Ghost: The secrets of an occult-themed, arena-rocking, heavy-metal band
Tobias Forge was a long way from making-it as a musician. He was living in a one-bedroom apartment in Sweden, and dreamt of playing guitar for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He’d never been a lead singer or anything like that.
“I’d always pictured myself more like a Frusciante-type of musician,” Forge recalls, referring to Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante. “Like, I’m a guitar player but also a backup singer, and just sort of second-fiddle in a band.”
Then, about 15 years ago, Forge started writing a new batch of occult-themed heavy-metal songs on his black Gibson SG guitar, the horn-shaped instrument used by guitarists like AC/DC’s Angus Young and Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi. They were for a new project Forge called Ghost.
Back then he thought, “I’m just gonna write songs that feel intuitive and fun. And Ghost might be a fun little project that I was going to do sometime. One day I’m going to find a singer for this, we can put together a band and maybe this will become a fun hobby.”
Beside writing and recording the music, Forge ended up being the frontman for Ghost too. The songs he created in that small apartment eventually became “Opus Eponymous.” That 2010 debut album made Ghost metal’s buzziest new band. Forge’s eerie, melodic vocals on tracks like “Ritual” made Ghost’s batwing-metal standout from other contemporary groups.
“All the songs on the first record were really written spontaneously,” Forge says. “It was very playful with no expectations, no rules nothing. And after you’ve done one record and if you’ve achieved any form of success, it’s hard to emulate that same thing because of several reasons. That album will always a very special place in my heart. It comes from my old world where I had very little. I had friends and loves and a guitar, but I didn’t have a lot of success.”
Then there was the band’s unique striking look. Onstage with Ghost, Forge performs as Papa Emeritus, a sort of Satanic anti-pope, beneath prosthetics, makeup and costuming. This made him rock’s most mysterious new frontman. Forge’s identity remained a secreted for three album cycles, until 2017. Onstage, Forge is backed by a band of Nameless Ghouls, all wearing identical evil-looking masks and performing incognito. Stage sets for their live shows are designed like an unholy church.
Ghost’s music can sometimes evoke Blue Oyster Cult or Diamond Head. But Forge has been more influenced by KISS and Alice Cooper, rock greats known for putting visuals and songs together.
Ghost’s music, songs and imagery attracted Eddie Munson-type metal-fans and even members of classic bands. Iron Maiden, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses each took Ghost out on tours. Pantera singer Phil Anselmo wore a Ghost T-shirt onstage with his band Down.
Foo Fighters boss Dave Grohl produced and played on “If You Have Ghost,” Ghost’s covers-heavy EP with bitchin’ version of ABBA’s “I’m A Marionette.” The band’s last two albums were mixed by Andy Wallace, the studio legend who mixed Nirvana’s “Nevermind.”
Each of Ghost’s albums has charted higher than the last. Fifth LP “Impera,” debuted at number-two this year, and birthed a pair of number-one rock hits: “Call Me Little Sunshine” and “Hunter’s Moon.”
“Square Hammer,” from 2016, might be the catchiest song ever about sacred coffins. In 2018, Ghost’s single “Cirice,” a prog-metal epic with a video inspired by vintage horror-film “Carrie,” won the band its first Grammy.
By 2019, Ghost was headlining arenas. On a recent afternoon, Forge checks in via phone from one of those arenas, San Diego’s Pechanga Arena, from the band’s current North American tour. (Tour dates at ghost-official.com.) Edited excerpts from our conversation are below.
Tobias, as a singer and musician, what do you love most about performing in arenas?
From a very practical point of view, I love the consistency. We are a very production-heavy band, and playing anything but arenas is tempering with the show.
Even if you’re playing big theaters, which is really cool and really intimate and really nice. But consistency-wise, some of them changed a lot every day. So, whatever people have seen on YouTube, maybe when we came to their city, we couldn’t do X, Y and Z just because of something (at that theater-sized venue) that didn’t allow for that.
There is the occasional rare anomaly in arenas as well. But overall, you’re able to give people the same show. People everywhere pay a very similar price, and when they’re paying for something they expect, I want them to have that.
And as a performer, playing in front of a lot of people, I can’t imagine anything more gratifying than to make people happy. Maybe we can turn a bad day or mediocre day into something great. And that’s what it feels like, more often than not, when we’ve played.
The new Ghost album opens up with the one-two of the tracks “Imperium” and “Kaisarion.” They reminded me of early Queen, in that the music’s regal sounding but also thoroughly rocking. What were you going for there?
That is exactly what I tried to do. I wanted to have you a semi philharmonic but made with guitars sort of intro, as in Queen what they did on … What’s that song from the second album? The Brian May song where he composed this fantastic sort of classical piece for guitar?
“Procession.”
There you go. I always like composing an intro for the record, because that means that we’re going to use that in the show later. So, you have like a new intro every time (the band goes on a new tour).
