In a recent interview with Ultimate Guitar, the Blue Öyster Cult singer/guitarist Buck Dharma discussed the band’s latest album, ‘Ghost Stories,’ along with various other topics, such as the resembling sound between his band and Ghost. When asked about his thoughts on other bands whose sound mirrors early Blue Öyster Cult at times, he expressed hearing the similarity and said:
“To the degree that there is a similarity, I think they’re welcomed to it. I think Ghost is certainly paving their own way as far as how they’ve gone down their road. I wouldn’t say they’re really copying us. To the degree that there are some similarities, that’s fine.”
Tobias Forge’s Comments On The Similarities
The similarity between the two bands was noticed not only by the fans but also by the band members as well. The Ghost frontman Tobias Forge addressed the issue in an earlier interview. He said:
“I love Blue Öyster Cult. They are nowhere near as much of an influence as people think they are for me. Especially not back [in Ghost’s early days]. I’d say I probably listen to them more nowadays than I did back then. But never, ever were they as much of a big influence as… I can list so many more things that would be way more obvious, where I can say, ‘That riff is from that. That riff is from that. That riff is from that. That vocal bit is from that.’”
He then clarified what makes people think it sounds like a Blue Öyster Cult track:
“It’s just that the combination of, basically, slightly more confrontational rock and sort of AOR vocals that makes everybody think that it’s, ‘Oh, Blue Öyster Cult.’ Just because a lot of the other, sort of, ‘occult rock’ bands usually have just one singer, like all the Troubles and all the Saint Vituses and all those — it’s just one singer, so you don’t have that sort of multi-layered vocals.”
You can hear the latest BÖC track ‘So Supernatural’ down below.