Papa Emeritus says Ghost "never formed as a band"

Papa Emeritus of Ghost has apparently come clean about the band’s lineup changes and ongoing legal issues, according to a new report from Theprp.com.

Read More: Ghost lawsuit: Former Nameless Ghouls revealed, statement issued

As previously covered by AP, four former Nameless Ghouls of Ghost—who would normally remain anonymous in line with the metal band’s mythology—have publicly outed themselves in a lawsuit against Papa for “missing wages and allowances for several years.”

Now, Papa Emeritus (aka Tobias Forge) has confronted the recent Ghost news in a chat with Radio Metal. Portions of the interview, originally published in French, have been transcribed by Theprp.com.

Perhaps most notable are Papa’s claims that Ghost was “never formed as a band,” and has always featured a rotating lineup around him:

“I can not tell you the whole story but without going into the details, the whole thing, and it’s a fact, is that Ghost was never formed as a band and its first line-up was formed after the first album was recorded, and it was only a live line-up. And from this line-up, it has changed many times.”

Emeritus also reveals that there was never a specific contract preventing Nameless Ghouls from revealing their identities, only an unspoken agreement:

“I think one of the mistakes was not putting pressure on them and not imposing a contract on them [laughs]. Let’s just say that obviously there was no such clause, because I thought that it was [tacitly] part of our agreement, but it was not, so … There was not a formal prohibition of revealing his identity.”

The Nameless Ghoul lineup currently working with Papa Emeritus as Ghost are reportedly all new members.