By Kyle Gorry

Twitter + Instagram: @thegorester





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This is Ghost...





These Swedish occult rockers broke into the mainstream after taking home 2016's Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance". The band is helmed by lead vocalist Papa Emeritus III and five instrumentalists known simply as "nameless ghouls" whose identities are all kept tightly under wraps. Don't be fooled by their Satan-worshipping appearance, because Ghost's music is extremely melodic. Imagine a musical lovechild between Black Sabbath and ABBA.







Their latest release, the Popestar EP, consists of several cover songs (including Echo & the Bunnymen, Simian Mobile Disco, and The Eurythmics), and one original. They are currently on tour in support of the EP and we had the opportunity to speak with A Nameless Ghoul before their show at King's Theater. Unfortunately we aren't exactly sure which Ghoul we spoke to.....









Find out what a Nameless Ghoul had to say about Ghost's upcoming album, his love for System of a Down, and his ideal New York City day!









The Popestar EP is the band’s first release since your Grammy win. Was there a lot to live up to when recording the EP?







It would sound horrible if I said no. Yeah, I mean I felt very strongly about "Square Hammer". But still I knew that this was not a full length album. That’s the somewhat liberating aspect of making covers, EPs, or equivalent; I’m not sure what other bands do. When you do a little bit more of a “guard down” recording that might not be your new… I don’t want to make it sound like we’re just slathering on anything and just letting it out, but it does definitely have a little bit more of a relaxed stance when you record something like that. We’re already halfway into writing the new record, and ten weeks off in between tours this winter is gonna be recording, and as soon as we end our tour in February, I’m gonna go immediately into the studio and we’re gonna continue recording for 3-4 months. It’s a completely different ballpark. It’s like comparing making a full length film versus a short film, or being the director of an episode of a series or something. It’s just so much less focus. That being said, I am really happy how it turned out, and I think we did a very interesting choice of covers and I think "Square Hammer" definitely feels like an instant classic. It’s gonna be with us for probably a long time. It’s a good result.









Does Square Hammer indicate the direction for the next Ghost album?







Not really. There will be elements of straighter songs. There will be elements of way more complicated songs. I think that the gap or transition from the Popestar EP to our next record will be similar to the one that we took between the If You Have Ghosts EP and Meliora. Our next record will definitely be a lot darker. It has the intention of being more sinister than a lot of things that we’ve done before, even more thematic. It won’t be just ten "Square Hammer"s all over the place, obviously. When you’re making a record and especially when you’ve already stepped into…we’re a live act so obviously we can’t just have forty minutes of just noise happening. We need songs that we can play live. We need songs that ideally sort of have some sort of life on the radio. I like writing catchy songs. That’s what we’re going for. Instead of just jamming in ten "Square Hammer" like songs, or "Cirice" like songs, or "Pinnacle" like songs, I’d like to do ten new different songs out of which 4 or 5 might be a little bit more catchy and maybe sort of go darker or more obscure on the tracks that don’t need to be, for a lack of a better word, hits.





Are there any contemporary metal bands responsible for influencing your sinister sound?





Of course I like a few bands but I’m generally horrible when it comes to my metal. I sincerely believe that nothing after 1993 is good. I hate it. I absolutely hate everything that has to do with new metal. I think it’s an atrocity. The odd exception is actually System of a Down. I think they were good but they’re not necessarily a new metal band but they were a new, N-E-W metal band in the 90s so they sort of got lumped in together with them (Nü metal bands) because they also wore baggy pants and stuff like that that I was absolutely allergic to, anything that sort of strayed from metal looking people. I like Opeth a lot. I think that they are fantastic. I think every new record they put out is fantastic. I love those guys but they’re also very close friends of mine. So it’s like I’m a little bit partial there. I think Mastodon is really cool but they're also a different breed. I like some black metal bands that are modern like Deathspell Omega but other than that I have a hard time finding a lot quality new metal bands unfortunately.





Between your image, music videos, album art, etc., Ghost is a band that relies heavily on visuals. Where do you draw inspiration from?





I’m influenced by a lot of the classic cinematic elements of horror, but also aesthetically, I’ve always been very charmed by the church, especially the older church. It’s an enormously impressive image. I still find that very inspiring. I have been very very fascinated with the church and all that ever since I was a kid. I still think that that is probably the main inspiration at the end of the day. We’re the interpretations of it, especially culturally, and pop culturally, satanic panic films and horror. When old medieval church meets 60s and 70s aesthetics, that’s when it’s excelling.





If you could collaborate with any living artist who would it be?





I’m not necessarily super fixated on collaborations. For example I’m a big Morrissey fan. I admire him a lot. I’m a huge fan of Ennio Morricone. A couple of records ago, about ten years ago, Morrissey did an album where he had Ennio Morricone make string arrangements for one of his songs…and it sucked! It was worthless. I didn’t like it at all.





I know several collaborations between artists and composers or filmmakers that I like a lot, but that doesn’t turn it into gold because it’s not necessarily a good idea. I’ve also learned that a lot of bands make that mistake, especially when you’re climbing and all of a sudden you’re getting the opportunity to work with this or that producer, and then you notice that it’s not necessarily a good thing. Just because that person did that record with that band twenty years ago, it does not mean…what else has he done in the last twenty years? But on the other hand I must say that working with Andy Wallace was a sheer joy. It was absolutely phenomenal because he’s so beyond talented and still so extremely relevant. And he’s done so many different things. Everything from Jeff Buckley, to Nirvana, to Slayer, to Sepultura which I like a lot, to a lot of big new metal bands that I don’t like but it’s metal regardless. It’s still a good sounding record. He’s done so many things; he still devours a project with almost a youthful enthusiasm which is fantastic. I would say if was to pick someone today off of the top of my head it would be to work with him again, because I admire him so much.





What does a nameless ghoul like to do in NYC for fun?





Well, you should go to Manitoba’s, Handsome Dick Manitoba’s, the punk bar. I like going there, that’s fun. New York is always great but more than often when we’re there, we’re usually there just for a day and you have to really pick your fights. Nowadays there’s not a whole lot of record stores for me to go to. Most of them are gone and the ones that are left are not necessarily super fun. I’m also a big fan of old movie posters. There’s a few stores that I usually go to. A good day would be poster store, maybe a lunch at some Italian restaurant, Strand bookstore is fun, a little walk on Broadway just to get that New York experience. Yeah, you know do a show then end up at Manitoba’s. That’s a good New York day.





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