GHOST's TOBIAS FORGE Explains Why He Likes Songwriting Collaborations

In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge discussed his songwriting process. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I usually write bits and pieces and snippets. It varies a little. Nowadays, because we spend so much time on tour, when there's time off, what I usually do is I get together with friends of mine. It's usually different ones — basically other songwriters. Because I like going into an environment, a situation where I need to — I guess the word is 'impress.' I wanna come in and just, like, 'Here's a song idea I have. And this is another song. Would you like to work on one of these? Which one do you feel most excited about? Which one moves you the most?' And more often [than not], that person says, 'I like that one. That sounds really cool. I think that could be this or that.' And then you just start sort of putting it together, make a demo. And throughout the last at least five years — from 'Meliora' [on], [so for the past] six [or] seven years; something like that — that has been sort of the process, where basically you make an embryo, but then you sort of realize it with someone. And the way I do it with various people that aren't necessarily… They are in other bands, I guess, or they have other projects and stuff. But that way it's not on your plate to make a record together; it's on your plate to make the best out of this song. So you always get the best out of people, basically. So you feel super excited. And if I do that during an album cycle when people don't expect me to do anything, I just feel so much better about it. That's how a lot of the tracks on our last three albums have come out. I just stay somewhere and write a song with someone. Then you carry that with you for a year, not showing it to anyone — except for my wife and my kids and a best friend or something. But you sit on it. That was the same thing with [the new GHOST single] 'Hunter's Moon'. Obviously, we knew that it was gonna transform into something, but that was also not peddled around a whole lot before. Which, I like that process — it's fun.

"Nowadays, most bands don't… What we used to do — I and everybody else that was in bands — what you used to do back in the day was you wrote the song at home, and then you came into a room with all live gear that was really loud and then you had to teach everyone how to play the track," he continued. "And you were always up against their temperament and their attention span. So you had to be very, very, very meticulous and, like, 'This is how the bass line goes' and 'This is how the guitar plays' and 'No, no, no. Don't play that' and' Please, drummer, please stop fucking playing.' And then at the end of the night, you're so deaf because of the exhaustion of teaching a group of people a song, whereas nowadays you go into a studio where you have a recording setup. And usually the first time you hear the song, it sounds pretty fucking full — it sounds pretty fucking rad."

Released last week, "Hunter's Moon" is featured in the latest blockbuster installment of the legendary film franchise "Halloween Kills". The "Halloween Kills" soundtrack is set to arrive October 15 via Sacred Bones, with the film hitting theaters (and Peacock) the same day as well.

Produced by Klas Åhlund and mixed by Andy Wallace, GHOST's "Hunter's Moon" will play as the "Halloween Kills" end credits roll, and will be released January 21, 2022 as a collectible seven-inch single by Loma Vista Recordings. "Hunter's Moon" can be streamed, purchased, and/or pre-ordered in its vinyl incarnation. The retail version of the seven-inch will feature the special B-side "Halloween Kills (Main Title)", performed, produced and engineered by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies.

"Hunter's Moon" features OPETH's Fredrik Åkesson on guitar and THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES founder Martin Hederos on the piano. Producer Max Grahn and "A Ghoul Writer" are listed as the song's composers and lyricists.

The official music video for the infectious first new track from GHOST since 2019's "Seven Inches Of Satanic Panic" was directed by Amanda Demme.

Last month, GHOST announced a 26-date co-headlining U.S. arena tour with VOLBEAT and special guests TWIN TEMPLE, coming to cities including Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix.

In March 2020, at final show of GHOST's "Prequelle" tour in Mexico City, Mexico, the band officially introduced Papa Emeritus IV, the new character who will front the act for its next LP phase.

Forge performed as a "new" Papa Emeritus on each of the band's first three LPs, with each version of Papa replacing the one that came before it. Papa Emeritus III was retired in favor of Cardinal Copia before the release of 2018's "Prequelle".