View basket “NOW – Yearbook 1992” 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 Current Swell When to Talk and When to Listen Rock And Pop | Network | 180g, 1LP Released 26th May 2017 £22.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Current Swell When to Talk and When to Listen £22.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Network SKU: 0067003105910 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 26th May 2017 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Matt's picks View Product Quick View Malcolm Middleton A Brighter Beat – 15th Anniversary Edition Rock And Pop | Full Time Hobby | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 10th June 2022 £23.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Malcolm Middleton A Brighter Beat – 15th Anniversary Edition £23.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Full Time Hobby SKU: FTH033LPXV Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 10th June 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View John Lennon Meditation Mixes of Mind Games Rock And Pop | UMR | 3LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 11th October 2024 £85.00 Pre Order View Pre/Back Orders John Lennon Meditation Mixes of Mind Games £85.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: UMR SKU: 6580291 Formats: 3LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 11th October 2024 Read More Pre Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Rodney Graham Band Gondoliers Rock And Pop | Vinyl Factory | 1LP Released 28th April 2017 £23.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Rodney Graham Band Gondoliers £23.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Vinyl Factory SKU: VF258 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 28th April 2017 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Paul's picks View Product Quick View Jim Noir A.M Jazz Rock And Pop | Dook Recordings | 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 28th February 2020 £19.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Jim Noir A.M Jazz £19.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Dook Recordings SKU: DOOK-030882 Formats: 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 28th February 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Ash Nu-Clear Sounds – 2023 Remaster Rock And Pop | BMG | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve Released 24th February 2023 £25.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Ash Nu-Clear Sounds – 2023 Remaster £25.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: BMG SKU: 4050538827231 Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 24th February 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Paul's picks View Product Quick View Cornershop England Is A Garden Rock And Pop | Ample Play | 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 6th March 2020 £26.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Cornershop England Is A Garden £26.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Ample Play SKU: AMP129SV Formats: 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 6th March 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders 2023's picks View Product Quick View boygenius the record Rock And Pop | Polydor | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve Released 31st March 2023 £30.00 Select options boygenius the record £30.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Polydor Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 31st March 2023 Read More Select options View Product Quick View My Chemical Romance Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys Rock And Pop | Warner Bros | 180g, 1LP Released 28th August 2015 £25.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders My Chemical Romance Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys £25.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Warner Bros SKU: 0093624961840 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 28th August 2015 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Stealers Wheel Stealers Wheel Rock And Pop | Intervention Records | 180g, 1LP Released 16th November 2015 £46.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Stealers Wheel Stealers Wheel £46.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Intervention Records SKU: AITV001 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 16th November 2015 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more in Rock And Pop Start again
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