Sammy Virji on UKG, Getting a Call From Skrillex & Why ‘Everything I’m Doing Now Is Beyond My Wildest Dreams’

Scientists call the phenomenon of “revenge bedtime procrastination” something humans do when we feel little control over our daily schedules. When there’s not much free time during the day, we often stay up later than we should watching TV or scrolling as a way to “get revenge on” our packed daytime hours.

It’s a behavioral pattern Sammy Virji says helped bring his new album into being. His days would start with an hour’s walk through London to, he says, “get the oxygen flowing.” He’d grab a coffee, cross London Bridge and eventually arrive at the studio. Productivity wasn’t always immediate upon arrival.

“I’d be there until nine or maybe later, just messing around,” the producer tells Billboard over Zoom from a lush backyard in the Hollywood Hills, where he’s staying while in Los Angeles for spell. “But I would find myself getting more creative late at night, because I really should’ve been getting ready for bed. I procrastinated in the same way that people will watch Netflix when they should go to sleep. The later it got it was like ‘I shouldn’t be here.’ But with that, I ended up being more creative and doing things I wouldn’t usually do.”

The result is Virji’s second album Same Day Cleaning, out today (Sept. 19) via Capitol Records. A 16-track effort featuring collaborations with Skepta, Chris Lake, Flowdan, salute, dancehall powerhouse Spice and a crew of other guests, the cool, stylish album puts an exclamation point on Virji’s rise in the U.S., one during which he’s helped spark a new level of popularity for U.K. garage, also called UKG, or as Virji says it in his accent, “gare-ej.”

Virji is among a wave of UKG artists helping popularize the subgenre, forged in the ’90s UK rave scene, in the U.S. Skrillex has dabbled in the sound, and Interplanetry Criminal, Virji’s collaborator on 2024’s undeniable “Damager,” is among the also popularizing the sound for a new generation.

Virji’s own trajectory has been marked by huge and hugely well received sets at Portola 2024 and Coachella 2025, along with headlining cross country clubs shows that drew crowds Virji, with a laugh that emphasizes his famously wide smile, lovingly calls “feral.”

He’ll be on a U.S. club tour through the end of the year, with the run sprinkled with festival dates and a two-night stint at London’s revered Alexander Palace already on the calendar for April. Below, he talks the new album, America and more.

Do you remember a particular idea that came to you late at night at the studio that eventually made it to the album?

Yes, “Leroy Street,” which is the final tune on the album and much different than the stuff I usually make. — I was just pissing around, and it was late at night, then suddenly I was kind of like “I’m just going to take a break because my brain was fried, so I tried making this ambient thing.” I added some drums and I was like, “Oh, this is actually quite special.” That basically came from me just being there late at night procrastinating.

When did you know the album was done?

I don’t know if I’ll ever get that feeling. There will always be bits where it’s like, “I should have changed that or this,” but it kind of is what it is now… I don’t think I’ll ever get that feeling of satisfaction — I’ll still listen to old tunes and be like, “I actually could tweak that,” but I think I was happy with where it was.

Was there also a deadline you were working under?

Oh yes, there was a deadline as well. [Laughs.]

In terms of UKG in the States, what’s your feeling about what your presence here has done to kind of reintroduce that genre, or introduce it in a new way?

The first time I came to America was 2023, in June. I played at Sound nightclub for [Night Bass founder] AC Slater. I felt like back then it still wasn’t there, but it was kind of this bass house-ey sound. I still play a lot of bass-ey music. I felt like I did have a few fans out here, but it’s just progressed since then. I don’t really know how it’s blown up so much out here, because it’s never really had like such a big moment. I think it’s right time, right place.

What’s your role in that?

What I’m doing is trying to make it accessible. And it’s kind of doing that without selling out and just bootlegging something popular. I’ll try and get loads of different a cappellas and run them over the top and keep it exciting, just kind of mashing things up together.

