kashilascorner asked: Alright I'm just started listening to Ghost and while I'm completely fascinated already, I need to ask how do you guys even recognize the ghouls like how do you know who is who specially now with the new lineup omg
Okie dokie, I am also fairly new to the game so if any veteran Ghost fans see a mistake please correct me.
So for starters there are 4 different Ghoul Eras.
Era #1
Lead guitar: plays a white guitar and is primarily on stage left. (The right side of the stage if you’re in the audience looking toward the stage) He has rings on both middle fingers and had wing tats on both hands. He scampers a lot and makes naughty gestures with his fingers.
Rhythm guitar: plays a black (and sometimes a black and brown) guitar and is primarily on stage right. Both lead and rhythm are about the same height but rhythm is way bulkier. He stomps and throws his head around like a wild bronco.
Drummer: Very short. Spins his drum sticks and doesn’t like when someone touches his cymbals. He throws his sticks into the audience after the show.
Bassist: Also small and plays a white guitar, but is clearly distinguishable from the leads white guitar.
Keyboardist: Huge. He’s the tallest and most ominous looking standing behind with his hands behind his back. He plays standing up which is uncommon and he gets really into it. Which is probably why he stands.
Era #2: they get Alchemic symbols
Lead guitar - Alpha/Fire [Alpha]
Rhythm guitar -Omega/Ether [Omega]
Bassist - Water
Keyboardist - Air
Drummer - Earth
[Not in that order]
Era #3: This is where it gets dicey.
There was some ugliness and the band broke up. Everyone was the same at the beginning of this era under Papa Emeritus iii.
Either before or during this tour Alpha/Fire, Omega/Ether and Air split. Water and Earth stayed.
NewFire is about the same height, but build thicker and doesn’t wear anything on his hands. He was no longer referred to as Alpha and has no symbol on his guitar. He is the livelier of the two and finger guns all the time (my personal fav fire). He has a lot of energy and is adorable. He didn’t stay on after the tour. [Alpha on left, New Fire top and bottom right]
NewOmega/ Ether goes only by Aether now. He plays a black guitar and has rings on both hands, but also wears a bracelet on his left wrist. He doesn’t have the omega symbol on his guitar and isn’t referred to as Omega. And he jumps. A lot. Everywhere. All the time. He stayed.
New Air was nicknamed Chair because he sat down to play like a traditional keyboardist. He was shorter and built like a teddy bear. He didn’t stay on after the tour. [Key-tar for size]
Earth eventually left and was replaced with a tall lanky man.
Water (original bassist) becamelead guitar.
New Water is also of the teddy bear physique. There was also a Lady Water in there somewhere. She was incredibly tiny and her name was Mist. Neither stayed.
NOW..
Era #4: These are our current Ghouls and Ghoulettes under Cardinal Copia. They wear tailored coat tails with suspenders and their masks kept the demonic look but removed the area in front of the mouth so new ghouls could sing and maybe breath better. They are a polished silver. They also ditched the symbols and became true nameless ghouls like the good lord intended but we still do what we do.
Lead guitar - is called Dewdrop or Dew (original bassist, Water, because he is so small like a dewdrop) or Fire because we all know who you are talking about now. He is an aggressive little shit and stomps and licks his guitar picks and attacks Aether and fingers his own mouth. Its wild man.. Plays white guitar stage left.
Rhythm guitar - still Aether with the rings an bracelet. Still beefy. Rolls his sleeves up after intermission. Jumpy lover boy and everyone’s buddy. Holds his left foot off the ground at curtain call to end the show ‘on the right foot’. Plays black guitar stage right.
Bassist - this chap’s name is Rain. He was the NewWater, but he fell down.. like Rain. Thin like Fire, but much taller. Shy and kinda sassy. Plays white bass guitar center stage.
Swiss - there really isn’t any other way to intro duce him besides he’s Swiss Army Ghoul or Multi-Ghoul. He’s on the stage right platform and dances like its 1999. He sings, plays electric and acoustic guitar, tambourine and ‘plays’ saxophone when he fills in as Papa Nihil during Miasma. Shakes shit upstage right. *His best qualities are his wiggles.
The Ghoulettes - these lovely ladies sing, play keyboards, Key-tar, tambourine and also dance a little. But most importantly they love us. There are a lot of names for the ladies. Smol/Tall. Pam/Karen. Cumulus/Cirrus or just Mom. Play our hearts on upstage left platform.
