Credit: Mikael Eriksson
It’s not uncommon for a band’s lead singer to get all the attention while fans ignore the rest of the members, but Ghost actively encourages that attitude, with Tobias Forge as the focal point, and the rest of the band as simply Nameless Ghouls. Except Forge admits that some of those Ghouls didn’t much like being Nameless.
Speaking to the podcast The Cassius Morris Show, Forge says he doesn’t think the fans care about the rest of the people in Ghost, and draws a parallel to Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band.
“I dare say that all the hundreds of thousands of people that go to see Bruce Springsteen, even though his band is not anonymous, I think that if he [appears] on the poster [by] himself, that’s 100% fine,” says Forge. “If someone in the E Street Band is missing, I don’t think people notice, unless it’s, like, Steven [Van] Zandt…I think it’s the same thing for us.”
However, Forge allows that the Nameless Ghouls’ anonymity has caused trouble.
“Most people — myself included — put a guitar on…partially because you wanted to be seen,” he explains. “People have a tendency to feel uncomfortable with the idea of not getting recognition. People want to be seen, and that is sometimes a problem.”
However, he says some Ghouls love their Nameless status.
“Some people I’ve had in the band…are perfectly fine with that,” Forge claims. “They love the idea of being able to go up on a stage, play as if you were a big rock star, and then be able to hang that on a coat hanger, and then afterwards, you don’t have to deal with the idea of being recognized.”
Ghost’s current North American tour wraps October 26 in Glens Falls, New York.
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