It was actually an old riff that I had and had been playing around with forever. And that’s how a lot of my ideas sort of come to fruition, because I compose all the time. But just because I’ve been composing doesn’t mean that I’m sitting in studio. It means that I go around humming and after a while I hum it into my phone or grab my guitar or piano or something to sort of memorize it. And then I’m just putting it aside as a sort of a seedling. Then when it comes time to make a record, I just pick up all the seedlings and try to plant them and see which grow into big trees.
Onstage with Ghost, you sing with mic in hand, and not playing guitar. As much guitar as you’ve written and recorded for Ghost, do you ever foresee you playing guitar onstage with the band? Like a frontman who also plays guitar on stage. Like Jimi Hendrix did, but heavy-metal.
I don’t know. Right now I don’t feel that is suitable. But if I change my mind in the future, if it feels more natural that way, maybe. But as we progress and as we grow bigger and as time goes on, we need to flex the show with other things.
I wish I was a better piano player, actually. I’m an able sort of keyboard player when it comes to being in the studio and all that, but I’m not very good at playing something from start to finish. Quite an able drummer as well. So, I can sort of jump between several things. And if it was just like one song or something, we could do that, which could be fun.
The drums that open the Ghost song “Stand By Him” off the debut album remind me of the intro on early Motley Crue song “Starry Eyes.” Was that the inspiration?
Uh, yes and no. I mean, ever since I was very little, I’ve loved the two first albums by Motley Crue (“Too Fast For Love” and “Shout At The Devil”). But the two first albums only. And a little bit of “Dr. Feelgood.”
(“Stand By Him”) just felt like a classic (song). I just wanted a steady beat and then the song to start, and that feels like a very power-pop thing too. Motley Crue’s first two albums were very influenced by a lot of Slade and Mott the Hoople and stuff like that. And so it felt more like just a traditional thing to do. But yeah, I’ve listened a lot to a Motley Crue, so maybe it came from there. But at the time, I wasn’t thinking about anything.
Is it true or false Dave Grohl has dressed up as a Nameless Ghoul and performed with Ghost?
I’m gonna have to answer your question just from a very legal point of view, where I just say yes. He has technically put on Ghoul clothes and played drums together with us in a Ghost concept.
How long does it take before a show for you to get into Pap Emeritus mode, with the mask, makeup and costuming and everything?
It’s hard to say. Because on a day like this when we’re playing, it feels like it’s starting very early in the day, and everything is pretty much scripted in order for everything to function. Because I hate to break it to you to kids, but we are not 20-years-old. So, in order for us 40 somethings not to break a leg every show, we have to keep in shape. I’m lapping around the arena right now. And I try to play drums for an hour before the show just to sort of warm up.
If you mean the actual transformation, that takes about 40 minutes to an hour, depending on if you want to stress through it or if you want to sort of do it in a calm getting-into-character way. But I like it like that. I am very habitual, and I have a hard time functioning when things aren’t scheduled, which I’m sure a lot of readers can relate to if you’re somewhat on the spectrum. [Laughs]
There aren’t many rock bands from your era as big as Ghost. Why was Ghost able to breakthrough at a time when pop, R&B and rap acts dominate commercially?
I think there are various reasons. And it all combined in alignment, sort of created the sum our career. But I think our sound and our way of not writing the same record every time, but still having a signature DNA in it has helped. I think it has helped we have consistently tried to bring a show to the people. It defies logic for a lot of bands, I think, to try to expand beyond their means.
But that was aided by the fact that I was the only one that invested and everybody else was paid. [Laughs] If we had people voting on everything, it would not have happened this way. Because I was so determined that, yeah, I want to be what Metallica was in the’ 80s, on the “…And Justice For All” tour. That sort of band or like “Powerslave” with Iron Maiden. That sort of f---ing theater and playing arenas.
And I’ve always been very, very influenced by Pink Floyd and Rolling Stones. As much as I’m a sucker and grew up listening to really obscure, very extreme death-metal, I also have a huge alignment and childhood love with big-ass arena rock.
And in this day and age, especially when rock isn’t the flavor of the day, I think it has behooved us that we’ve sort of moved against the pack. When we were debutantes, it was still that like emo-core going on, and we stood out like a sore thumb.
Somehow, we were lucky enough people started embracing us as well, even though we weren’t part of any major music movement. Maybe there was a murmur about an underground occult-rock thing going on at the time. But that was at such a low level that wouldn’t have affected people in general.
But then a lot of kudos and credit I must give to (Guns N’ Roses bassist) Duff McKagan, (Metallica’s) James Hetfield, Phil Anselmo, Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains and Dave Grohl, of course. All those guys took us on tours. They lifted up the band Ghost, onto their stages and put us in front of a lot of people. Without that, this wouldn’t have happened.
