Interview: Virtua dx

Emerging from the East Coast US city of Baltimore, Maryland, Virtua dx (@virtuadx) have already carved out something of a cult following after the release of their colourful, dance-influenced shoegaze album Guitarpop Forever in mid-2025. With a DIY production style and engrossing mixes of nostalgic samples alongside raw guitars, there’s a charm to the band’s music that few in the US shoegaze underground can replicate. I had the chance to sit down with band founder and principal member Devon to discuss the recording of Guitarpop Forever, playing packed-out warehouse shows in college towns, and his love of all things from the Japanese Shibuya-kei scene. The Mic's Joshua Holmes reports.

Josh: It’s really cool to be doing this, I absolutely love Guitarpop Forever.

Devon: Thank you so much, I really appreciate that!

Josh: I guess the best way to kick off the interview is to go from the beginning. How did Virtua dx actually form? I know originally you guys were known as just Virtua, right?

Devon: Yeah, it was originally just me playing shows in Baltimore. I would just do laptop sets; I didn’t have a band for a couple of years, and then I started doing shows with a revolving line-up of people. A couple of my friends were like, “when you put out the new record, slightly changing the band name would be awesome, because the SEO would be better and it’d appear on more things.” I think that’s true, I haven’t put that much thought into it. But yeah, it started out as just me playing shows three or four years ago now.

Josh: So, with the guys playing right now, is it a fixed line-up or still a rotating thing? I know you had a set of musicians listed in the credits for the new album doing each instrument.

Devon: It’s pretty much that same group of people, but the likelihood of people playing does change based on who’s busy. I have a cast of “fill-ins”, and that kinda becomes the band if needed.

Josh: Of course. And that leads nicely into the next question: after you started out with the Shopping for Fangs EP, how long did it take for you to start working on the tracks for the full-length album?

Devon: I think I put that one out at the beginning of 2023 or end of 2022, and we recorded the initial stuff for Guitarpop in June 2023. I already had songs written for the record at that point, it was just a matter of “are we going to record this or not?” I hadn’t really taught people the songs because of the rotating line-up. It wasn’t too long after Shopping for Fangs — there were songs on the Guitarpop record that I’d had for a couple of years prior to that EP. I’d written them and just didn’t know what I wanted to do with them.

Josh: That makes sense. There’s a lot of stuff on the record and it’s super diverse. I guess a good place to go from that is to ask what bands were a major inspiration? I’ve always seen you guys as slightly adjacent to Sweet Trip and artists like that. Are there any inspirations that people wouldn’t necessarily think of?

Devon: Yeah, I love Sweet Trip, and I’m glad people get the comparison because it’s totally there. Cornelius, and the whole Trattoria Records scene, is super on my mind. There’s actually a poster I’ve got to put up. I got a 10x8 of Point recently. Cornelius is a big one. Not as much on this record, I guess, but Primal Scream are one of my favourite bands ever, definitely my favourite UK band! Screamadelica is always on my mind. Oh, and the album Surrender by The Chemical Brothers, throughout the entire record I’m kinda ripping it off. I’ve heard a lot of people say a lot of different things about it, and they talk about stuff I wouldn’t even recognise. It’s super cool.

Josh: How did you go about recording the record? What gear did you use? Was it a bedroom record or done more in a studio?

Devon: Truthfully, it’s a hodgepodge recorded wherever. The preliminary recordings were done at my friend Josh’s college studio. Most of the guitars and auxiliary instruments were recorded there. I spent the next two years overdubbing and being dissatisfied, then satisfied, then growing dissatisfied again. I’d overdub almost everything in my house. On most tracks there’s a combination of nice-sounding amped guitars and DI’d guitars that I recorded in my room. As for pedals, it’s usually just a Blues Driver for distortion. Anything else is done with a multi-effects unit or on my computer.

Josh: I love that pedal — it makes total sense.

Devon: I’m unfortunately not much of a gear guy. I’d like to be eventually, but I just don’t know enough yet.

Josh: One of the other important elements of the album is the sampling. There’s a lot of that going on. Where do you source your samples? Is it mostly internet stuff or sample CDs?

Devon: It’s a combination of both. I got my start making music by producing beats [laughs]. I taught myself how to sample when I was thirteen, so it’s always on my mind. There’s stuff sourced from everywhere: the internet, vinyl records. I’ve seen people talk about Guitarpop in the context of sampling and that makes me so happy. It makes me think of bands like The Avalanches and, again, Chemical Brothers, and how their music is built on that sort of thing. I love it.

Josh: I never expected the album to use vinyl samples — that’s really cool. Another thing I wanna ask, specifically relating to Guitarpop: did the rotating cast of musicians contribute their own parts, or was it more of a solo effort?

