows. And then I want to start branching out to doing shows in other cities. Boston. I’d like to add shows in Texas, actually, because I grew up there and I have friends there. And I had about a dozen other songs that we didn’t record, and I’d like to add to that list and build up again. I’d like to turn that EP into a full album.

Read more: http://www.crushable.com/2012/08/02/entertainment/daniel-stampfel-music-interview-801/#ixzz2EhxXaJG9
- Crushable.com

Daniel Stampfel is trusting the process. After former turns over the last few decades in bands like The Skastafarians and The Inevitable Breakups, the NYC songwriter is now out on his own under the moniker At The Moment. His latest EP, Monte Carlo, is a foundational trio of summery pop songs that shimmer in the way that only great songs can.

Stampfel says he’s learning to trust the music that comes while also trusting those around him — including Steve Schiltz of Hurricane Bells, who produced the album, and drummer Benjamin Cartel of KaiserCartel. Monte Carlo is a hidden pop gem, plain and simple, and we’re excited to highlight Stampfel’s work.

SSv: Daniel, I want to discuss the new music and even the EP. It’s interesting that you decided for just a three song release. Is it a way of putting the toe in the water, so to speak?

Daniel Stampfel: I guess I didn’t view it as a toe in the water. I thought about doing a full album and how I wanted to do it. When I was thinking about producers and Steve Schiltz came up as an option, I knew I wanted to work with him. One of the things that came up was his schedule was that he was releasing his second Hurricane Bells album. He was finishing the mix of that and then he had a window of time to record my own songs.

That streamlined the amount of songs we could do down to three, and as I thought about it, I realized it was a good thing. I thought, ‘We can focus on three songs, put it out and see how it’s accepted and hopefully build on it.’ I guess I thought of it more as a building block than a tentative step in the water. I guess I thought of the Strokes three-song EP and how they were able to capitalize on that. That sounds good to me. [Laughs]

SSv: What were you able to accomplish by focusing only on those songs that you couldn’t do perhaps if the approach was different?

Daniel: In the past I’ve gone into the studio in a studio in a two-week time frame and had to record 10 or 11 songs and mix them all. When Steve and I went into the studio, the way we worked it was to only do 3 songs and however long it takes, then that’s how long it takes. Mostly it just allowed us to relax. I mean, we were busy throughout that time, but it gave us that ability to relax a bit more.

SSv: I’m not sure how to phrase this, so I hope it makes sense, but there’s a great vibe on the entire EP. The songs have this great summery melody and feeling, but many songs can be described the same way. Instead there’s a great atmosphere on them that I’m curious whether it’s the live takes or…

Daniel: I don’t know. When I went into the process, I had home demos of these songs. I think I had 15 or 17 different songs, something like that. I was just recording at home when I could without any outside influence. The first track especially, “Still Love You,” had a vibe to it that I couldn’t describe either. [Laughs]

One of my musician friends told me the song sounded honest and vulnerable. I think some of it is that, but I think it’s also a fun, relaxed vibe. When I would finish the demo, I would send them to Steve and he realized that right away. He said, ‘I want to keep the vibe of those original recordings.’ So I think it was a conscious effort to capture that.

That’s one reason why I enjoyed working only with Steve for the most part. We had a drummer and the reason I chose him… Well, Ben plays drums and guitars in KaiserCartel. I saw them open up for Hurricane Bells at the Bowery Ballroom and he was playing right in the vibe that I wanted. We met after the show and it turns out we likely played the same in Luna Lounge with our old bands, so the owner of Luna Lounge was at the same show and introduced it.

So I think that’s why I wanted to keep this close-knit group because Steve and I knew what we were trying to achieve. I was trusting in his ability as a fantastic producer to deliver that. As a producer, he kept the essence of me and my sound and my songs but in a polished, finished way that should be from a professional studio.

SSv: How do you arrive at these three songs out of the many that you had written?

Daniel: I actually left that up to Steve.

SSv: You did?

Daniel: Yeah, I had recently did the home demos and I was just so close to each one and liked them all for different reasons. I was having trouble stepping back and selecting what’s best. I had an idea of songs that might be the ones, but I asked Steve what he wanted and he selected those songs and I thought, ‘Perfect.’ [Laughs] I knew I wanted to do “Still Love You”. That one was definite, but I would have been happy with any of them.

SSv: That seems like a lot of trust in Steve.

Daniel: Yeah, I guess it was. [Laughs] I was nervous about the whole process, but I thought that if I couldn’t go into it with a certain amount of trust… I have to trust what Steve is going to do. If I am worried about what Steve will do as producer, then I’m not focused on what I have to do in the studio. I also thought it would be one of those things nice for someone as a producer to offer up a recommendation.

SSv: You saw these songs are a cornerstone to build from, so do you have something in mind that you’re wanting to build toward?

