Ghost: Ave Aeternus Papa Emeritus
Since the dawn of modern civilisation, those who hold Christian beliefs observe Good Friday as the day of the Crucifixion. Today, the holy sense of the “good” in that moniker has been rendered obsolete. Yet Christ’s execution is observed nonetheless. For example, predominantly Christian nation Germany has passed laws prohibiting dancing on the sacred day so the rather morbid nature of the occasion can be remembered. Good Friday this year brought a warm spring afternoon in Birmingham; where dancing is permitted. People dressed in habits and tell-tale band regalia gather outside the Resort World Arena. Faint tinkling of a song quoting righteousness dances through the Midland air. The irony of the festivities hits us as we wander through the bowels of the eerily quiet arena. In the lead up to a secular music event, we were due to speak to a man who dabbles in “cultural Satanism”. Tobias Forge of GHOST greets us with a shy smile and fully loaded pleasantries.
As he sits across from us, the Sun’s flare through the window ironically halo-esque, the front man is keen to make us feel welcome. “It’s just me,” Forge laughs coyly with a dismissive wave of the hand. “Nothing to be starstruck by.”
Over the course of GHOST’s European tour, fans have worked themselves into a frenzy during their chosen Ritual. Not too dissimilar from crowds of the devout whenever Pope Francis addresses the Vatican. Photographs of those donning cosplay of the zombie pope and the sisters of sin bless Instagram’s timeline after each show, euphoria captured in every pixel. “Must have been all the brown notes,” Tobias chuckles as we recant conversations we’d heard from fellow fans about how cleansing the London show had been. “I want everyone who’s coming to feel welcome and feel like they are a part of this and take that euphoria away.”
That euphoria begins to bubble long before the live spectacle commences. Classical pieces Klara Stjärnor and Miserere Mei, Deus [JAN JOHANSSON and GREGORIO ALLEGRI respectively] have seeped through PA systems across the globe pre-Ritual for many years. It’s only when GHOST transitions into a new chapter that small nuances will shift. Star Wars inspired steampunk Ghouls and all. “Over the years, everything has been building on a very similar concept,” Tobias explains when we ask how a GHOST show comes together, “Fortunately we don’t have to come up with a completely different idea every time like LADY GAGA for example.”
Does that make GHOST shows monotonous? Not in the eyes of the mastermind. It’s with this insinuation the veil lifts slightly. “I am a fan of repetition,” Forge confesses. “Especially with a theatrical set, like we have, where a lot of the songs end with a hard blackout. Then another starts with a light at a certain cue; it’s very light cue heavy.” After a BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN impression, Tobias tells us impromptu just isn’t in GHOST’s vocabulary. For those hoping for fluctuating setlists, he has some advice; “If you like surprises, don’t go online.”
Those unable to maintain the law of surprise would wind up on Setlist.fm to discover few tracks from recent album Impera had been included. In fact, just four of the 19 song Imperatour setlist come from the latest offering. Though this wasn’t for neglectful reasons. When the band convened in Los Angeles for rehearsals prior to the co-headlining tour with VOLBEAT, all nine members contracted COVID. Time was of the essence when they had recovered meaning Forge had to be particular in his choices. As Impera had released mid-US tour, further inclusion wasn’t possible until it came time to reconfigure the setlist for the European tour. Call Me Little Sunshine and Spillways each received their live premieres in Manchester leaving fans eager for more. Commenting on that very phenomenon, Forge explains his process; “Watcher In The Sky is a giant gag song, let’s put it this way. Twenties also involves gags and is a setup song. Sometimes songs require a certain thing to make it work.” Wanting to leave fans with more to salivate over, Tobias discloses some further changes will be coming as Impera’s cycle continues. “As we incorporate new songs, we might take away songs, bring in these three songs we’ve hardly played for ten years. We’re gonna do a few unexpected things over the course of the next year – so just because we’re not playing it tonight or tomorrow does not mean that we’re never going to play it.”
GHOST has always been a band which requires meticulous planning. From the live perspective, there are things happening now which had been on Forge’s “to-do list” for over 15 years. Not keen to give many of his ideas away, the orchestrator does give us an insight into one or two future goals. “It would be interesting to see how we would do an in the round situation,” he contemplates. “You have to be able to sell the entire arena otherwise they won’t function. The difference between doing what most bands do; playing at the far end of an arena, and opening up the back – that’s the difference between maybe selling ten thousand tickets and selling 13 thousand. Bands to play in the round, they know they’re the biggest shit on the planet.”
Diligent scheming is what gives GHOST the potential to be “the biggest shit on the planet”. While we have seen “through the fourth wall”, the façade of Papa Emeritus is as strong for fans as Santa is for children. What a wonderful masquerade Tobias Forge has created. Various incarnations of a zombie pope, a beguiling cardinal, and a plethora of Chapters make for rich lore. But how much is fantasy and how much is projections of this seemingly serene man. “I don’t know,” Tobias answers after a pause. “A majority of it is definitely an unhinged, abysmal sort of version of myself, I guess. It’s obviously taken from some place.”