Devon: I wrote all the lyrics and about 80–90% of the guitar parts, but everyone listed on the record contributed. Most of the bass parts were written by my friend Dom, who plays bass on the record, because I hate writing bass parts that are more complex than quarter notes. A lot of songs have parts that aren’t written by me at all.

Josh: I’d be amiss to not mention this, because it’s my favourite track on the record and one of my favourites of 2025. Could you tell me more about Didgy Ring and Springtime… or is it Didgy Ringtone and Springtime, because it has the different title on streaming?

Devon: It was supposed to be Ringtone, but I found out when I uploaded the record that you can’t have a song called Ringtone on streaming if you use DistroKid. But I think it’s dope. I love when records have messed-up tracklists. It was one of the first tracks I did for the record. I didn’t think much of it, still don’t, but it’s a lot of people’s favourite. At least from what I can tell. I don’t think much about that song. It’s really good but we never play it live. There’s an MJ Lendermen song called You Are Every Girl to Me, and I wanted the guitars to sound super dirty like that. There’s also a song off the second Blood Orange record Cupid Deluxe that I wanted the drums to sound like. Super Talking Heads-y, super pop heavy. I didn’t think there were many songs on Guitarpop with hooks like that. There’s the “ooh-ooh” part in the verses that I really love.

Josh: The vocals at the end are sick.

Devon: Thank you!

Josh: What’s your favourite track on the record?

Devon: The first song, Running. That’s the one I’m most proud of. I think it does what I want to do most. That and the second-to-last track, Super Guit☆r. I haven’t heard the record since it came out, so I might have to listen again.

Josh: You’ve not listened to it since release?

Devon: I did a tour the month before it came out and was fine-tuning the mixing. I listened every day. I couldn’t bear to hear it again. I needed a break.

Josh: Totally fair. It’s always hard to know how others will hear your own work.

Devon: Yeah, I’m not good at that at all.

Josh: About touring: how is it playing the songs live? Is it challenging? Particularly with so many samples?

Devon: We’ve made it work. It was really hard a year or two ago, and it still can be depending on the venue, but we use a Roland SP-404 for backing tracks that our drummer hears and that run through monitors. It’s pretty easy now to play the songs properly, it’s just a matter of people caring. But I think it’s dope.

Josh: I’ve seen some live videos, you guys make it work really well. Any particularly fond memories?

Devon: Yeah! We haven’t played a show in a minute, but we played a gig in Virginia last September. It was at a small college town I’d never heard of. I thought it would be a “whatever” show with 30 or 40 kids but there were like 200 people packed into this little warehouse. Might be the best show I’ve had with this band. We also played Super Guit☆r for the first time at a show last year and the turnout was great, people really loved it, which made me happy. I’d like to play more shows with the album out — I haven’t done much since release — but those two shows were awesome.

Josh: Speaking of live bands, how important has the Baltimore scene been for you?

Devon: It’s really fragmented. I wouldn’t call it much of a “scene”. Not super influential or beneficial locally. We don’t play many local shows. The predominant culture right now is hardcore, and that’s cool, but there isn’t much of a pocket for anything else. Most of the support I’ve felt has been from touring the Eastern US. I’d like to play more in Baltimore but people have gotta book us! [laughs]

Josh: The first single was III. Why that one?

Devon: I thought it was the most palatable while still being great. It has the most to say without being jarring. My friend Josh, who played guitar on the record, said we should put that one out first because it “makes sense”, and then when people hear the rest they’re like “what the fuck”. I don’t think it’s that crazy, but I get it.

Josh: This is a silly one, but where did the cover art idea come from? There’s the song One of a Kind Prize Cow . Was that before the cover, or was the artwork a throwaway?

Devon: Song came first. I loved the name. I knew I wanted a cow on it. I wanted it to look like something from the abcdefg* record label. That was on my mind. I’m not very visually skilled, but there’s this album Super Miracle Circuit by Sonic Coaster Pop. I love the colours. I took pictures of loads of stuff, had loads of drafts, played around with colours while on tour, made a cow vector and thought, “woah, that looks awesome on a white background.” And that was that. Not the best story, but true.

Josh: On your Instagram you describe yourself as a “worship band”. Is that relating to shoegaze “worship bands”, or something else?

Devon: Part of that but also meant to be like church worship bands. I thought it’d sound cool. I call bands “worship bands” all the time.

Josh: Last couple of questions, do you have anything planned for the future of Virtua dx?

Devon: I’m booking a full US tour for next summer. Really excited. I’ve not played shows with this project beyond the Midwest. Gonna be fun. Not much else to announce, not enough going on!

Josh: Final silly question: how much did it cost to register shoegaze.org?

Devon: $25 USD a year. I’ve had it since 2022.

Josh: What a steal.

The debut album by Virtua dx, Guitarpop Forever, is available to stream or purchase on all major platforms now.

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Photos courtesy of Virtua dx and Plankfan

Edited by Daniela Roux