Drummer - tallest band member. Beats the living hell outa the drums and doesn’t wear shoes. [Not uncommon actually. Rick Allen of Def Leppard nvr wore shoes] Since his predecessor was so small (Earth) they named him Mountain due to his towering height. And the poor kid needs a box fan because he sweats A LOT. Plays upstage right-center.🖤
Bonus round:
Special Ghoul:
It was Tobias Forge all along. He did most of the interviews dressed up as Alpha. Has virtually no accent where as Alpha’s was very thick and only did 2-3 interviews. Omega started doing interviews towards the end of his time with Ghost. He has an accent, but you can understand everything he says clearly.
And Metallica love them. They bring them along on tours to show them off. 🖤
Hiya! Been around the Ghost block, so I’m going to add to/correct some of the Era 1-3 stuff
Era I October 2010 - August 2012
Lead guitar: Fire (2010 - )
Rhythm guitar: Aether/Quintessence (2010 -)
Bass guitar: 1st Water (2010 - 2011), 2nd Water (2011 - )
Drums: Earth
(2010 - )
*not small - has very blue eyes though!*
Keyboards: Air (2010 - )
(Note: IIRC Martin said that they had the element symbols on the collar of their robes. Not sure if this includes the early era 1 robes or just the white variation or what, but they were using the elements before they appeared on the robes in era 2.)
Era II December 2012 - September 2014
Lead guitar: Fire aka Alpha
Rhythm guitar: Aether/Quintessence aka Omega
Bass guitar: 2nd Water ( - 2013), 3rd Water (2013 - 2014)
Drums: Earth
Keyboards: Air
(Note: Sometime in era 2 is when fans nicknamed Aether “Omega” due to him using the symbol on the guitar he used most often and calling Fire “Alpha” quickly followed. They became much more widespread in era 3. Papa 3 even used the nicknames in band introductions during the acoustic section of sets in spring/summer 2016.)
Era III June 2015 - September 2017
MelioraJune 2015 - July 2016 aka Can You Hear the Rumble?
Lead guitar: Fire aka Alpha *got the hand tattoos in fall 2015*
Popestar(Pt 1) September 2016 - November 2016 aka some of us actually thought Omega might just be on hiatus lmao
Lead guitar: Fire aka Alpha ( - 2016)
Rhythm guitar: 2nd Aether ( - 2016) **was the 4th Water
Bass guitar: 5th Water (2016) *fan nicknamed Mist - 1st lady ghoul*
Drums: 2nd Earth ( - 2016)
Keyboards/keytar: Air ( - 2016)
(Note: After this tour, all the above ghouls were fired. Which brings us to…)
Popestar (Pt 2) March 2017 - September 2017 aka New Ghouls on the Block
Lead guitar: 2nd Fire (2017)
Rhythm guitar: 3rd Aether (2017 - )
Bass guitar: 6th Water (2017**) *took lead guitar in 2018*
Drums: 3rd Earth (2017)
Keyboards/keytar: 2nd Air (2017)
Misc. notes:
No Aethers are Omega but the first one.
Omega almost always wore large silver rings on both ring fingers. He actually did quite a few interviews during era 1 & 2, usually with Tobias during era 1. It’s kind of hard to tell because during era 1 and IIRC some of era 2 they would use voice masking, but that eventually got dropped as impractical. See also: Tobias deciding to do unmasked interviews now.
No Fires are Alpha besides the first one. One of Alpha’s rings had a purple stone. It’s true he didn’t do many interviews, but definitely watch the Italian ones for maximum hilarity.
The Grammy-winning Swedish rock band Ghost has been steadily taking the U.S. by storm with its over-the-top theatrics, blasphemous satanic imagery that would even scare the bejesus out of Ozzy Osbourne and, most importantly, great tunes that you can sink your teeth in.
With a scorching set-list made up of 26 fire and brimstone assaults on your senses, “A Pale Tour Named Death Tour” (which stops Dec. 14 at the Boch Center Wang Theatre in Boston) is being touted as Ghost’s most elaborate theatrical stage spectacle yet.
“It’s still a rock show,” Forge said. “But, what we do is theatrical rock. You’re getting two and a half hours-plus of just that. We’re playing predominately theaters as well, which sort of adds to that idea.”
Boasting the killer tracks “Dance Macabre” and the chart-topping rock single “Rats,” Ghost’s latest “Prequelle” is loosely based on The Black Death that wiped out half of Europe’s population in the 14th century and caused a series of religious, social and economic upheavals.
Forge said what interested him about such a grim subject was the philosophical and theological aspect of a god-fearing population facing apocalypse.
