New Ghost Song ‘Griftwood’ Is About ‘Awful Person’ Mike Pence
Ghost's new album, Impera, arrives on March 11. In a new interview with Kerrang!, mastermind Tobias Forge revealed the inspiration for some of the record's tracks. "Griftwood," is about former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, whom Forge called an "awful person," amid other harsh criticisms.
Impera, Ghost's fifth full-length, is centered around a central theme of the rise and inevitable fall of empires, not only as observed through history, but as we're witnessing in the present as well.
"We live in a time right now, where we believe that history is a thing of the past, and everything that we live through here and going forward is eternal. Which is not true," said Forge. "Maybe we have the foundation of a society that could remain for some time and function. But unfortunately, if you look through history, there's a natural cycle where a society is built up, and then it's sort of perfected, perfected, perfected. And then it usually falls apart."
As for the present, Forge found himself shocked at events that have transpired.
The musician lamented, "The past couple of years, we've been regressing so hard. A lot of the things that almost felt like fiction, like a lot of our lyrical content that seemed like we were singing about things that happened in the past and way in the distance, now are, like, 'Wow, this is all over the place!' People are really working hard to destroy progress and ultimately create a time machine that will set us back hundreds of years in terms of mental evolution."
Turning his attention toward "Griftwood," which appears tenth on the 12-track Impera, Forge confirmed the song was mostly aimed at Pence, who served as Vice President under the Trump administration.
"That song’s about him and anyone like him who's willing to soil everything they've worked for. They definitely qualify for a front-row ticket to Hell. Which is so ironic, because that's what they believe in. [People like that] completely demean themselves, and just eat shit out of someone's ass in order to achieve whatever they're trying to achieve," Forge assessed.
"Again, he stands as a symbol for people of all times, where the end game is wrapped with some sort of religious [thing]. He's known as this sort of Bible thumper, believing that he has strong faith, and he's just this awful, awful person in any way," the Ghost leader added.
Calling out the hypocrisy of the former VP, Forge continued, "He tries to tell the world that he serves God, that he's part of the good side. Whereas at the end of the day, the only thing he wants is power. But it doesn't have to necessarily be all about him. It's about people like him: a lot of politicians, lot of preachers, a lot of clergymen throughout the history of time."
Forge offered insight on other new songs as well and confirmed that "Respite in the Spital Fields" deals with the lingering fear once the attacks from the notorious London serial killer known as 'Jack the Ripper' quieted and "Twenties" is what Forge described as a "Slayer meets some sort of Missy Elliott thing."
Impera drops March 11 and pre-orders can be placed here. Catch Ghost on their co-headlining tour with Volbeat and special guest Twin Temple, which is underway now, at these dates.