The Nameless Ghoul tracked his parts to demos of the songs with a click track. Using the click meant that the finished drum tracks could be assembled from different takes.

“We goofed around a lot. ’Okay we want a drum fill here, give me 10 different cool drum fills and we’ll see what we pick out,’” he says.

While it has become common practice in modern metal for drummers to lock their bass drums to the rhythm guitar, Ghost’s drummer takes a more traditional approach to the rhythm section following the blueprint laid down by the likes of Bill Ward and Geezer Butler.

“It’s more bass and drums locked in together, I think that’s important,” he says. “There are some parts where I actually play more with the guitars, I do a fill when they do something, but it’s mostly with the bass, like the classics. I think it gets more groove into the music when you do that, so it’s important.”

Where some drummers have to subsequently go back and learn what they did in the studio before they can go out on the road, the Nameless Ghoul says that’s not a problem for him. “What I know, I know,” he says.

“I don’t play anything that’s going to be too hard for me afterwards. If I can do it once then I can do it forever."

“I don’t play anything that’s going to be too hard for me afterwards. If I can do it once then I can do it forever. I’m not that super-technical so it’s not that hard.” And he likes to leave some room for spontaneity on stage.

“For the most part I actually have set fills but some parts I try new things every night,” he says. “Sometimes I feel, ‘Oh, this is perfect, I’ll do this every night now because it suits the song and the feel,’ so you stick with it.”

While they mixed and matched drums in the studio, live the Nameless Ghoul uses a Tama Starclassic with birch/bubinga shells. “They sound amazing. It suits me very well. I love them,” he says. The 18" floor tom which he has added to the set-up on his left adds plenty of oomph to the low end.

“It sounds perfect, very heavy,” he says. “I don’t use it too much. I use that for big boomy stuff when I need extra power.” But he’s not a fan of triggers on the kick drum. “It’s all natural so to speak,” he says about his live sound. “I don’t like triggers actually because there are technical difficulties sometimes when you get double triggering and stuff. I like it to be for real.”

However, despite Ghost’s very classic metal sound, the band does give a nod to modern technology by playing to a click live. “We always have a click track,” says the Nameless Ghoul. “We have some backing tracks, not that much but we have to use a click track. It’s very comfortable to have a click track.

"We always play at the same tempo, because live you get the adrenaline going and then you rush things so I like to play with a click track actually. It’s not like I’m very ‘on’ it, I can play before it or be a little bit after it, but still blend it together so it’s nice. I’ve done it for years so if you don’t play with a click track it’s weird now.”

One common complaint among touring drummers is that they become masters at playing their set-list, but rusty at everything else due to the repetitious nature of the job. However, the Nameless Ghoul says that hasn’t been a problem for him.

“I can still go and do other things without a problem,” he says. “I’m not losing my chops. I practise a bit during soundchecks and stuff and try out things. When I’m at home I usually take one week where I don’t play all because I really need to rest, but then I have to go and play again.”

As to the question of how he wants his drumming to develop in the future, the Nameless Ghoul replies, “I don’t know really. Sometimes you’re developing without even knowing it, it just happens and then you’re like, ‘Oh, this was new. Good, I’ll put that in my box of tricks.’ I don’t really know where I want to go but I know I will end up at that place I want to be anyway. It’s a bit weird, but that progression just happens naturally.”