“Besides dying and being stricken with the disease, they were all stricken with an enormous amount of guilt and fear because they thought it was the work of the devil and the vengeance of God. It was God’s wrath cast upon the face of man, basically, because of all the things he and she could have done wrong. And, a lot was also ‘he’ blaming ‘she’ for witchery … and sexuality, all those things that have been mentioned on previous Ghost records,” Forge said.
“Turmoil has a tendency to show a lot of different sides of man, not so nice sides. And I’m interested in those things. I wanted to make the record where survival was key, perseverance, but also acceptance for the ultimate ending which may be an untimely end.”
Growing up on what he describes as a cocktail of sci-fi, horror, cartoons, the Rolling Stones, Kiss, death metal and black metal, Forge said the idea of Ghost presented itself as “the ultimate mixture of cinema and horror and theater and rock ‘n’ roll.”
Despite being a big Andrew Lloyd Webber fan, Forge laughs at the moniker “The Andrew Lloyd Webber of rock” bestowed on him by one music critic. While he is flattered by the accolade, Forge said he would be presumptuous to believe he’s in the same class as the most successful musical composer of our time.
Still, Forge said he has deep respect for Webber and has certainly been inspired by the composer’s popular works.
successful musical composer of our time.
Still, Forge said he has deep respect for Webber and has certainly been inspired by the composer’s popular works.
″‘Cats’ is not only a bunch of really cute girls in cat suits. It has a story. It also has really good songs. It’s the same thing with ‘The Phantom of the Opera.’ It’s not only a gothic orgy in darkness. It’s also a greatest hits album. And that’s also what inspired me when Ghost came into my head,” Forge said. “Imagine going to the theater and seeing this rock ‘n’ roll band who you don’t know who they are. And they can be whatever you want them to be … That was the original idea, to have the feeling that you are stepping in another world for a few hours, the same way that I did when I was a kid and went to see ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ at the West End.”
In addition to theater, Forge is greatly influenced by horror. Rattling off “The Shining,” “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Jaws” as some of his favorite horror movies, Forge confesses that “satanic panic” films like “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Exorcist” and “The Omen” trilogy has had a big impact on Ghost.
“I grew up in the ’80s … The first film I remember seeing was “C.H.U.D.” (which stands for “Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers”),” Forge said. “From, there a lot of slashers ’80s stuff, ‘Friday the 13th,’ ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street,’ stuff like that. Then, a little later came Italian horror and more artful horror stuff.”
In addition to portraying masked satanic pope character Papa Emeritus (and his subsequent successors, Papa Emeritus II and Papa Emeritus III), Forge’s latest stage persona is Cardinal Copia.
“The funny thing about the different Papas and Cardinal is that he’s a stereotype that you met somewhere,” Forge said. “He’s usually someone’s dad and/or owner of the restaurant, kind of cool but also a little bit pathetic, clowny but still can be imposing because he’s hitting on your wife. He’s sort of a mixture between Don Corleone and Jacques Clouseau, which makes him funny.”
Onstage, Forge (who is actually a good-looking, non-threatening guy in real life) dons a prosthetic mask with black makeup to get into character.
“Metamorphosing is always a weird thing. There are days that it would have been more comfortable being in a ‘normal’ band where I can just wear the same attire that I wear offstage. But, on the other hand, once I go through that change, I’m someone else for a few hours. And being someone else for a few hours can be therapeutic. It can also be a curse just trying to find a way where you don’t stand within the character. And that, over the years, has been a little bit of a struggle. I think I come to terms with it now. Knock on wood. But it takes a little bit of self-discipline. And, in order to stay out of him, I have to stay away from the booze,” Forge said with a self-lacerating laugh.
In addition to Forge, his backing band made up of five “Nameless Ghouls” (three guitarists, bassist and drummer), two “Ghoulettes” (on keyboards) and Papal Nihil (on sax) all wear virtually identical, face-concealing masks.
As for Ghost releasing an “unmasked” album and following it up with an “unmasked” tour via Kiss, Forge said he would like to say, “No” but shrugs, “Who knows?
“I’d like to implant this in people’s heads that I really doubt that I would ever come to the point where I think of a complete unmasking, basically in KISS fashion, where nothing is hidden,” Forge said. “I definitely say there might be a point where there might not be prosthetics involved in the same extent as it is today for practical reasons. And when we get to that, there will be a very good explanation for that.”
I must confess to knowing next to nothing about Satan, and therefore very little about how one may come to practice Satanism. My most vivid image of all things Satanic is being terrified watching Robert DeNiro’s portrayal of Lucifer in Angel Heart (1987). And I suspect DeNiro’s depiction is consistent with many people’s view of Satan – an entirely evil being whose sole purpose is to tempt humans to commit horrific acts, and then revel in the sadistic pleasure of being able to torture their immortal souls for eternity.
