GHOST: 'We Want People To Come Out Of Our Shows With A Big Smile On Their Face'

In a brand new interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, one of the Nameless Ghouls from Swedish occult rockers GHOST was asked about the band's growing acceptance in America despite the group's "Satanic reputation." He said: "I think that, with the test of time, we were able to embroider a somewhat multifaceted palette a little in order for people to sort of get the fact that we're not necessarily as black and white as people might have thought of us a few years ago. Back then, it was never really an issue of breaking through in America from a commercial point of view. Because, to begin with, it was never on the agenda at all. Of course we wanted to tour America, but it was never on the agenda to be part of any establishment or any part of radio culture, let alone be given the opportunity to be nominated for Grammys and stuff like that. I think that it might be also a question of the cultural climate, the theological climate. I know some people that work in certain places where they might have shunned away from us in the past, they say right out, 'Well, first of all, we thought you were a Cookie Monster band, and then we thought you were all Satanic, but then I noticed that you're theater! So that's fun, that's entertainment!' You know, call it what you will."

He continued: "It doesn't necessarily have to be anything offensive, because you can just see it as theater. And I think that that's probably the one thing that might set us apart a little from a lot of the more classical, you know, historical bands that had a Satanic album or a Satanic image, where it was basically a person in that band telling the world to do this or that. Whereas we've tried to stay away from saying outrageous things. We don't want people to fucking commit suicide! We don't want people to do anything stupid or do anything offensive to anyone. We're telling people to be nice. We're telling people to be happy. We want people to come out of our shows with a big smile on their face. Maybe it took a few years of touring and maybe a little bit of a reputation for people to understand that. Whereas a lot of the other bands from what was originally our genre are a little bit more leaning towards making people — you know, they have a little bit more harmful sort of approach to their shows. But they're mostly the sort of band that we're lumped together with, I guess, from an outsider point of view — the sort of bands that are way, way, way, way more metal and have a predominantly male crowd that likes stomping each other on the toes and knock each other's faces out and smear themselves in blood, just headbang and stagedive. Whereas our crowd is way more diverse and way more colorful, in a way, both in ages and [liking] different genres, coming from different places in both age and life and on the map. It's a completely different vibe at our show than you'd expect from a black metal band show."

GHOST is known for its eccentric performances and is composed of six members easily recognized for their satanic attires. Five men who call themselves as Nameless Ghouls play the instruments while the lead vocalist is known as Papa Emeritus. The Nameless Ghouls who are wearing identical devil masks and costumes represent the five instrumentalities or elements (fire, water, air, earth and aether or quintessence) while their leader Papa Emeritus represents the group's anti-pope symbol.

GHOST's new EP, "Popestar", sold 21,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The effort landed at position No. 1 on both Billboard's Top Rock Albums and Hard Rock Albums charts.

"Popestar" was released on September 16. The effort includes covers of songs from bands like ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN and EURYTHMICS along with "Square Hammer".

"Popestar" was helmed by English producer Tom Dalgety, who has previously worked with ROYAL BLOOD and KILLING JOKE, among others.

GHOST kicked off the "Popestar" U.S. tour on September 16, with dates scheduled through November 12 in Brooklyn, New York.