As you may remember, a few weeks ago I made a post about the upcoming Voivod documentary "We Are Connected" which features interviews with various musicians who are fans of Voivod, including Tobias. Above you can see a short snippet.

Here's some news from Felipe, the director of the documentary: so far, the film has been officially submitted to five Canadian film festivals and one in Europe. The world premiere will take place at Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada this summer, though exact date is not known as of now. Digital / DVD release will follow after the festivals. Currently the film is still in post-production, but the work is moving fast. Stay tuned!

Interview from Sweden Rock Magazine 10/2023

Hi, hi. There is an interview with Tobias in SRM’s newest issue, but it’s in the subscribers only section, so I thought I’d translate/share since I guess not many people will be able to get their hands on it. It is about Prequelle and it’s part of SRM’s „200 best Swedish hard rock albums of all time” series. Prequelle placed #68. The other albums may have scored higher, but for now we don’t know the whole list. Either way, enjoy. Very insightful. 

Interview from this week. Nothing new much though. Tobias talks about his influences and movies mainly.

These are both lead and backing vocals. As I mentioned before in the files I have from Impera the lead vocal track is merged with drums, so it's near impossible to extract just the clean lead that would sound good, but combining leads and harmonies kinda works overall? So I'll see what can be done with other songs

Interview from Metal Hammer 8/2023

LIFE LESSONS from TOBIAS FORGE

Shock rock, bad glam bands and wanting to be Venom: inside the brain of Ghost's benevolent overlord

Tobias Forge is the mastermind behind one of the 21st century's hottest metal bands, but even he’ll admit that success was a long time in the making. Hailing from the Swedish city of Linköping, the Ghost frontman dabbled in everything from death metal to glam before donning the iconic Papal attire and paint to transform into Papa Emeritus, transcending his roots to become a larger-than-life character. Here are the key parables he has to share, gleaned from more than 25 years on the heavy metal frontlines.

MUSIC AND MOVIES ARE GATEWAYS TO OTHER WORLDS

“Linköping was a nice city to grow up in. It wasn’t so small you felt like you were cramped in a village, but it’s small enough that you’d still want to eventually move somewhere else. You’d have access to all these gateways to other worlds through the record stores and the local video store. My dreams started there - everything I do now, I dreamt back there.”

golden

c: @raydoesrituals

Tobias on Ghost gatekeepers ten years ago.. still relevant today.

"We're not here to go backwards.. speak backwards maybe, but not walk backwards."

Interview from Revolver Summer 2023 issue

Interview from Sweden Rock Magazine 6/2023

In which Tobias talks about Phantomime, his inner little evil dictator, and why he'll never be like Bruce Springsteen, among other things.

Tobias during the recording of Prequelle at studios in Stockholm, Wiltshire and Los Angeles

By Tom Dalgety

By Xavi Torrent / Jordi Vidal

From a short radio interview with Antyradio earlier this month, it’s sadly dubbed but here’s a translation of the more interesting bits:

Before we started recording the interview, I could hear you were playing something in your room. It seems like you’re working on some new songs?

TF: The songs I’m currently working on may find their way onto the sixth album, but I can’t tell you when that will be. What I can tell you for sure is that when I return from the tour at the end of October, I will devote myself completely to working on that record. Right now I’m trying to write good songs, and I’m getting a sense of the direction it’s going in. I think it will be very guitar-oriented in a way. Right now it feels very 70s rock. What I have so far sounds a bit like 70s Scorpions or old Boston mixed with Fabio Frizzi. It’s hard to say right now because I’m far away from a finished record, so it’s hard to predict, but a year from now there’s gonna be a finished record and at some point in 2024 it’s probably gonna get out.

You write all the music yourself, so you can change the musicians you work with whenever you want, is that right?

TF: I try to do it as rarely as possible. I haven’t made any significant changes in the last five or six years. Of course, sometimes it happens that someone prefers to do something else or can no longer find the time to do it. We all have our own lives and our own duties. Sometimes there is a conflict of interest. I always try to make everyone feel comfortable and keep things interesting, but it’s unavoidable, you always have someone leaving.

How do you prepare for the physical exertion that touring entails? Do you workout?

TF: Yes, I have to do that every day because now I’m 42 years old. Moving around the stage, playing and singing for an hour at a time up to 1.5 hours is only possible because of the torture I put myself through [laughs]. It used to be easier, I didn’t have to do anything at all, but now I have to work on myself to maintain a certain standard. Although sometimes I still have weaker days, or I get sick. Many of my idols are now my colleagues, I have talked to them about it. Steve Harris also works out a lot to look the way he does now. And he still looks just like he did in 1984, if you look at him from a certain distance he still moves around the stage just like he did back then. That comes at a certain price, but it’s important. If you want people to want to watch you, to buy tickets to your concerts, you have to keep in shape, you have to deliver. That’s my job.

New interview with Tobias