#ghostsweden

Ghoul cuties ♡♡♡ #ghost #ghostbc #ghostband #ghostsweden #thenamelessghouls #fireghoul #aetherghoul #ghosthovet #hovet

Thank you for a wonderful show last night @thebandghost. I went in to it somewhat hesitant, but I'm happy to say that I ended up thoroughly enjoying the concert. It was different than before, yes, it wasn't flawless. But Ghost still managed to move me, and touch my heart, and that's what I'm here for. Seeing Papa break character and speak to us in Swedish, with his real voice (and if I'm not mistaken, tears in his eyes) to say "from the bottom of my heart, thank you" felt quite meaningful. I'm excited and hopeful to see how this will evolve! We were treated to a special number at the end of the show, Bible performed with a choir and Fia of the Great Discord, that was really something. ♡ Also big shout out to all my Ghost family who always make these days extra fun, you guys are seriously the best. #ghost #ghostbc #ghostband #ghostsweden #papaemeritusiii #thenamelessghouls #ghosthovet #hovet

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Grandioso tatuaje de su santidad Papa Emeritus Tercero. Great tattoo of his holiness Pope Emeritus Third Reposted from @diejohnny - Hello Papa! . @michelschustertat2 . #thebandghost #ghostsweden #ghosttattoo #ghostfanstattoo #ghosttattoo #ghostfromsweden #ghostbc #thenamelessghouls #papaemeritusiii #papaemeritus #childrenofghost #hailghost #legionofghost #tattoogirl #tattoogirls #girlswithtattoos @thebandghost #tattoos #tattoo #tattoartist @childrenofghost @legionofghost @ghost.love.fan.brazil @thebandghost_fans - #regrann (en Buenos Aires, Argentina) https://www.instagram.com/ghost_argentina/p/BvTvQ9FhownizNDNsVD4B6Pn0ZuucmVzQ6M6Ww0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1kvuus2darmtc

Well I wanna win this copy of Prequelle. Regrann from @filthy_icon - Now hear this: I wish to inform you that a lucky winner will be getting a copy of Prequelle, courtesy of me. Rules above. Get to it. Good luck. #Ghost #Ghostbc #TheBandGhost #GhostSweden #CardinalCopia #Prequelle #Grucifix #Namelessghouls #TobiasForge #legionofGhost #childrenofghost #LomaVista #Vinyl #FilthyIcon1kGiveaway - #regrann (en Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Rats: The Experience- Written by Juan “FilthyIcon” A story of what it was like to be an extra for the RATS music video. Hi everyone, my name is Juan. Today I want to discuss something that was highly requested from me. This is my story of what it was like to be an “extra” on the set of the music video for Rats. You may share this story, however all I ask is that you give me credit for both story and the pictures above ( except the white horse one. Credit to SF ANAHEIM for that pic).( also no cred for the screenshots of the video. Obviously I did not take those.) Also, please bear in mind that some things I still want to keep to myself. Please respect this. Without further ado, let’s get to it. The Backstory: It’s 1:30pm on Friday, February 23rd, 2018. I had just woken up from a nap lasting for a few hours. Having not rested at all the night prior, the effects of sleep deprivation were taking effect. The first thing I did was look at my phone, only to find an email titled “Ghost video Extras”. After clicking on it, I discover that the email was asking me if I wanted to be in an upcoming music video for Ghost. To say I didn’t believe it is an understatement. “What a horrible, sick joke this person is pulling. How stupid does this person think I am”? , I thought. I closed out and went on Facebook instead. The first thing I did was look at groups, friend’s timelines, pages…only to find that not a single other person posted about this supposed music video. This further enhanced my suspicion that this email was a load of shit. However, I go on to discover that all of Ghost’s social media, and website, had turned…red. This was the turning point, which enabled me to believe that email wasn’t fake. After investigating with friends, I learn that this email is…for real. You’d think at this point I am excited, right? Well…wrong. You see, my plans for that weekend were to work on studying for a huge statistics test, a university paper, and two school presentations, all due on the Tuesday that was coming up. And like your typical university student, I hadn’t started on ANY of it. Devastated to learn it was real, I thought… “No. I can’t do this. I have WAY too much to do. It’s not going to happen. It can’t.”. I told my friend they should go in my place instead, and that I couldn’t make it. For around an hour, I said to myself I couldn’t go. But then I thought of something; all the times in the past where amazing Ghostly opportunities landed and I didn’t take them… (such as seeing them live on 13 dates of doom, seeing them at their Infest release party in LA, and being a part of the Cirice music video, among others.) I thought about how much I regretted those times of prioritizing school over Ghost and how much I hated it. Then something snapped in me…I did a 180 and decided. I WAS GOING. After I said this to myself, nothing stopped me. I wrote an email back saying I’d do it. They sent back details and an address. I got dressed and headed out. The drive was about an hour long from me. And…away I went. The Arrival: 7PM-9:PM: I’ll be honest with you guys, although I was 90% sure this was a legit thing, I still was a little weirded out by it. Something