View basket “Night Of The Guitar Live!” 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 Jennifer Castle Castlemusic Rock And Pop | No Quarter | 1LP Released 5th March 2012 £14.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Jennifer Castle Castlemusic £14.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: No Quarter SKU: NOQ029LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 5th March 2012 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Frankie Goes To Hollywood Welcome To The Pleasuredome Rock And Pop | BMG Records | 180g, 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 27th October 2017 £23.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Frankie Goes To Hollywood Welcome To The Pleasuredome £23.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: BMG Records SKU: 4050538244106 Formats: 180g, 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 27th October 2017 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Brian Eno Reflection Rock And Pop | Warp | 2LP, Includes Download Code Released 22nd December 2016 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Brian Eno Reflection £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Warp SKU: WARPLP280 Formats: 2LP, Includes Download Code Released Date: 22nd December 2016 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Saxophones, The Eternity Bay Rock And Pop | Full Time Hobby | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 6th March 2020 £19.00 - £20.00 Select options Saxophones, The Eternity Bay £19.00 - £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Full Time Hobby Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 6th March 2020 Read More Select options View Product Quick View October Drift I Don’t Belong Anywhere Rock And Pop | Physical Education Recordings Limited | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 14th October 2022 £20.00 Select options October Drift I Don’t Belong Anywhere £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Physical Education Recordings Limited Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 14th October 2022 Read More Select options View Product Quick View Jimi Hendrix Experience Live At Berkeley Rock And Pop | Music On Vinyl | 180g, 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 9th July 2012 £27.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Jimi Hendrix Experience Live At Berkeley £27.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Music On Vinyl SKU: MOVLP538 Formats: 180g, 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 9th July 2012 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Low The Curtain Hits The Cast Rock And Pop | Plain Recordings | 180g, 2LP Released 22nd October 2012 £34.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Low The Curtain Hits The Cast £34.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Plain Recordings SKU: PLAIN172DLP Formats: 180g, 2LP Released Date: 22nd October 2012 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Clash, The London Calling: Special Sleeve Rock And Pop | Sony CMG | 2LP Released 15th November 2019 £33.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Clash, The London Calling: Special Sleeve £33.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Sony CMG SKU: 19075978671 Formats: 2LP Released Date: 15th November 2019 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Boy Scouts Free Company Rock And Pop | Epitaph | 1LP Released 30th August 2019 £17.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Boy Scouts Free Company £17.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Epitaph SKU: 8714092771213 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 30th August 2019 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Beirut The Rip Tide Rock And Pop | Pompeii | 1LP, Includes Download Code Released 26th August 2011 £16.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Beirut The Rip Tide £16.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Pompeii SKU: POMP03 Formats: 1LP, Includes Download Code Released Date: 26th August 2011 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more in Rock And Pop Start again
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