Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Tobias Forge, the creative leader of the Grammy-winning Swedish rock ensemble Ghost, recently participated in a virtual interview with Associated Press entertainment journalist Liam McEwan, as per Blabbermouth. He discussed the development of his alter-egos as the frontman “Papa,” his songwriting methodology, and the extensive mythology that characterizes Ghost’s identity.
Forge also elaborated on his reliance on musical intuition, his preferred instruments, and the influence of storytelling, mythology, and music in shaping the band’s continuously evolving universe. When questioned about the origins of Ghost’s narrative framework, which encompasses elements from the band’s ongoing “Chapters” series, Forge provided an explanation.
The first record deal for Ghost was a small indie label from London, operating out of London, called Rise Above. [It was] a very credible label, very much a cult establishment, helmed by, Lee Dorrian from Cathedral fame. Their approach, him and his staff, their approach was very low key — do little, do few interviews, don’t do much and preferably don’t play much. We’re very good friends, and we’ve been friends ever since, but on a strategic level, we disagreed pretty early because I wasn’t very keen on having a social media or media presence, but I was definitely keen on making Ghost as big as possible as a live band. My outlook at the time was probably more I wanted to become a big theater band, go from playing a club to maybe being good for 2,000 tickets in a theater. But I understood that in order to get there, I have to comply with certain laws of gravity and I have to tour, I have to do a few things. And they wanted me to not have an agent, they didn’t want me to have a manager. And I was, like, ‘I am, too, having a manager, [and] of course we need an agent,’ and all that. So, obviously, we had to part ways, and we did [so] amicably.
He further recounted his signing with Loma Vista Recordings, a label founded by Tom and Ryan Whalley. Prior to establishing Loma Vista in 2012, Tom Whalley held a prominent career as chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Records, where he contributed significantly to the careers of artists such as Green Day and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Whalley also occupied executive roles at Interscope and Capitol Records.
At the time [Loma Vista] was brand new. They had just basically inked, I guess, an office space deal, because they were so new and they had no releases out. They had only signed — I think that they had signed Damian Marley. I’m not sure, but I, or Ghost, was the second signing or something like that. However, they — being Tom Whalley and his son, Ryan Whalley — they came from the very top of the food chain in American music industry.
Tom had just stepped off for, or — I don’t know — for the 10 years prior, he had been the head honcho of Warner Brothers. So he was a big guy, a big dude in the music industry and had signed a lot of big artists. [He was] very credible as an A&R [executive] as well. I mean, obviously he was up with the big wigs for a long time doing sort of corporate stuff, but he started as an A&R. He signed [Ronnie James] Dio when he was this sort of washed up singer that had just been sort of out of Black Sabbath, and he signed him for [Dio’s debut album] ‘Holy Diver’.
But he also signed Helmet, I think Nine Inch Nails, Tupac Shakur, stuff like that. He has a knack for finding [talent]. And he proposed me signing to Loma Vista, which seemed super attractive. ‘Wow, what a thing.’ And [it was] exciting working with a new label. We had our door knocked by a lot of the bigger established other record companies that [were] around at the time. But I was very much impressed by his resume and what he had done with other artists. And it was very tempting to work with someone who was, like, major, but he was gonna start an indie label.
So I had the main guy in front of me — not like an A&R [representative] that — nothing against A&Rs — but more than often across, splattered all over rock history, is bands, especially Ghost at the time, hyped band that was very uncertain where we were going. It was uncertain if we were gonna make it past the hype or not. You’re definitely out of the shallows because you’re in deep water with the potential of your A&R, the guy who believes in you, or the girl who believes in you, leaving or getting sacked, and then, all of a sudden, you’re sitting there being the alternative, weird Satanic AOR band from Sweden, and you’re out. So, I wanted to work with him.
One of the first things he said, it was, like, ‘I love your band.’ I think he was just throwing what felt like very sincere superlatives about how great the band was and how much he felt that he could do for it. But he was, like, ‘One problem, though, is the story. What is the story? I’ve never worked with anything that does not have a story that I can tell.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s gonna be a problem, because I’m anonymous, we’re anonymous. There is no band. Besides, we’ve not been around. We don’t have a story. Give us 10 years and maybe we’ll tell you about something at that point.’ And he was, like, ‘We have to work on this.’ [And I said], ‘Okay.’ That’s why there is a story. In short.