Yet as I researched the concept of Satan further, I found that Satan may take on different meanings for different people. For some, Satan is something of a cautionary tale – a tragic figure whose own ambition caused him to be thrown out of Heaven. Others view Satan as more of a spiritual concept – the tendency for humans to be tempted by their own natural instincts such as lust, hatred or greed. And still others view Satan as almost a sad, comical and cartoonish figure – something to be laughed at rather than feared.
But for Tobias Forge, the lead singer and songwriter of the Grammy-nominated band Ghost, Satan came to represent something very different – a symbol of a rebellious libertarian-style individuality and non-conformity. As such, Forge sees his path to Satanism as a celebration rather than a condemnation of his humanity.
To understand Forge’s journey to Satanism, it is important to consider what appears to make him tick – a seemingly non-stop lust for imagination, exploration and creativity. And perhaps just as Satan was considered by many to be the highest of all angels in heaven, so Forge was initially in awe of Christianity as a spiritual vehicle.
Forge explained how his mother was instrumental in fostering his open-minded approach to the world. “My mom is very liberal. She has never been religious … spiritual but not religious. However she worked in art, and had a very avid interest in art and culture. So she presented church to me as more of an archeological or more museum-like institution … more from a historic perspective,” Forge told me. “She took me to Paris for example. And in addition to going to the Louvre and seeing art, we definitely went to Notre Dame and places like that because it was part of the art experience. And I was always very in awe of … all of those churches … So from my mom’s side that whole thing was very interesting and enthralling and very enticing.”
“Religion was more of a fictional art explosion.”
One church in particular that inspired awe in Forge was the Linkoping Domkyrka. “Even in my hometown of Linkoping where I grew up … the Church we had was very lavish – very boasty. So it ticked most of the boxes of big imposing Christianity. And I love being there if I’m in town … because it’s just this haunting place,” Forge explained. “The walls are just whispering there – literally because people engraved things in the stone. It goes back to the 1700’s when kids were in there for Bible school and you see someone engraving his name and it says something like ‘June 3rd 1772.’
“Seeing that when you were a kid was like, ‘Wow a message from ancient days.’”
Forge’s cultural experience included film and books that often offered an alternative and darker perspective on spirituality. “Not only did we read a lot at home, we also watched a lot of films. So I had already seen a lot of films that were about the crucifixion and the temptation of Christ, like Bible history and the Ten Commandments – stuff like that,” Forge recalled. “And I started watching horror films and you obviously have the Devil very present – The Exorcist, The Omen – all these dark powers … And religion – and more specifically because I grew up in a Christian country, Christianity – was of interest.
“Because it was just a fantastic story and it was ancient and it was filled with a lot of drama.”
More, Forge had access to music – particularly rock music – at an early age. Forge credits his brother with his music education. “My brother gave me my first records when I was about three or four years old, because he bought a lot of records. And he was very nice because he gave me the records he thought I’d like more. My first records were Kiss’s Love Gun, Twisted Sister’s Stay Hungry, and Motley Crue’s Shout at the Devil. That had immense influence on me,” he described. “When I was 8 years old I was already very interested in music. I already had my own records. I already had my own guitar. I already played guitar. I was already into many of the things that to this day I’m still deeply influenced by… a lot of 60’s music – the Doors, the Kinks, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones … You can go to a galaxy far, far away. And you can go into the Pink Floyd world and you can travel to Hyde Park in 1969 and watch the Rolling Stones pay tribute to Brian Jones.
“And it was a bigger, tasteful, stronger world that was so far away from the world that I lived in.”
And so it was that at an early age Forge viewed the world as one giant place to celebrate his free spirit – to explore, imagine and create. And he saw religion as a potent vehicle – along with various art forms – of nurturing his curiosity. But things changed for Forge when he encountered people whose practice of Christianity seemed geared more towards smothering rather than facilitating his spirit.
“I regarded certain people in my life … and school as handicapping … limiting. Throughout my childhood there were examples of the Christian people that I met – people who were in one form or another were devoted to any church or congregation. They were more often than not – not very nice people. They were actually quite mean and condescending,” Forge explained. “Whereas I found my stereo and my VCR and my mom and the comfort of our home was this great universe of imagination where you can tap into whatever.”
“That made me look for other religious elements.”