told me I’d get murdered or something, if you know what I mean. xD. I bring this up because the area where this was filmed was rather dark, with nothing but deserted office spaces around. After getting out of my car, I approached the area, expecting to be stopped by someone asking who I was. But…no one did. Haha. At this point I was sure this was legit; what was around me looked like a film set, after all. After finding someone who appeared to be in charge, I informed them that I was there to be an extra. He informed me they were still setting up, and that I could wait inside the building next to us. After he lead me there, I found other fellow extras there. Being that we were all so early, it allowed us a chance to socialize, have good conversation, and speculate what was to come. We truly had no idea. Would it be like the He Is video? Was it for a new song? Would we get to see new costumes, masks, hear new music? Was Papa there, unmasked, or would it just be a double in his costume? All of this was buzzing in my head all the while. Eventually we had the opportunity to meet some crew members as well as a few people who work with Ghost. They wanted to discuss that we would have to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) and that it was especially important that we were not to reveal anything we were about to see or hear. I assured him that myself and my group of friends took secrecy and label respect very seriously. (In fact, I even fucking hate album/song/art leaks… but that’s a story for another time. :P ) Later on, we were told by someone “ Hey, I’d like you guys to come meet someone. Come with me, please.” We were lead to a different room, where unbeknownst to us, Papa Emeritus was waiting unmasked. Polite and humble as always, he smiled and seemed delighted to see us all. We had all met him before, though I have to say we never had under the conditions of being surprised in this manner. This was something that felt truly special to be in the same room with him, with no long line of fans around him. I asked for a quick autograph, which he agreed to. I expected that perhaps I would receive a Papa Emeritus IV signature. But to my surprise, he signed my Ceremony and Devotion as Papa Emeritus III. I then thought: “Wow, how amazing! Could this be the last ever Papa Emeritus III signature?” After this we were informed that Papa needed to get into costume and makeup. So, we took our leave, thanked him and let him know it was a pleasure to see him. After we left the room, all of us were buzzing and really started to get excited. Finally, we really felt like this was the REAL deal. We were SO excited for what was ahead of us. A night of hell, darkness, and…well, unbeknownst to us…a lot of dancing. xD. Then we noticed something: one of the crew members grabbed a mask out of a box and as soon as I saw it, my jaw dropped. It was the female ghoul mask in all its glory. This was our first glimpse into the new era, and what would follow later that night. Preparation 9PM-9:45PM: The first thing we did was get briefed on safety and NDA’s agreements. Understand we did almost all this shooting in the middle of the night, outside. As such, it was important to be aware of surroundings and take note of suspicious activity. Furthermore, we were handed NDA’s to sign. Upon reading my NDA, I noticed that it mentioned this music video is for a song called “RATS”, which had recently been revealed as a song title on the new album. We sign all our NDA’s and get to working on wardrobe. We started out by deciding what we would wear. Now, we were instructed to “bring 1 Ghost shirt and 1 shirt with no logo”. (unfortunately, we were not told we should bring a sweater…I will get to that later.) I wanted badly to wear a Ghost tee, but they ended up telling us to use our no logo ones. After we all got dressed, it was time for makeup! One by one, we each got blood makeup placed on our faces. It looked as if we were badly beat up/bruised/bloodied. I must say, I was excited to see that we were doing that. I knew at this point they MUST be going for creepy. (My Specialty…. 😉 ) After this, we were set to go unto filming. Scene one: The White Horse and the Dance. (3:58 until end of video): 9:45PM-12AM: Boy, I really wish this is where things started to get exciting but…well… it wasn’t, lmao. First, we were all instructed to go to different places on the set. In my case, I was placed under a car with its hazard lights on. I was instructed to look like a dead run over person. And well, I laid here for probably an hour or more while they set up everything. Besides this, nothing was happening. I guess now’s a good time to describe the set a little bit. Of course, you guys know a bit of what it looks like; but let me highlight some small details that are hard to see. The car, which I was under, had ran into a parking meter pole and had coins spilled all over the place. In fact, there was a lot of garbage, bodies, and debris scattered everywhere. The floor and the atmosphere of it all was extremely creepy and unsettling; especially when they would turn on the fog machine. Here’s another thing…guys…it was fucking cold, okay? Look, I know I am a California boy, but hear me out here. It was 36 F. We were on the ground. Most of us hadn’t even brought a jacket or sweater. Not to mention we were on a cold floor on which they poured water all over. And we were also like this