Source: https://www.al.com/life/2022/09/ghost-the-secrets-of-an-occult-themed-arena-rocking-heavy-metal-band.html
“I’d always pictured myself more like a Frusciante-type of musician,” Forge recalls, referring to Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante. “Like, I’m a guitar player but also a backup singer, and just sort of second-fiddle in a band.”
Then, about 15 years ago, Forge started writing a new batch of occult-themed heavy-metal songs on his black Gibson SG guitar, the horn-shaped instrument used by guitarists like AC/DC’s Angus Young and Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi. They were for a new project Forge called Ghost.
Back then he thought, “I’m just gonna write songs that feel intuitive and fun. And Ghost might be a fun little project that I was going to do sometime. One day I’m going to find a singer for this, we can put together a band and maybe this will become a fun hobby.”
Beside writing and recording the music, Forge ended up being the frontman for Ghost too. The songs he created in that small apartment eventually became “Opus Eponymous.” That 2010 debut album made Ghost metal’s buzziest new band. Forge’s eerie, melodic vocals on tracks like “Ritual” made Ghost’s batwing-metal standout from other contemporary groups.
“All the songs on the first record were really written spontaneously,” Forge says. “It was very playful with no expectations, no rules nothing. And after you’ve done one record and if you’ve achieved any form of success, it’s hard to emulate that same thing because of several reasons. That album will always a very special place in my heart. It comes from my old world where I had very little. I had friends and loves and a guitar, but I didn’t have a lot of success.”
Then there was the band’s unique striking look. Onstage with Ghost, Forge performs as Papa Emeritus, a sort of Satanic anti-pope, beneath prosthetics, makeup and costuming. This made him rock’s most mysterious new frontman. Forge’s identity remained a secreted for three album cycles, until 2017. Onstage, Forge is backed by a band of Nameless Ghouls, all wearing identical evil-looking masks and performing incognito. Stage sets for their live shows are designed like an unholy church.
Ghost’s music can sometimes evoke Blue Oyster Cult or Diamond Head. But Forge has been more influenced by KISS and Alice Cooper, rock greats known for putting visuals and songs together.
Ghost’s music, songs and imagery attracted Eddie Munson-type metal-fans and even members of classic bands. Iron Maiden, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses each took Ghost out on tours. Pantera singer Phil Anselmo wore a Ghost T-shirt onstage with his band Down.
Foo Fighters boss Dave Grohl produced and played on “If You Have Ghost,” Ghost’s covers-heavy EP with bitchin’ version of ABBA’s “I’m A Marionette.” The band’s last two albums were mixed by Andy Wallace, the studio legend who mixed Nirvana’s “Nevermind.”
Each of Ghost’s albums has charted higher than the last. Fifth LP “Impera,” debuted at number-two this year, and birthed a pair of number-one rock hits: “Call Me Little Sunshine” and “Hunter’s Moon.”
“Square Hammer,” from 2016, might be the catchiest song ever about sacred coffins. In 2018, Ghost’s single “Cirice,” a prog-metal epic with a video inspired by vintage horror-film “Carrie,” won the band its first Grammy.
By 2019, Ghost was headlining arenas. On a recent afternoon, Forge checks in via phone from one of those arenas, San Diego’s Pechanga Arena, from the band’s current North American tour. (Tour dates at ghost-official.com.) Edited excerpts from our conversation are below.
Tobias, as a singer and musician, what do you love most about performing in arenas?
From a very practical point of view, I love the consistency. We are a very production-heavy band, and playing anything but arenas is tempering with the show.
Even if you’re playing big theaters, which is really cool and really intimate and really nice. But consistency-wise, some of them changed a lot every day. So, whatever people have seen on YouTube, maybe when we came to their city, we couldn’t do X, Y and Z just because of something (at that theater-sized venue) that didn’t allow for that.
There is the occasional rare anomaly in arenas as well. But overall, you’re able to give people the same show. People everywhere pay a very similar price, and when they’re paying for something they expect, I want them to have that.
And as a performer, playing in front of a lot of people, I can’t imagine anything more gratifying than to make people happy. Maybe we can turn a bad day or mediocre day into something great. And that’s what it feels like, more often than not, when we’ve played.
The new Ghost album opens up with the one-two of the tracks “Imperium” and “Kaisarion.” They reminded me of early Queen, in that the music’s regal sounding but also thoroughly rocking. What were you going for there?
That is exactly what I tried to do. I wanted to have you a semi philharmonic but made with guitars sort of intro, as in Queen what they did on … What’s that song from the second album? The Brian May song where he composed this fantastic sort of classical piece for guitar?
“Procession.”
There you go. I always like composing an intro for the record, because that means that we’re going to use that in the show later. So, you have like a new intro every time (the band goes on a new tour).