It feels like that’s the eternal line that dance artists are walking, or trying to walk, of being accessible but not selling out or veering into something that wouldn’t feel good. What have been your guidelines for doing that?

Playing a well known tune in a set, it will always go off well, but it’s kind of cheating. That’s just how I feel. I do that sometimes, but I’ll do things like taking a well known tune that’s not popular right now. I like to play “Pump Up the Jam,” which is old and [people probably] haven’t heard it in a while. I put that on a build up, just to keep it a little bit like, “Yeah, I know this,” then go into something more underground.

You spark people’s interest with this well known song, then you take them with you to the next.

Yeah, but it’s gotta be the right amount of known. It can’t be too known, right? I find that old music does that well.

Does that apply to the music you produce and your work outside of your sets?

I do like having that old feel. I think a lot of my music hints at old school garage, which still — if you played old school garage out in America, I don’t think people would get it on such a big scale. Even in England, it’s still quite a niche thing. But I like to have old-sounding things and real instrumentation. I’ve tried to do that with the album, tried creating a nostalgic feel. Live instrumentation is a good way to do that.

Your father is a musician, right?

He’s a trombonist. I’ve gotten him to play on the album as well. The opening track “One for the Books,” that horn beat is something I typed in on Logic with a really rubbish, fake sounding horn and then sent to him to re-record, so it’s an authentic horn section.

What are the moments when you felt things level up for you here in the States?

I was really surprised when I did my first tour in January of last year. I was surprised at the level of crowd energy. I hadn’t felt that kind of energy in a long time, and it was a completely new thing for me in America. I played Elsewhere in New York and 1015 Folsom in San Francisco. I remember those two shows in particular having the most insane reaction, like feral crowds. It felt really good in Denver as well. Denver was insane.

I felt festivals moved a bit slower, because when you’re playing clubs, you’re playing to people who already know you and your music. With festivals it’s slightly harder to move the whole crowd, when it’s a completely new sound [for them]. Coachella this year felt like a massive turning point. I had to move more people that weren’t necessarily familiar with the sound, and they were very open-minded. There was such a big crowd as well, so that felt really good. Then recently playing Forest Hills Stadium in New York was just insane to me.

Was America a dream of yours, or is it just kind of a fun tangent of your career?

I never actually pictured myself in America. My scope went as far as playing big things in England. I never thought about going abroad. I think the people I looked up to were very much U.K. DJs and producers and doing a U.K. sound. My brain never really went beyond that, yeah. To even be in contact with someone like Skrillex… I never thought anything like that would happen. Everything I’m doing now is beyond my wildest dreams.

When did you hear from Skrillex?

It was last year. I can’t remember how he got my number, but I think I was in bed when he called. He was like, “Hey, man, I’m at the studio. You fancy coming?” I was like, “Yep!” and put my clothes on. We made a little idea, but it was just good to get in the studio with him and learn and just watch a master at work. And he really is a master at work.

Was there anything you saw him do that you were like, “OK, now I see how that’s done”?

We had this whole studio booked. It was actually the same room where I made the album. It’s a small room in this studio, the smallest room, and I think it sounds the best out of any studio I’ve been to.

But he wouldn’t plug his computer or my computer into the speakers, because if he did, he would spend too long on the mixdown, and he didn’t want to do that. He wanted to just get the idea. So we’re in the studio but just using laptop speakers. Watching him on Serum, being so quick, it was quite inspiring just to watch his process.

Do you have a sense of what you want Same Day Cleaning to do that would make it successful for you?

It’s not really numbers for me. I would just want good feedback, and I want it to be special for people. If I can make a very special album for a few people, then I’ve won.

It feels awkward asking you this given that you’re just about to release a whole album — but do you have anything beyond it that you foresee putting out?

Since the album’s been finished it’s been that living on bonus time feeling. I feel a lot of pressure alleviated. Because of that, I ended up making loads of music and being creative. Because I don’t have to make music, I can make music.