Ghost star Tobias Forge has insisted he won’t “make an album for no reason” and will not get back in the studio until he has a good idea.
The Swedish rock band’s frontman recently confirmed he plans to step away from the spotlight after concluding their Skeletour- a massive trek in support of their 2025 album Skeletá – in California in February and he’s now insisted he won’t be recording any new music unless he gets a good idea.
He told Kerrang!: “Everything was great up until the moment when I was sort of eyeing the end of a tour and not knowing for the first time in our career what to do next …
“And that was kind of the get-the-f***-out-of-Dodge card, which is: I’m not gonna just go back to make an album or force myself to make an album for no reason. I need to want to make a record. I need to have something to say.
“Every other record has been very inspired and there’s been a clear thought, there’s been a purpose. And that was completely generated by my passion to do so – it was never contractual fulfilment or whatever. It was nothing like that.
“And this time around it was just like: ‘I don’t have an idea.’ I just want to do other things and it doesn’t really mean anything other than that, but it also means that, no, we don’t have anything in the books, and yeah, it’s just a normal hiatus.”
He added of wrapping the tour: “When you’re done with the big wedding, you’re not gonna get married again immediately after. I don’t want to call it a bookend, but it serves as a great finale.
“I feel like: ‘If this is it, I’m pretty pleased. This is a f****** great repertoire, great band, they sound phenomenal.’ We managed to do this awesome show most of the nights, and I couldn’t be happier.”
Forge previously admitted he is looking forward to spending more time at home with his two children – fraternal twins Morris and daughter Minou, both 17 – during his time off.
Speaking on the Full Metal Jackie radio show, he said: “One, I have my family. Duh. Of course, everybody knows that. I’ve had two kids waiting at home with my wife for 15 years, and maybe that says something about me that it wasn’t a pushing enough factor during those years.
“Believe me, I felt bad, but I’ve definitely come to a point where not only do I need – I feel physically and mentally I need to be home, simply because they’re 17; they’re not gonna be around for an eon.
“And then the most acute factor here is the fact … Imagine you being a house builder, and you draw up houses, great ideas, but you’re also doing the permits and you’re also doing the tiles and you’re building everything and you’re sewing up all that [s***] and putting it all together.
“I don’t simply have an idea. And I’m out of tiles. I’m out of wood. I just don’t have it. So the only way for me to come up with a new idea and get some new inspiration is to just step away. It is as simple as that. But it doesn’t mean that I’m not doing anything.”