Before he became the corpse-paint sporting leader of Sweden's Satan-hailing occult party-rockers Ghost, Tobias Forge played everything from alt. rock to death metal in a variety of different bands.
By his mid-twenties, the gifted musician had already been part of numerous projects, including his earliest known outfit Superior and the Stockholm-based death metallers Repugnant, who he fronted under the stage name of Mary Goore. He additionally played guitar for glam metallers Crashdïet and punk rockers Onkel Kånkel, and was the bassist/guitarist for Linköping-based alternative rock band Magna Carta Cartel.
From 2002 to 2008 however, Forge was the vocalist and guitarist of the pop rock band Subvision, and - oh yes! - we've happened to stumble across some footage of that band, and are presenting it right here for your entertainment.
Within the video, and with not a lick of corpse paint or a religious robe in sight, a baby-faced Forge can be spotted riffing and singing at the front, in what resembles some kind of Ramones tribute band. Although he may look fairly different, particularly with his long hair and leather jacket, traces of the Ghost sound can be heard here. Listen to his nasally, flamboyant vocal timbre as he works his way through a melodic, campy hook, and you'll hear fragments of early Ghostly brilliance.
The fan-filmed footage was recorded during a Subvision show in Mondo, Stockholm in 2005, and captures them performing Son Of May, a song lifted from their album So Far So Noir.
Originally known as Plastik Head, the band was formed by vocalist/guitarist Tobias Forge as Mary Goore, bassist Gustaf Lindstrom as Mace Kelly and drummer Thomas Daun as Tom Bones. They recorded three songs as Plastik Head and then changed the name of the band to Subvision, as they didn’t want to be confused with the distribution company of the same name.
Subvision initally recruited Torbjorn Lynedal as second guitarist, whose pseudonym was Skank Cujo, appearing on the Killing Floor EP. After Torbjorn left, Franz Cedrins was recruited as his replacement, and can be spotted in the video below.
Subvision released three EPS, including 2004's The Killing Floor, 2003's Brilliant Music for Stupid People, 2003's Pearls for Pigsnawps, and the aforementioned full length 2006 album So Far So Noir.
At some point during the recording of their debut album, future Ghost member Martin Persner joined the band, and the stage names were dropped.
Shortly after the release, drummer Daun and bassist Lindstrom disbanded from the group, and Simon Söderberg, another future Ghost bandmate, joined on. Together, they helped Forge record what was initially to become the second Subvision LP but ended up being an unreleased Tobias Forge album titled Passiflora.
In 2008 Forge and Lindstrom went into the studio and cut the first six songs that would appear on the first Ghost LP Opus Eponymous.
Watch the footage below:
