TOBIAS FORGE: 'Maybe A Lot Of People Know About GHOST, But People In General Do Not Know Who I Am'

In a new interview with Aziz Bentot of Dealer 2 Metal, GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge, who was publicly unmasked in 2017 when former bandmembers sued him, forcing him to reveal his identity, talked about the mixed emotions he felt about having his anonymity taken away. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I came to, at a certain point, even though there was, obviously, a literal process that sort of forced me to put my name on to my work, which is itself is kind of not very strange, I felt for a long time that it kind of defeats the purpose. It’s a paradox working actively towards making your band bigger and more popular whilst remaining less known. So for a long time it really felt like this paradoxical, like, ‘What are we doing? Why are we doing this?’ I mean, maybe not so much now, but in the past. Obviously, one of the greatest examples here in France is DAFT PUNK. But people know who they are. Everybody knows who they are. If you’re interested in DAFT PUNK, you know who they are. And another band that people have often referred to when they were talking about us was THE RESIDENTS… But only fucking record collectors listen to THE RESIDENTS. I have their records. I like THE RESIDENTS, but people in general don’t know what the fuck they are. So that’s easy. It’s easy to remain anonymous if you’re like this really small niche band. And I’m sure there are a lot of RESIDENTS fans who know exactly who they are, because that’s what fans do. So I sort of gave that up.”

Forge continued: “I think that a lot of fans and a lot of people around me were way more upset or more anxious about those things remaining or how to maintain that than I was, because I felt… I never felt really anonymous before, because in a micro format, I was, to a certain degree, known within a really, really, really niche little group of people who liked old-school death metal, who knew who I was. And that group stays together. They all talk. So as soon as GHOST happened, all of them knew who was in GHOST. And so I never felt as, ‘Oh, before the spring of 2017, I was completely unknown. And then I became a really known person.’ I’m not a known person. Maybe a lot of people know about GHOST, but people in general do not know who I am.”

Back in April 2017, Forge was sued by four ex-members of GHOST who accused Tobias of cheating them out of their rightful share of the profits from the band’s album releases and world tours.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the district court of Linköping, Sweden, where GHOST was originally based, claimed that Forge solely controlled the band’s business affairs without input from anyone else in the group. The four musicians furthermore stated that a partnership agreement existed between them and Forge which put Tobias in charge of carrying out the company’s management duties.

In a statement explaining the lawsuit, the musicians officially revealed their identities as Simon Söderberg (Alpha; member of GHOST from 2010 until 2016),Mauro Rubino (Air; member of GHOST from 2011 until 2016),Henrik Palm (Eather; member of GHOST from 2015 until 2016) and Martin Hjertstedt (Earth; member of GHOST from 2014 until 2016).

In June 2017, Forge filed an official response to the lawsuit, claiming that “no legal partnership” ever existed between him and the four musicians regarding the activities of GHOST and explaining that “none of the plaintiffs were present at the time of the” group’s formation and that their sole task was to “perform” and “execute” the musical works and the image that Forge had created, produced and decided, all according to his instructions. For their efforts, he said, the musicians were paid a fixed salary.

At the end of August 2017, the four ex-GHOST members presented an answer of their own, dismissing Forge‘s claim that GHOST is a solo project as “not [being] in accordance with the truth.”

The four ex-members, known previously only as Nameless Ghouls, claimed that between the years of 2010 and 2016, Forge never told them that he viewed GHOST as a one-man business and solo project. “To the contrary, Tobias Forge has always emphasized that it was a collaboration that everyone was involved in and would share in the profit of once the business became profitable,” they wrote. “The first time Tobias Forge, through the band’s management, mentioned that he saw them as hired musicians rather than full-fledged members of GHOST was in the context of a contract proposal presented in April 2016.” This proposal was later rejected.

The trial in Linköping District Court lasted for six days, and on October 17, 2018, a 108-page decision was released dismissing the case. The four former GHOST members were also ordered to pay Forge‘s legal fees, which at the time were said to amount to approximately $146,000.

GHOST‘s new album, “Skeletá”, arrived on April 25 via Loma Vista Recordings. The LP’s first single, “Satanized”, was made available in early March.

The “Satanized” music video introduced the new character who is fronting GHOST for its 2025 touring cycle: Papa V Perpetua.

Forge performed as a “new” Papa Emeritus on each of the band’s first three LPs, with each version of Papa replacing the one that came before it. Papa Emeritus III was retired in favor of Cardinal Copia before the release of 2018’s “Prequelle”. In March 2020, at final show of GHOST‘s “Prequelle” tour in Mexico City, Mexico, the band officially introduced Papa Emeritus IV, the character who fronted the act for its “Impera” (2022) album phase.

The European leg of GHOST‘s 2025 world tour kicked off on April 15 in Manchester, United Kingdom and will conclude on May 24 in Oslo, Norway. The North American leg of GHOST‘s 2025 tour will launch on July 9 in Baltimore, Maryland and wrap up on August 16 in Houston, Texas.