It was actually an old riff that I had and had been playing around with forever. And that’s how a lot of my ideas sort of come to fruition, because I compose all the time. But just because I’ve been composing doesn’t mean that I’m sitting in studio. It means that I go around humming and after a while I hum it into my phone or grab my guitar or piano or something to sort of memorize it. And then I’m just putting it aside as a sort of a seedling. Then when it comes time to make a record, I just pick up all the seedlings and try to plant them and see which grow into big trees.
Onstage with Ghost, you sing with mic in hand, and not playing guitar. As much guitar as you’ve written and recorded for Ghost, do you ever foresee you playing guitar onstage with the band? Like a frontman who also plays guitar on stage. Like Jimi Hendrix did, but heavy-metal.
I don’t know. Right now I don’t feel that is suitable. But if I change my mind in the future, if it feels more natural that way, maybe. But as we progress and as we grow bigger and as time goes on, we need to flex the show with other things.
I wish I was a better piano player, actually. I’m an able sort of keyboard player when it comes to being in the studio and all that, but I’m not very good at playing something from start to finish. Quite an able drummer as well. So, I can sort of jump between several things. And if it was just like one song or something, we could do that, which could be fun.
The drums that open the Ghost song “Stand By Him” off the debut album remind me of the intro on early Motley Crue song “Starry Eyes.” Was that the inspiration?
Uh, yes and no. I mean, ever since I was very little, I’ve loved the two first albums by Motley Crue (“Too Fast For Love” and “Shout At The Devil”). But the two first albums only. And a little bit of “Dr. Feelgood.”
(“Stand By Him”) just felt like a classic (song). I just wanted a steady beat and then the song to start, and that feels like a very power-pop thing too. Motley Crue’s first two albums were very influenced by a lot of Slade and Mott the Hoople and stuff like that. And so it felt more like just a traditional thing to do. But yeah, I’ve listened a lot to a Motley Crue, so maybe it came from there. But at the time, I wasn’t thinking about anything.
Is it true or false Dave Grohl has dressed up as a Nameless Ghoul and performed with Ghost?
I’m gonna have to answer your question just from a very legal point of view, where I just say yes. He has technically put on Ghoul clothes and played drums together with us in a Ghost concept.
How long does it take before a show for you to get into Pap Emeritus mode, with the mask, makeup and costuming and everything?
It’s hard to say. Because on a day like this when we’re playing, it feels like it’s starting very early in the day, and everything is pretty much scripted in order for everything to function. Because I hate to break it to you to kids, but we are not 20-years-old. So, in order for us 40 somethings not to break a leg every show, we have to keep in shape. I’m lapping around the arena right now. And I try to play drums for an hour before the show just to sort of warm up.
If you mean the actual transformation, that takes about 40 minutes to an hour, depending on if you want to stress through it or if you want to sort of do it in a calm getting-into-character way. But I like it like that. I am very habitual, and I have a hard time functioning when things aren’t scheduled, which I’m sure a lot of readers can relate to if you’re somewhat on the spectrum. [Laughs]
There aren’t many rock bands from your era as big as Ghost. Why was Ghost able to breakthrough at a time when pop, R&B and rap acts dominate commercially?
I think there are various reasons. And it all combined in alignment, sort of created the sum our career. But I think our sound and our way of not writing the same record every time, but still having a signature DNA in it has helped. I think it has helped we have consistently tried to bring a show to the people. It defies logic for a lot of bands, I think, to try to expand beyond their means.
But that was aided by the fact that I was the only one that invested and everybody else was paid. [Laughs] If we had people voting on everything, it would not have happened this way. Because I was so determined that, yeah, I want to be what Metallica was in the’ 80s, on the “…And Justice For All” tour. That sort of band or like “Powerslave” with Iron Maiden. That sort of f---ing theater and playing arenas.
And I’ve always been very, very influenced by Pink Floyd and Rolling Stones. As much as I’m a sucker and grew up listening to really obscure, very extreme death-metal, I also have a huge alignment and childhood love with big-ass arena rock.
And in this day and age, especially when rock isn’t the flavor of the day, I think it has behooved us that we’ve sort of moved against the pack. When we were debutantes, it was still that like emo-core going on, and we stood out like a sore thumb.
Somehow, we were lucky enough people started embracing us as well, even though we weren’t part of any major music movement. Maybe there was a murmur about an underground occult-rock thing going on at the time. But that was at such a low level that wouldn’t have affected people in general.
But then a lot of kudos and credit I must give to (Guns N’ Roses bassist) Duff McKagan, (Metallica’s) James Hetfield, Phil Anselmo, Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains and Dave Grohl, of course. All those guys took us on tours. They lifted up the band Ghost, onto their stages and put us in front of a lot of people. Without that, this wouldn’t have happened.
Source: https://www.al.com/life/2022/09/ghost-the-secrets-of-an-occult-themed-arena-rocking-heavy-metal-band.html