It becomes clear this isn’t a man who finds comfort in talking about themselves. With a small, apologetic smile at the creak of his leather jacket, Tobias tells us he regards himself and the flamboyant Papa Emeritus IV we’d seen light up London’s O2 Arena days before as two separate entities. That separation isn’t as clean cut as he’d have people believe however. “Even though there’s a tonne of myself in the music and the message, I’m really happy it’s not necessarily a sort of reading out of my diary,” Tobias considers.
GHOST’s discography may not be an insight into the Swede’s diary but it does reflect on one feature in his childhood; religion. Forge’s opposition of organised religion has been well documented at this point. Citing his stepmother and a schoolteacher in particular stories in the past, his experiences with what he describes as “Bible thumpers” haven’t always been pleasant. That influenced Tobias’ mindset moving through life. “My experience with people like that – I see them as evil basically, they’re evil and hypocritical.” The hypocrisy of the institution unfurls in songs such as Griftwood and Idolatrine. Forge’s vitriol towards the sanctimonious is almost as subtle as their own behaviour.
Yet it isn’t just the people who left Forge with a bitter taste. The son of a photographer and art aficionado would frequent different churches on the family’s travels followed by an art gallery in an act of architectural appreciation. This would go on to fuel his love of history and allow him to see things from a different perspective. Talking about his excursions to various places of worship, Tobias goes on to tell us, “I’ve always gone into churches with a very big ear, sort of hearing the whispers from the walls. The amounts of days and nights and sorrows, tribulations. So I always regarded those as a place which had of a lot of not necessarily good energy.”
Whereas some branches of society seem hellbent on the idea of us repenting for our sins, the biggest of all having the audacity to live our lives authentically, Forge constructed the ministry of GHOST as a place of inclusivity. Repentance replaced by acceptance. Self-loathing transforming into self-love. This idea of liberation and self-expression via music feeds into the musician’s affiliation with Satanism. While many would believe Satanism stretches to animal sacrifice and a concoction containing the blood of a virgin, this simply isn’t the case. A main philosophy of the controversial belief system is simply “to thine own self be true”.
Adopting the moniker of a form of Satanic Pope, Papa Emeritus has comforted weary souls over the years. Call Me Little Sunshine offers solace to the lost passengers navigating life. Cirice seduces the exiled with the utterance “I know your soul is not tainted”. While He Is serves as a love letter to the original depiction of Christianity’s Satan; He is insurrection. The name Satan having first featured in the Book Of Numbers as a way to describe defiance, a notion which has become more and more prominent.
With each passing day, transgender rights come under further fire. Whether it be a famous author constantly outing themselves as transphobic, athletes being prohibited from competing within their gender, or the epidemic of school children bullied to the point of suicide, identifying as transgender has always been perilous. Now, especially in the US, government officials are mobilising to create litigation to prevent people living the fulfilled lives they should. “This fight is even more important now, when you have real grown men and women working day night, legally, to stop people living their lives. It’s fucking mind blowing and mind-numbingly heartbreaking.”
In 2021, GHOST released a cover of METALLICA’s iconic Enter Sandman for The Metallica Blacklist. Their inclusion meant Forge could donate the song’s proceeds to a charity of his choice. His benefactor is Camp Aranu’tiq; the first summer camp strictly for transgender or nonbinary teenagers. Since the first program in 2010, the amount of campers attending each summer has skyrocketed as these teenagers and their families look to build a sense of community while they navigate their journey.
There is no denying we are now living in a constant state of political unrest. At every turn, there’s another debate on the simplest of human rights. In the US, abortion is set to be outlawed. Here in the UK, conversion therapy for gay and bisexual people has been outlawed. However the practice is still legal for those who identify as transgender. In this “free world” are any of us truly liberated? “It’s your right to do what you want with your body, be it getting pregnant or putting your whatever into whatever hole of anyone who’s willing to have it there. It’s all good.” Tobias begins. “If you don’t want that, fuck off. Go some place else and live in your small bubble. Don’t fucking litigate against the freedom that we; our forefathers and parents and everyone has been struggling to achieve. We’re just sneezing it away.”
Forge takes a beat shortly after, diverting his gaze as he often does when pondering his words. “Nothing is forever,” he says after a moment. “I think there is a future where things can turn again. And there’s a lot to suggest nothing is really set in stone.” Whether we see those changes happening within our lifetime has yet to be determined. Hearing those words of hope is heart-warmingly refreshing.
“This will sound so high horse but that’s why it’s so important bands like ours exist,” Tobias proclaims, his passion burning through the statement. “We’re representing liberation. Freedom.” As our time with this enigmatic man grossly elapses, we find ourselves purged of our ills. The world set to rights with one of most influential musicians of our time over Marks & Spencers’ bottled water. We wanted to step into a world of Tobias Forge’s creation yet leave having learned so much more about our own.
Impera is out now via Loma Vista Recordings.
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