Tobias Forge revealed what he has to do with Ghost on tour to avoid going bankrupt in a new Loudwire Nights interview. He also discussed Ghost’s tour production and how he feels about Cardinal Copia as time has gone on. Forge reacted to Metallica’s alleged ripoff a few days ago.
“I’ve grown to like him way more. What can I tell about the production? Well, it’s the production that most Americans have not seen yet because the last tour that we did was seen in theaters only or theaters mainly, and then a handful of arena shows, whereas on this tour – it’s 100% arenas.
While we’re doing one festival, that’s true, so it’s not 100%, but mainly arenas, which allows for a consistency that we haven’t been able to rely on before. On this tour, we’re consistently the same size. There might be a little bit of a trim, like on height, there might be a height issue depending a little bit on the hall or the arena, but other than that, it’s very much the same and I prefer that repetitive nature because that means you can do the same show and I’ve always had the intention to do…
You know, I don’t want to be segregating fans by the way that the laws of rock ‘n’ roll sometimes do unless you’re a big band. Most bands that are within the budget, they tend to look at the bottom line and that means that they end up choosing the markets for it to do the big show, and that is completely natural.
It’s not out of spite that they do that, it’s because that’s a necessity in order to not go bankrupt, and I’ve been forced to do the same thing, but my goal has always been that if I come up with a show and a presentation, I want that to be the same thing everywhere regardless if you were in a small town Ohio or if you’re in LA or if you’re in Anchorage or wherever you come to see the show.”
Tobias Forge recently revealed what Gene Simmons did to Ghost. He also discussed plans for the next Ghost album, the followup to 2018’s Prequelle.
“I’d say that there was a moment just about around release of Prequelle [in early June 2018] – where on one of the promo trips, it sort of fell in place to what I wanted to do with the next album. Usually, there are a few things that go in tandem for me to sort of solidify an idea in my head and it doesn’t necessarily have to do with music. It’s more like a, ‘Oh, this is a title of the record,’ or, ‘This is a feel of the record’ and how that plays into what I want to do as a stage presentation.
“I’d say that one of the promo trips just around the release of Prequelle, a little over a year ago, that’s when I sort of had that, ‘Aha, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.’ So, for a year, little over a year now, I’ve been fine-tuning that, and that is definitely taken shape and we’re sticking with that script, going into making the record at the beginning of next year.
“Around the time when you’re finished with one record, that’s definitely where ideas for the next one start taking shape, but on the other hand, I also have, like, a long list of things that I want to achieve with Ghost, which are anything from song ideas to props, to gags, to videos, to all these kinds of things that I’ve had for now 10 years. So, every year, every cycle, I guess, you do a little bit more. It’s a combination of new things that I came up with a half year ago, but combined with something I came up with nine years ago.”
Ultimate-Guitar transcribed his remarks.
