View basket “Gale Force Wind” 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 Tom Baxter The Other Side of Blue Rock And Pop | Sylvan Records | 1LP Released 24th August 2018 £23.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Tom Baxter The Other Side of Blue £23.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Sylvan Records SKU: BAXTERLP2 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 24th August 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Maps Counter Melodies Rock And Pop | Mute | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl, Includes Download Code Released 10th February 2023 £25.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Maps Counter Melodies £25.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Mute SKU: STUMM488 Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl, Includes Download Code Released Date: 10th February 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View JJ Cale/Eric Clapton The Road To Escondido Rock And Pop | RTI/Warner | 180g, 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 13th August 2014 £35.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders JJ Cale/Eric Clapton The Road To Escondido £35.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: RTI/Warner SKU: REP44418 Formats: 180g, 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 13th August 2014 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Mui Zyu Nothing Or Something To Die For Rock And Pop | Father/Daughter Records | 1LP, Glow In The Dark Vinyl Released 24th May 2024 £24.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Mui Zyu Nothing Or Something To Die For £24.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Father/Daughter Records SKU: FD127LPC1 Formats: 1LP, Glow In The Dark Vinyl Released Date: 24th May 2024 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Mariah Carey Music Box Rock And Pop | Sony Legacy | 1LP Released 6th November 2020 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Mariah Carey Music Box £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Sony Legacy SKU: 19439776381 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 6th November 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Elvis Presley Memphis Rock And Pop | RCA | 2LP Released 9th August 2024 £25.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Elvis Presley Memphis £25.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: RCA SKU: 19802801531 Formats: 2LP Released Date: 9th August 2024 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Mike Oldfield Discoveries Rock And Pop | UMC | 180g, 1LP Released 27th January 2016 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Mike Oldfield Discoveries £18.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: UMC SKU: 4747773 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 27th January 2016 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Kinks, The Muswell Hillbillies & Everybody’s In Show Biz/Everybody’s A Star (Remastered – Stereo) (Deluxe Box) Rock And Pop | BMG | 4CD, 6LP, BluRay, Book, Box Set Released 9th September 2022 £157.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Kinks, The Muswell Hillbillies & Everybody’s In Show Biz/Everybody’s A Star (Remastered – Stereo) (Deluxe Box) £157.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: BMG SKU: 4050538796926 Formats: 4CD, 6LP, BluRay, Book, Box Set Released Date: 9th September 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Girl Band Holding Hands With Jamie Rock And Pop | Rough Trade | 1LP Released 25th September 2015 £16.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Girl Band Holding Hands With Jamie £16.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Rough Trade SKU: RTRADLP770 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 25th September 2015 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Emma Pollock In Search Of Harperfield Rock And Pop | Chemikal Underground | 180g, 1LP, Includes Download Code Released 26th January 2016 £16.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Emma Pollock In Search Of Harperfield £16.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Chemikal Underground SKU: CHEM211 Formats: 180g, 1LP, Includes Download Code Released Date: 26th January 2016 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more in Rock And Pop Start again
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