GHOST's TOBIAS FORGE: 'I'm A Band Dictator'

GHOST leader Tobias Forge has admitted in a new interview that he likes to rule his group with total power. "I'm a band dictator," he told Ultimate Guitar. "I wasn't letting people in with the music writing process, and for a long time, I thought I was hard to work with. But I noticed when I worked with [Swedish producer] Klas Åhlund [on 2015's 'Meliora' album] and others later than that that I can work with people perfectly fine just as long as I get to decide if I wanna work with someone or not. But what usually happens in a band is people impose their ideas and try to crowbar themselves into the process and that's not a good idea. When you have a fruitful relationship with someone, and you've both chosen to work together, then it can spawn really good things.

Forge also confirmed that he has begun composing material for a new GHOST release, which he hopes to record in 2020. "I bulk up a lot of ideas — little segments and some stuff are real songs from start to finish and some are just parts and this is the verse and this is the chorus," he said. "Then by the time we're done touring, that's when I like to go with the producer and start going through it all and make sure we have an album's worth of material… That's the thing that takes time. The actual tracking of the record might be two months, maybe, but the writing and the rewriting and the pondering, that's what takes two to three months. That's when you write, write, write, write, rewrite, rewrite, kill that song, re-record it again in a different tempo. Change that. Take the chorus from that song and move it over there."

According to Forge, GHOST has "never been a jamming band. We've never written anything with a band ever," he said. "So that's instead of going with a band somewhere and jam and rehearse. You're in a smaller studio somewhere, and once you're done with the writing, you move into the bigger studio and start tracking and re-recording everything. As far as plans go, up until the last note of the vocals are set, I'm pretty much changing all the time."

Four former members of GHOST sued Forge in April 2017, accusing the singer of cheating them out of their rightful share of the profits from the band's album releases and world tours. The case was dismissed last month, with the four musicians — who have reportedly spent around $320,000 in legal fees — ordered to pay Forge's legal costs as well. They have since announced plans to appeal the ruling.

GHOST recently kicked off a massive North American fall tour, which will wrap on December 15 in Brooklyn, New York.

GHOST's latest album, "Prequelle", debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and features the chart-topping rock single "Rats".