View basket “Saudade – 10th Anniversary” 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 Elliott Brood Keeper Rock And Pop | Six Shooter Records | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 8th September 2023 £15.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Elliott Brood Keeper £15.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Six Shooter Records SKU: SIXLP137A Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 8th September 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Rolling Stones, The Tattoo You (Half-Speed Master) Rock And Pop | Polydor | 180g, 1LP Released 26th June 2020 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Rolling Stones, The Tattoo You (Half-Speed Master) £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Polydor SKU: 0877326 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 26th June 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View INXS Kick (Atlantic 75 Series) Rock And Pop | Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series) | 180g, 2LP, 45rpm, Gatefold Sleeve Released 12th July 2024 £75.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations INXS Kick (Atlantic 75 Series) £75.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Analogue Productions (Atlantic 75 Series) SKU: AAPA 032-45 Formats: 180g, 2LP, 45rpm, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 12th July 2024 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Dan Croll Fools Rock And Pop | Communion | 1LP Released 19th May 2023 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Dan Croll Fools £18.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Communion SKU: COMM520 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 19th May 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Jamie Lenman King of Clubs Rock And Pop | Big Scary Monsters | 1LP Released 25th September 2020 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Jamie Lenman King of Clubs £18.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Big Scary Monsters SKU: BSM282V Formats: 1LP Released Date: 25th September 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View JJ Cale Closer To You Blues | Because Music | 180g, 1LP, Includes CD Released 24th April 2019 £22.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders JJ Cale Closer To You £22.00 Genre: Blues Label: Because Music SKU: BEC5543433 Formats: 180g, 1LP, Includes CD Released Date: 24th April 2019 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Tall Ships Tall Ships EP / There Is Nothing But Chemistry Here Rock And Pop | Big Scary Monsters | 1LP Released 11th April 2014 £16.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Tall Ships Tall Ships EP / There Is Nothing But Chemistry Here £16.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Big Scary Monsters SKU: BSM142 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 11th April 2014 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Who, The Volume 4: The Polydor Singles 1975-2015 Rock And Pop | Polydor | 7", Box Set Released 13th June 2016 £115.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Who, The Volume 4: The Polydor Singles 1975-2015 £115.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Polydor SKU: 4765358 Formats: 7", Box Set Released Date: 13th June 2016 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Hugh Cornwell Hooverdam Rock And Pop | Invisible Hands Music | 1LP Released 3rd June 2016 £11.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Hugh Cornwell Hooverdam £11.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Invisible Hands Music SKU: IH52 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 3rd June 2016 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Matt Berry Simplicity Rock And Pop | Acid Jazz | 1LP Released 17th November 2023 £25.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Matt Berry Simplicity £25.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Acid Jazz SKU: AJXLP770 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 17th November 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more in Rock And Pop Start again
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