for hours on end. This was a tough job! Occasionally the crew members were sweet enough to check up on us. I recall one even lent me his hand warmers…how nice of him :D . Speaking of which, throughout the night the crew was nice enough to lend me various jackets and sweaters. I think that was fucking cool of them. Well, I can honestly say that lying down on a freezing wet floor under a car wasn’t how I planned to spend this Friday night, but there I was. As I lied there, I just took it all in and watched the crew set up everything. One cool thing was that they brought out a large, white horse. Honestly, I think the horse was cute. Well trained and behaved too, it too waited patiently as things were set up. Eventually I hear “ACTION”! And I finally get my first taste of it… RATS. They played the exact part that was heard in the time frame listed above and brought out the girls to dance. I got to say, as I watched it lying there, I wasn’t a fan of the dancing. But I think it turned out amazing in the video; they sort of give out a creepy puppet vibe. Which I love! This scene took quite a few takes to film, taking about an hour. By this time, it’s getting late, nearing 12am and I am getting hungry and cold. Luckily, we were set to go on break for food. We were told to go grab food from the small buffet they set up. After eating, we were ready, recharged, and good to go for the next and BEST scenes… 😊 Scene 2) The Diner. 12AM-2:30AM: This was arguably the best part of the entire night in my case. They told me I was going to film a scene in the diner, along with 3 other extras. After deciding where everyone will be, there was a lot of waiting around involved. This was something I didn’t mind, as it was much warmer inside the diner. I got the chance to talk to some of the crew members, and a little bit to the “rat people” who oversaw rat safety and management. Around us were various food items normally found in a diner; coffee, fries, pancakes, breakfast plates, toast, eggs, etc. They let the rats roam around the food, perhaps to get them warmed up/comfortable. While setting up the crew was attempting to practice filming (this may sound weird, but it was a small space and the camera was huge. I think the cameraman struggled a bit to get the shots he wanted.) One of the extras eventually told me that the scene we were going to film involved the cardinal inside the diner. I was like, OMG. Are you kidding?! A few minutes later, I heard a familiar voice say, “Good Evening Motherfuckers…” and I turn around and lay eyes on Cardinal Copia for the first time. With cane in hand, he was wearing what he wore on the Rats on the Road tour cover. At this point, I am shocked, and I am in awe. I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. I couldn’t believe I was looking at such a closely guarded Ghost secret right in front of my eyes! I’ll be honest, I loved his look right away. His mask reminded me of Papa II and Papa III mold combined. And his attire reminded me of the black leather metallers of the 80’s. So, hey, what’s not to like?! At this point it starts to dawn on me that I am seriously in a fucking diner with the “new” Ghost front man. Not exactly a situation you find yourself every day, eh? Shooting the diner scenes proved to be more difficult than one may imagine. The small space meant that shooting with the camera and the cardinal dancing around was a challenge. During these scenes, there were many outtakes- and this goes for both the singing/dancing. (which, again, I did NOT mind. Every time they screwed up it meant I could hear Rats again xD) In between takes, Caridinal Copia answered some fan questions from the extras (Which I will not discuss here, as it spoils some stuff for now). But, I bring it up because he was very friendly. It was strange to witness Cardinal Copia in this manner, as he would frequently talk in his unmasked voice. This was weird for me to see as he was masked…haha- it was out of character stuff! He would discuss things with the director- what approach was best, what camera angle is best, etc etc. They really put a lot of thoughts into these scenes. It was magnificent to witness the process of the video being created in this manner- molded and crafted, going from vision into reality. Honestly, I was really enjoying just watching them discuss these matters. It’s the process of creativity which is really fascinating to me. After this, the Cardinal left. And we were told that some close-up shots of us would be taken. So, here’s probably where a lot of you will find this interesting: it’s the infamous “SHOT” that they took of me. They asked me “so…how do you feel about Rats? Can we put one on you?” Guys, I’ll be honest. I fucking hated Rats. I thought they were gross, disgusting, and they entire night all I could think was “I HOPE THEY DON’T ASK TO PUT A RAT ON ME”. So, as you might imagine, I wanted so badly to say no. This scene you guys enjoy almost didn’t happen. But here was my train of thought: “Look, it’s nearly 2 fucking am. I drove all the way over here to be in a video, and goddammit that is exactly what I am going to do. But it can’t happen by being boring, can it? Nope. I am going out of my comfort zone. Way out of my comfort zone. And I am going to say…YES. Put the damn rat on me before I change my mind.” So, here was my strategy for getting through my fear: I would turn sideways and ignore the rat. Then, I thought about various other topics doing my best to ignore the fact that there is a giant rat on my shoulder. While I was at it, I decided to roll my eyes upwards, so I could look like an evil motherfucker. (some of you think I was wearing contacts, but nope. Not the case!) They pointed the camera at me for around 1 minute doing close ups. At one point the rat was playing with my hair and tickling me…it became very hard not to move when it was doing this. LMAO. This rat certainly was testing me. I have to say, after this…I wasn’t scared of rats. Today, I find them rather adorable. 