Tobias Forge Dives Deep Into ‘No Phones’ Policy on Ghost’s Tour

“I like Scorpions from the ’70s and so it has a slight Scorpions 1977 thing as opposed to Scorpions 1984.”

Tobias Forge joined Loudwire Nights on Wednesday (March 5) to celebrate Ghost’s brand-new song, “Satanized,” from their next record, Skeletá. Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

Though he didn’t have much more to say about “Satanized” than that, he did have plenty to say about Ghost’s “no phones” policy on their upcoming Skeletour World Tour.

“We want [fans] to be there in the moment,” Forge told Kat Mykals, host of the weekend edition of Loudwire Nights.

“I can speak for myself but I think there was a lot of reflection that came in as we had done the L.A. shows where we recorded [Rite Here Rite Now]. Because of the nature of filming, we decided to do the Yondr pouches then. The first thing that hit us, the first night we came off stage, was the crowd was phenomenal.”

Forge said playing a city like Los Angeles can be tough because the crowd has a lot of options for live music every single night.

“It’s so hard to get people to engage.”

He was clear that he wasn’t talking about every single fan in the crowd, but in general, people are sometimes hard to connect with. But he and the rest of Ghost noticed a significant difference when they removed phones from the equation for Rite Here Rite Now.

“We came off the first night and were just blown away that these people were so engaged,” he admitted.

“The face value of not seeing phones was literally like time travel. I’m not talking about like back to the ’80s, I’m talking about maybe 10 years back in time when people were generally not filming as much, whereas now in modern times it’s just ridiculous. If you’re playing in front of 10,000 people, 8,000 people are holding a phone. I wish it was like this all the time.”

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Having such a powerful reaction to that, Ghost made the decision to bring back the Yondr pouches for their world tour in support of their new album, Skeletá.

“There is something intuitive about having fun together in a group, being there … I really think, hope and believe that people will find this slightly more enjoyable not than every show you’ve seen, but more enjoyable than standing in the back, seeing 1,000 screens and the band in the back.”

What Else Did Ghost’s Tobias Forge Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• How he feels about the reveal of Papa V Perpetua: “I haven’t really gotten to know him that well yet. Similar seamstress, same seamstress [as Papa Emeritus IV]. It’s hard for me to explain what to expect. It’s an equal dosage of what I’m hoping is tradition and a great slew of new. That’s what we’re trying to create.”
• Why he doesn’t concern himself with statistics when it comes to Rite Here Rite Now: “I have to sort of switch hats a little and just see it as part of the continuum that is Ghost.”
• Why he thinks it’s important to always keep his younger self in mind: “[13-year-old] Tobias would definitely be blown away about a lot of the things that I have accomplished … I’m very adamant about keeping my younger self with me at all times to remember where you are and where you were and who you are and who you were.”

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Tobias Forge joined Loudwire Nights on Wednesday, March 5; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.