Ghost Frontman Papa Emeritus to Unmask Himself on Swedish Radio
Since forming nearly a decade ago, the identities of the members in Swedish metal band Ghost were, for the majority of that time, shrouded in mystery. Now, frontman Papa Emeritus is scheduled to unmask himself for all the world to, er...hear? He'll be doing it on the Swedish radio program Sommar i P1 on the country's P1 national radio channel.
Sommar i P1 - or, Summer on P1 - has been broadcast every summer since 1959. The show has hosts from all walks of life, whether it be politicians, film directors, musicians, artists, poets or critics. Each presentation lasts 88 minutes and features the host talking about whatever topic they like and spinning the music of their choosing.
"I'll talk about my background and how it never really gets out as planned," Emeritus says of the August 17 appearance, according to an announcement by the station.
It's been long and open secret that Tobias Forge is indeed Papa Emeritus, which came into the spotlight officially when a group of Nameless Ghouls, the masked musicians who back the frontman during live performances, filed a lawsuit earlier this year seeking unpaid revenue. Forge responded to the suit by saying the outfit was more of a solo project than a band.
“Luckily for me, since I’ve written most of everything, of the patterns, I can teach anyone coming in, ‘This is how the bass line goes, and this is how the guitar riff goes, and this is how the keyboard goes and this is how the drums go.’ So it’s not very hard for me to make my stamp rub off on anyone coming in and playing that instrument," Forge said. "But that also adds to the friction over the years. Because it’s never really been a band in the classic sense that you have someone who plays his or her instrument and that she or he is the only person in the world that can make it sound like that. People have a tendency to want to feel that they’re very important for something, and if it’s not crucial that they’re there, there will also be a little bit of a friction there."
Forge has also said there was never a legal partnership with the other members of Ghost, who he claims were paid a fixed salary.
Ghost is currently touring with Iron Maiden while concurrently headlining their own tour. Dates for the trek can be found here.
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