Written by Ghost’s mask-wearing frontman and mastermind Tobias Forge says it was a “relief” when he was outed as the band’s leader in 2017.
In a new interview with Q With Tom Power, the vocalist and multi-instrumentalist says that he was happy to no longer have to keep up the effort of concealing his identity after he was outed as the band’s founder in a 2017 lawsuit. He explains that Ghost, who had won the Grammy Award For Best Metal Performance the year before and were well on their way to arena success, were not at a point where him being unveiled would cost them any momentum.
“The idea of trying to maintain anonymity, and going to lengths to do so, from that angle, it was a relief,” Forge remembers. “Because then, all of a sudden, it was like, fuck that then! Even at the time, 10 years ago now, Ghost, as a depiction of what the band was like artistically, was gonna be bigger than I am. I didn’t worry. Of course, there might be a person here or there, where as soon as they see the person behind the band is not a 6ft 3in Viking with a big beard, they may not find that enough and decide to walk. I can live with that.”
The host then points out that, after the revelation of Forge’s identity, the band would play the biggest shows of their lives at that point. “I don’t know if that just coincided with us making, I don’t want to say better records, but bigger records,” Forge replies, referring to 2015’s Meliora and 2018’s Prequelle. “We had more success.”
He adds that he doesn’t think he’s “interesting” enough to draw attention away from Ghost’s satirical presentation as a subversive devil church.
“I knew, as long as I don’t put my hand up every opportunity I have to do media, I will never be able to eclipse what Ghost is professionally,” he says. “I’m not interesting enough! I’m not comparable to Ghost, what that is. When I came to terms with that, I was like, ‘Great! I feel so much more comfortable doing interviews this way. I can be the commentator on the side. I can speak about the project as if I were a writer or the director or an actor.’”
Forge was unveiled as the man behind Ghost when four of his former bandmates, or ‘Ghouls’ – Simon Soderberg, Mauro Rubino, Henrik Palm and Martin Hjertstedt – sued him for allegedly “cheating” them out of royalties and trying to turn the band into a solo project. The suit was dismissed in October 2018, by which point Forge had continued the band with a new lineup.
Ghost released their latest album, Skeletá, in 2025 and are currently touring North America as part of their Skeletour world tour. The run of shows continues on Saturday (February 7) at BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
