Tobias Forge Explains Punk’s Influence on Ghost
Ghost are just one of those bands that are hard to put into a musical category, especially because they have a wide array of influences. Leader Tobias Forge has elaborated on how punk artists had an impact of Ghost's sound.
"If you get the best of punk rock 1977 to 1980, a lot of those 'hits' are the sort of music that I grew up listening to with my brother," Forge told 95.5. KLOS's Matt Pinfield. "He would also rave about how cool The Damned were at the time, and then he would put on the Eurythmics and then he would put on a Rainbow record. And that definitely rubbed off on me. I guess everything is sort of within the rock genre — just rock and pop."
Two bands Forge cited as inspiring the melodic side of Ghost were The Dickies and Bad Religion — the latter of which specifically influenced his singing.
"I think that a lot of the punk elements of my writing and my background might not be in super focus when I speak about music because it's not that apparent," he continued. "But I think a lot of the humorous element of writing, if that makes sense, comes from the punkish attitude. And also my way of singing that is, obviously, debated if it's metal or not. No, it's punk. I sing like a lot of punk bands."
Check out the full interview below.
Ghost's latest release is the song "Hunter's Moon," which came out in September and appears on the soundtrack for Halloween Kills. Forge also just recently revealed the concept behind Ghost's next album — "the rise and ultimately the unescapable fails and falls of empires," he said.