Daniel: With perspective and time, your goals change. With the Inevitable Breakups, my goal was to sign with a major label and tour around the world and do all of that. Those are still great things to do but with the songs and the low-budget video that we made, I was just trying to find an audience who would be interested in those things and then grow off of that. I think the other songs that I have are in the same vein as these, so it’s natural to want to progress toward a full album. But with these three songs, I’m just trying to get back out there and get some attention built up behind it. - Stereosubversion

Veteran musician Daniel Stampfel has been playing in bands on NYC circuit for quite a number of years but has finally released his first solo disc. Stampfel previously fronted The Inevitable Breakups, a power-pop quartet, whose debut album, No Wonder You’re So Beautiful, was produced by Richard Lloyd. One reviewer called Stampfel the “the reincarnation of Buddy Holly” and New York Press described the band as follows: “With a sound and infectious vocal harmonies reminiscent of The Raspberries, Weezer, The Cars, and Cheap Trick, they manage to combine those artists’ musical qualities to full effect with some kick-ass results.”


Wednesday, May 23, 2012
At The Moment - "Monte Carlo" CD EP Review



At The Moment - 'Monte Carlo' CD EP Review
Veteran musician Daniel Stampfel has been playing in bands on NYC circuit for quite a number of years but has finally released his first solo disc. Stampfel previously fronted The Inevitable Breakups, a power-pop quartet, whose debut album, No Wonder You’re So Beautiful, was produced by Richard Lloyd. One reviewer called Stampfel the “the reincarnation of Buddy Holly” and New York Press described the band as follows: “With a sound and infectious vocal harmonies reminiscent of The Raspberries, Weezer, The Cars, and Cheap Trick, they manage to combine those artists’ musical qualities to full effect with some kick-ass results.”



With the (inevitable) breakup of The Inevitable Breakups in 2007, Stampfel kept a low profile for the next few years. “I stopped playing for about three years. I got wrapped up in relationships and real life,” says Stampfel. “I would write here and there, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do; what style, what ideas. But I knew I wanted to do something different.” Without a band for the first time in years, Stampfel didn’t have a set group to give him the yay or nay on his songs — and he didn’t have a set idea of how those songs needed to sound. The time was right for the songwriter to break out; to truly explore what he could do.

The three tracks on At the Moment’s debut EP show Stampfel moving in a direction similar to Matthew Sweet – 60’s/Byrdsian-inspired jangle pop. This is the sort of music that would have come out of Mitch Easter’s studios twenty years ago but, fast-forwarding to the present, Stampfel worked on his new disc with Longwave/Hurricane Bells mainman Steve Schiltz. Armed with a handful of songs he’d demoed at home, Stampfel hit the studio, “not knowing what to expect,” he remembers. Stampfel remembers "Steve suggested we record the songs live to capture the feeling of the original demos. We recruited Benjamin Cartel (Kaiser Cartel, The Benjamin Cartel) to play drums, Steve played bass and I played acoustic guitar. Steve and I shared overdub duties to complete the recording."

The end result was a trio of winsome songs, each with perfectly crafted hooks and ringing guitars.
- BrooklynRocks

A Clinic in Tunesmithing with Daniel Stampfel
by delarue

Thursday night Daniel Stampfel played the album release show for his new ep at Fontana’s. The singer/guitarist looks the same as he did when he was packing the old Luna Lounge ten years ago, fronting the Inevitable Breakups, a fantastic powerpop outfit that should have been the band representing New York around the world instead of the Strokes or Interpol. Stampfel’s crowd hasn’t changed any more than he has: fellow musicians out to watch a talented colleague work his magic live, and wide-eyed twentysomething women (Stampel always pulls the chicks no matter where he goes). The band was tremendous, as usual: good tunesmiths never have a hard time finding musicians to play those tunes. The lead guitarist switched expertly from searing, sun-drenched slide lines, to rapidfire, pointillistic bluesy runs, to plenty of nimble Johnny Marr-style jangle and clang, while the drummer walked the line expertly between swing and anthemic and the bassist picked out a steady, often suspenseful new wave pulse (and took the most interesting solo of the night on the next-to-last song). Stampfel’s nonchalantly soaring vocals sometimes took a back seat to the roar of the band, but that didn’t matter: people were there for the hooks.

As usual, there were plenty of those. Stampfel works a catchy area between the Jayhawks at their most cosmopolitan, the Raspberries at their most melodic and Big Star at their most focused, with a more propulsive, rhythmic drive than any of those bands. While those are all old groups, what Stampfel is doing is putting his own stamp on an oldschool style, tuneful verses working their way up to irresistibly catchy resolutions when the choruses hit. He opened playing acoustic guitar on a jangly midtempo number that wouldn’t have been out of place in the Gary Louris songbook, following with a bouncy, 80s-influenced song that was the poppiest one of the night. The band picked up the pace with a biting riff-rock number, then a more laid-back soul-flavored tune with a gorgeous little hailstorm of tremolo-picking by the lead player. Hurricane Bells’ Steve Schiltz (who produced the record) then came up to add an extra layer of his characteristically thoughtful, spacious guitar on a lush, anthemic tune that reminded of the Church back when that band was writing the occasional pop song. They closed with an unexpectedly minor-key new wave tune (the one with that great bass solo) and then an exuberant one that might have been an Inevitable Breakups song.

That was the music. Lyrics don’t really figure into what Stampfel does: some of the songs could have been titled Oh Baby I Love Your Way or Just the Two of Us (they weren’t, but you get the picture). In order to take his stuff to the next level, i.e. Carl Newman/Steve Kilbey/Elvis Costello territory, he needs a lyricist: tunes as good as this guy’s deserve some substance. One can only imagine the greatness that would result from a collaboration with, say, a Paula Carino or Ward White. - New York Music Daily