😊 . After I filmed this scene, I was proud…and it was the number one scene I hoped they’d use once! (what a relief they did). I am so happy with the result 😊 2:30AM-5AM…Various scenes amongst the darkness: Alright guys, so here’s where the story gets a little boring. Between these few hours, nothing much happened. There were more scenes shot outside which required us to lie down again on the cold wet ground. We got to hear more of Rats playing. We took some breaks in between as well. We also had great conversations with crew members and amongst ourselves. It was getting much colder by now…in fact, a crew member let me borrow a giant warm jacket because it got to the point that I couldn’t physically stand still while shooting. The scenes they shot involved the cardinal doing some dance numbers outside, as well as doing some singing outside. I remember after one of the takes, the Cardinal came up to me and said “hey, thank you so much for doing this”. I thought to myself omg :O ….thank me? Dude, more like thank you for allowing me to be part of Ghost history!” I think he might have been a bit concerned for us extras as he realized how damn cold it was out there. As the night kept going, fatigue and sleep deprivation really started to set in. I’ll be honest…I was exhausted. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take but I decided to power on through. But then I was told something that really woke me up… we were told that they wanted to reward us for all our work by allowing us one full listen, from start to finish, of RATS. The entire night we were hearing only clips of it…but now, we were to hear all of it. To say I was excited is an understatement. Hearing the song, I realized how much I really loved it. I thought the solo, for example, was very Iron Maiden. After having heard it, I was feeling honored to have gotten such a special listen of a Ghost song this far ahead of the game. When the song ended, we were told that “we won’t be filming any more scenes with extras, but you guys are more than welcome to stay for the rest of the night if you would like”. As much as I wanted to leave, I decided to stay and check out the rest of the stuff they’d film. I mean hey, why not, it was already fucking late as it was, so there’s no point to leave. We hung around for a bit inside to get warmed up. But then I hear from a crew member: “actually…guys, we need one of you. Just one. But here’s the catch… you might get wet. Really wet”. I hesitated to see if anyone was going to want to do it, but no one raised their hand. So, I volunteered, and they told me to come on outside. The car scene at 5am: The final stretch: Outside, I saw a busted up old car next to a fire hydrant. The damn thing looked like it had been hauled from the junkyard. I was told that I needed to get into the driver’s seat, and act like I had just crashed the car and died. But the catch was, they were not entirely sure if this old car could fully support keeping out large amounts of water. So, I was warned I might get a ton of water poured on me. Luckily, this wasn’t the case; save for a few drops that landed on my arm here and there. At this point, I was fucking exhausted. I basically ended up falling asleep in the car. More than likely, in the scene you’re looking at, I am probably asleep. A crew member knocked on the window and said “Hey man, are you okay? We aren’t shooting now, and you haven’t moved in 3 takes”. LOL. I told him I was fine, and that I had just drifted off to sleep. After I was finished, I went back inside and found an unmasked Cardinal Copia, smeared black makeup and all. He wanted to thank us for all our hard work 😊 I told him “thank you also. But hey, please come to the USA soon again, okay?”. He looked back at me with a smile. “Perhaps we’ll be back sooner than you think…you might want to clear your schedule between May4th-May6th.”. WOW, I thought…a new tour. This ended up being the first few dates of “Rats on the Road”. After this, there was nothing left to do but drive out. Me and a friend ended up driving to a hotel room, where we had some free breakfast. To conclude, I am hoping this provides readers with accurate insight as to what this experience was like. That is really the main purpose of having written this. Really, most of the excitement of this night lied within 1) Experiencing Ghost imagery and music so far in advance from the rest of the world- an honor not frequently had. 2) Being involved in/experiencing the process of recording a video. And experiencing first-hand what that TRULY takes. 3) Meeting and interacting with amazing people. I am hoping you guys still enjoyed reading this, and that I was able to convey what it was like. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I might have missed stuff here and there. Thanks for reading…. 😊 RATS! -Juan Filthyicon