GHOST's TOBIAS FORGE On Upcoming Arena Shows: 'Everything Needs To Be Done Ten Times Bigger'

105.7 The Point's Donny Fandango recently conducted an interview with GHOST leader Tobias Forge. You can listen to the chat below.

Speaking about how GHOST's current theater tour will compare to the band's upcoming performances at arenas, Forge said: "It's two different things. When you go into a theater, you're basically presenting everything through a proscenium, whereas if you go into an arena, you need to adapt your show so that it can be seen from three different angles in a completely different way than you do through a proscenium in a theater. And when you go into a theater, you also have to consider that all people here in town… What have they seen here lately? Oh, it's MUSE, it's that, it's this… You need to put yourself on a level, production-wise, that is not even possible in a theater. But it would look ridiculous if you didn't do it in an arena. So there's a lot of things that you need to step up, and everything needs to be done ten times bigger."

Forge also discussed GHOST's expanded onstage lineup, which consists of at least eight musicians, not including a guest appearance from Papa Nihil, the aged "original" Papa Emeritus.

"It's way more organic now," he said. "[Having backup singers] is, I think, the major difference. If anyone saw us in the past and sees us now, it's way more of an organic band, which is a big step up for me. And that was on my to-do list for many years. Having, all of a sudden, eight people in the band is definitely a stretch — a lot of people."

GHOST recently announced its very first arena dates which will take place at the Forum in Inglewood, California on November 16 and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on December 15. The band unveiled the dates on April 30 with a special press conference helmed by Papa Nihil and Sister Imperator at Irving Plaza in New York City.

GHOST played the first official show of the "Rats! On The Road" U.S. tour on May 5 at Riverside Municipal Auditorium in Riverside, California. In addition to the previously released new single "Rats", which opened the concert, GHOST played four more songs from its upcoming "Prequelle" album, including "Faith", "Dance Macabre", "Miasma" and "Pro Memoria". "Miasma" featured a saxophone solo from Papa Nihil.

The band broke its show up into two sets, with the first featuring 12 songs and the second consisting of 11 numbers. The group spread out the new material across both sets, interspersed with fan favorites and hits like "Cirice", "From The Pinnacle To The Pit", "He Is", "If You Have Ghosts" and show closer "Square Hammer".

"Prequelle" will be released on June 1 via Loma Vista Recordings. The record was tracked last year at Artery studios in Stockholm with producer Tom Dalgety (OPETH, ROYAL BLOOD) and mixed in January at Westlake Studios in West Hollywood, California with Andy Wallace (NIRVANA, SLAYER).