Quotes from Tobias Forge

The reason for a lot of bands not making it is because they don't really understand that your job is sort of divided into two different things. It's one thing creating it... It's like being an architect but also a construction worker.

I don't want to do Ghost as a normal, unmasked band standing around in, like, denim jackets. That was never the plan, regardless of whether people knew who I was or what size shoe I wear.

You don't accidentally turn into a big band. Not even Nirvana accidentally turned into a big band. They toured - they wanted to become a big band. They didn't necessarily want to become that big of a band, but they still wanted to make a really good record and wanted to come out and tour.

I always hate starting tours, especially when it coincides with an album coming out.

Even in my hometown of Linkoping where I grew up... the church we had was very lavish - very boasty. So it ticked most of the boxes of big, imposing Christianity. And I love being there if I'm in town... because it's just this haunting place.

I wasn't letting people in with the music writing process, and for a long time, I thought I was hard to work with.

The problem with religious doctrine, as with politics, because of its ability to give people authority, it has a tendency to attract people that want authority for all the wrong reasons, and that is what it has done across all time.

I grew up in Sweden. It's a profoundly Americanized country. We have a strong tradition of Americana and always had non-dubbed American television, and embracing American culture a lot, so I always knew that I wanted to go to America.

Even when I was a kid, I always sort of identified myself with Keith Richards and Slash more than the singers of the bands.

As a young teen, Satan and the idea of some sort of world that you could be in touch with that could empower you was very much the symbol for freedom.

Public trials are very unsupervised and extremely swift and speak to the most primordial parts of us.

I think you need to see parts one, two, and three of 'The Omen.' And then just skip the ending of number three - it's so bad it makes me want to put my foot through the TV.

If we see someone, an artist who just does magnificent art, and especially if they're already doing Ghost-related art, we just reach out and start collaborating. But when it comes to the record sleeves and the tour posters, I'm usually quite particular.

If you're going to a show that we're providing support for, or a large festival, you're obviously going to see a condensed version. We have to shave off some fat from the show, so we have to stick to the so-called 'bangers.'

I was told before that one of the hardest jumps to do, painlessly, is the one from playing clubs into playing arenas. I am completely aware of that now.

There are people who just love to destroy other people. It saddens me to admit that, I think, at whatever state of human civilisation we arrive at, the will to destroy other people is something that is innate in some people.

Even when I wrote death metal songs for a death metal record, I was always trying to do my best to make it as catchy as possible because that's how I like music.

I've been in lots of situations in my life where I've managed to turn pain into growing pains.

I sort of found King Diamond in second grade, but I didn't become a devoted Satanist until a few years later, but that was very much part of my adolescence as well.

At the end of the day, one of the biggest misconceptions of Ghost is that it's just about the devil. It's always been about mankind and living.

My first records were KISS's 'Love Gun,' Twisted Sister's 'Stay Hungry,' and Motley Crue's 'Shout at the Devil.' That had immense influence on me.

It's always ideal if the production that you're taking out on tour is the one that you spent two weeks rehearsing with, and you just do the same show thirty nights in a row.

My mom is very liberal. She has never been religious... spiritual but not religious.

So many people have opinions based not on fact but spite.