Forge described his encounter with a teacher whose approach to Christianity felt more like servitude rather than support. “My first teacher … she was extremely strict, mean and deeply religious. I don’t think she followed the school curriculum – how many religious hours we were supposed to have … I remember reading a lot of Bible history. She was definitely a very authoritative woman. And she liked discipline. And she didn’t like rebellious cursing kids,” he explained. “I was pretty foul mouthed. I was rebellious … and I questioned things. So I think we collided at first. She didn’t like me and I did not like her. And that pretty much screwed up my whole school, because I lost interest. Not in learning – but in going to school. I didn’t like the idea of teachers … and she was against me and everything that I stood for. I was looking for freedom … and she was against that.
“And she definitely became the symbol for Christianity and not being very nice.”
Unfortunately, Forge had a similar experience with his stepmother, who Forge feels resented him as interfering her relationship with his father. “When they got together, he had this newborn kid. I was in the way of course. And she was deeply in love with my dad. And when you’re in love with someone you want to get on with the rest of your life together as soon as possible – no obstacles. And I was an obstacle,” he described. “She was also a symbol of the not-so-nice Christian society. In one way they were proclaiming to be advocates for being nice, and kindness and understanding, whereas I saw nothing of that.”
“And that started an interest in looking for the dark side.”
Soon, Forge started exploring Satanism as a form of spiritual rebellion against what he considered the oppressive behavior of some of the Christian people in his life. As Forge tells it, he was in many ways primed for this path not only by being open-minded and imaginative in general, but also specifically by the music that he listened to throughout his life.
“As a young teen, Satan, and the idea of some sort of world that you could be in touch with that could empower you was very much the symbol for freedom … “I guess more so than I had already been introduced to by Motley Crue and Gene Simmons and Darth Vader,” he said. “When adolescence was knocking, there are another set of emotions that come into play. And the idea of the Devil and the idea of dark powers from beyond that continue in any way or form is a very interesting thought for a twelve year old who wants to lose his virginity, and who would like to defend himself against the bigger kids and who is also a big worshipper of rock music. And it couldn’t have been more of a fitting marriage. Everything sort of coincided.
Forge’s interest in Satanism coincided with a cultural trend towards more extreme forms of metal – particularly black metal in which the themes were more overtly Satanic. “I think in 99.9% of every so-called Satanist in the last 50 years, you would find that the vast majority of them have been introduced to the Devil via music. And it usually happens at a certain age as well. And I would say that comes from bedazzlement,” Forge said. “And it was also the early 90’s – so that was the rise of the death metal and black metal movement in Europe and in the world I guess. Especially in Sweden and Norway, it was a big thing. And it was just right up my alley. And it became such a powerful way of expressing myself, and how to not only deviate and differentiate myself from the norm and normal people, but just like hand in glove with my way of seeing the world.”
As time went on, Forge felt that his issues were more with organized religion, which he appears to shun, as compared to spirituality, which he embraces. “Most people that I know that have been in a similar mindset. It’s definitely grounded in the will to expand and not implode. And I think most of us – people like myself – are leery of linear, organized religions because it’s limiting,” He described. “Those people that tried to tell me the order of the world from a religious point of view – they tried to steer me away from believing. They tried to steer me away from feeling those feelings that I want or should have – feelings that I got through Dee Snider – “I Wanna Rock,” “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” Or “Shout At The Devil” – Motley Crue. They tried to steer me away from that – they didn’t want me to believe in anything other than what they said. It goes against imagination. You’re not supposed to have imagination.
“You’re supposed to read up on someone else’s imagination.”
Forge makes it clear that he does not dismiss religion outright – and in fact still struggles with understanding many of the religious concepts he learned as a child. “I am not against the idea of believing. I am not an atheist … The whole institution of Christianity being based on that book, being based on the premise that he was conceived out of nowhere – it’s kind of hard to believe,” Forge described. “But on the other hand, I do believe in the idea of a historic person named Jesus that was a kind of chill dude who was just telling people to chill and be nice to each other. And he got penalized for that. So I’m not dismissing the whole thing as bullsh*t. But I definitely believe that tormenting other people because of the Bible and for that to be – for lack of a better word, Gospel.
“I think that is not very nice.”
For now, Forge is content exploring much of his Satanic spirituality through his work with Ghost – often taking on confrontational stage personas as “Papa Emeritus” and “Cardinal Copia.” These challenging themes are so present in Ghost’s music and live show that the band has been labeled “occult rock.” As Ghost has just released its fourth full length studio album Prequelle and is in the midst of a world tour, Forge is aware of how he is now walking in the footsteps of the bands that had so deeply influenced him.
“It’s funny how the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree. I’ve gone full circle being in a shock rock band nowadays, running around shouting at the devil and telling people to stay hungry and shooting love guns.”
