View basket “Director’s Cut” has been added to your basket. Virtual Summer Sam Millar SKU: 27.00 27.00 £27.00 £27.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Earache Released Date: 27th September 2024 Buying Format: 1LP 1LP Coloured Vinyl Buying Options Choose an option1LP1LP Coloured VinylClear Virtual Summer quantity Add to basket ReservePre Order Add to your Wishlist Description Product Info Picture a time when you could have a good time all the time. It was an era when fast cars rolled under neon lights, yachts were a sensible housing decision and fighting for your right to party was a full time occupation. This mythical age had an equally flamboyant soundtrack to match, and it blared from boomboxes and dashboards in every time zone. It was the 1980s, and bands like Van Halen, Toto and Def Leppard personified a summertime sound built on big beats, bigger melodies and choruses so epic that singing along was the law, and places like Vegas, Hollywood, and Miami Beach became hedonistic epicenters of a global, sonic heatwave. Cruelly overlooked among these hard-partying capitals is the little town of Wigan, just outside of Manchester – average annual rainfall: lots. It was there that multi-talented musician Sam Millar was born, and where that 80s vibe has found new life in the form of his debut solo record. It’s called Virtual Summer, and it’s 14 slabs of the slickest sounds this side of a hot pink Mustang with the top down and the stereo way, way up. “Wigan’s just a little town, it’s not the nicest place – I know you don’t expect this sort of thing to come out of here, but that’s why it did,” says Millar. “Half the time it’s raining and miserable, so Virtual Summer is like tapping into summer whenever you need to, just put it on and it’s always there for you.” Raised on a parental diet of Slade, Springsteen and Sabbath, it wasn’t long before Millar soon discovered his own hard rocking obsessions, and if there’s a familiar ring to any of Virtual Summer’s dopamine cannon blasts then it’s because it’s the culmination of the guitar-slinging maverick’s lifelong adoration for the finely honed melodic perfection of the giants of AOR, and Toto in particular. “I guess you could call it cheesy, but there’s something about being able to sing a song after you’ve heard one chorus, the feeling it gives you – it’s just so positive,” he says. Of course this didn’t all happen overnight. Millar has played and toured as a guitarist for years in other bands, but it wasn’t until the pandemic that his love of the sunny-side-up sparked the idea to try his own hand at that perfect balance of catchy choruses and timeless melody. He wrote, recorded and released a debut taster EP entirely off his own back, and the response to the EP and ensuing live shows was nothing less than ecstatic. It soon caught the attention of Earache Records. The rest was history. “I’ve written, produced and played everything myself,” he says, “There isn’t really a scene for this, and that’s a good thing – it’s feelgood radio pop, and there’s a place for that now. Just listen to Taylor Swift or The 1975 – those big gated snare drums – it sounds so different from so much other pop music and that’s a great thing.” And from the Van Halen-loving fireworks of album-opener The Killing Floor to the synth-laden slickness of Deja Vu, it’s an album that wears its heart on its sleeve, and it makes no apology for where it comes from. “Fooling Yourself is quite heavy, but in my head I wanted it to be a rocked up version of ABBA. People probably think I’m mad, but I love ABBA! Dancing On My Own is quite heavily Huey Lewis and the News and Hall and Oates territory, and there’s a track called When The Summer Ends that channels all my Toto into one song. My music may be tongue-in-cheek, but it’s no joke. I can’t call it a guilty pleasure, because why would you feel guilty about that?” Artist Sam Millar Genre Rock And Pop Label Earache Buying Options 1LP , 1LP Coloured Vinyl Format 1LP Condition New Country UK Track Listings The Killing Floor Fooling Yourself Something I'll Regret When the Summer Ends Chardonnay Showbiz Forget You Dancing On My Own Deja Vu Neanderthal Man Meet Me Halfway Share this On Facebook On Twitter Via Email More from Rock And Pop View Product Quick View John Carroll Kirby My Garden Rock And Pop | Stones Throw | 1LP Released 24th April 2020 £19.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders John Carroll Kirby My Garden £19.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Stones Throw SKU: STH2417LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 24th April 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Sade Lovers Rock Rock And Pop | Sony | 1LP Released 20th September 2024 £23.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Sade Lovers Rock £23.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Sony SKU: 19658784841 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 20th September 2024 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Mark Lanegan Band Phantom Radio Rock And Pop | Heavenly | 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve, Includes Download Code Released 15th October 2014 £16.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Mark Lanegan Band Phantom Radio £16.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Heavenly SKU: HVNLP106 Formats: 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve, Includes Download Code Released Date: 15th October 2014 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View M Ward Migration Stories Rock And Pop | Epitaph | 1LP Released 3rd April 2020 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders M Ward Migration Stories £21.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Epitaph SKU: 277351 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 3rd April 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Doors, The Absolutely Live Rock And Pop | Rhino | 180g, 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 2nd August 2010 £28.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Doors, The Absolutely Live £28.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Rhino SKU: 8122798168 Formats: 180g, 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 2nd August 2010 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Poltergeist Your Mind Is A Box (Let Us Fill It With Wonder) Rock And Pop | 92 Happy Customers | 180g, 2LP Released 24th June 2013 £19.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Poltergeist Your Mind Is A Box (Let Us Fill It With Wonder) £19.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: 92 Happy Customers SKU: HAPLP003 Formats: 180g, 2LP Released Date: 24th June 2013 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Swell Maps Jane from Occupied Europe Rock And Pop | Mute | 1LP Released 2nd February 2012 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Swell Maps Jane from Occupied Europe £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Mute SKU: MAPS2LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 2nd February 2012 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Garden, The haha Rock And Pop | Epitaph | 180g, 2LP, Includes Download Code Released 9th October 2015 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Garden, The haha £18.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Epitaph SKU: 8714092743418 Formats: 180g, 2LP, Includes Download Code Released Date: 9th October 2015 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Bobby Weir Ace – 50th Anniversary Remix/Remaster Rock And Pop | Rhino | 1LP Released 3rd February 2023 £28.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Bobby Weir Ace – 50th Anniversary Remix/Remaster £28.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Rhino SKU: 603497836673 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 3rd February 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Twerps, The Range Anxiety Rock And Pop | Merge | 1LP Released 2nd February 2015 £17.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Twerps, The Range Anxiety £17.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Merge SKU: MRG538LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 2nd February 2015 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more in Rock And Pop Start again
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