VOLTAIRE’S GHOST: Love, Death, and the High Country

It was the heart of spooky season, and I’d just finished watching Netflix’s latest animated hit Haunted Hotel when I stumbled across a band whose name instantly sparked a memory of the show’s possessed child, Abaddon. But Voltaire’s Ghost wasn’t here to scare me — they were here to haunt me in a different way. What followed wasn’t a fright, but a sonic séance — a soundscape that lingers long after the last note fades, echoing somewhere beyond this plane.

From the red canyons of Western Colorado, Voltaire’s Ghost conjure a sound both haunted and human. Fronted by Ruby Juhl, with Magnus on guitar and Josh Eggstaff on drums, the trio fuse cinematic rock with gothic romanticism — all while keeping their tongues firmly in cheek. With their upcoming album Black Petals Fallen, they’re taking their desert-born darkness to new depths.

SNQLX: Colorado isn’t the first place people think of when they hear “goth band.” How does your environment — all that open space and harsh beauty — influence your sound?

MAGNUS: We’re all from Western Colorado, and I think we’ve all been influenced by the environment, that combination of isolation and expansiveness, beauty and cruelty that you find in the High Country.

SNQLX: The name Voltaire’s Ghost has this mix of intellect and darkness to it. Who came up with it, and what does it represent for you?

MAGNUS: I saw the phrase years ago in a book about philosophy in the 18th Century, something like “The ghost of Voltaire haunts the whole of the Enlightenment…” I thought, Voltaire’s Ghost. That’s a great name for a band.

SNQLX: Your songs feel both cinematic and personal — like they could score a film and still break your heart. When you write, what comes first, imagery or emotion?

MAGNUS: Sometimes the one, sometimes the other.

SNQLX: Ruby, your voice feels like it carries stories that existed before the song was even written. Where do those stories come from?

RUBY: I write from the heart- always have… Some stories are inspired by love, others madness, often cryptic imagery in my dreams.

SNQLX: There’s a strong visual language around the band — the wardrobe, the mood, even your album artwork. How involved are you in shaping that aesthetic?

MAGNUS: Very, in every aspect. We work with an artist in Paris named Olivia Rovere who does our album art and is amazing at giving visual language to our sound. We take the iconographic aspect of rock and roll very seriously — it’s at least as important as the music.

SNQLX: When you play live, there’s this energy that shifts between ritual and release. What’s your headspace like before stepping on stage?

MAGNUS: Terror. That’s why it’s fun.

SNQLX: “Death Becomes You” has this seductive darkness, while “Alix Street” feels more chaotic and raw. Are those two sides of the same coin, or different chapters of who you are?

MAGNUS: Same coin. We love both moods, both are exhilarating in their own way. Plus, both have stonking riffs.

SNQLX: People often misunderstand the goth scene — they see the look but not the depth. What’s something you wish more people understood about it?

MAGNUS: It doesn’t need to be one note, one emotion the whole song through. The best Goth, like the best of any music, takes you for a spin. Our songs change tempo, mood, even key. Makes them a bitch to play, but man, it’s a fun ride.

SNQLX: Who are some of your unexpected influences — artists outside the goth/rock realm that have shaped your writing or sound?

MAGNUS: Ruby comes from a musical theater background. Josh loves him some Grunge and Alt Rock (Tool, Alice in Chains, etc.). Me, I think AC/DC is the perfect band. If they didn’t exist, we’d have to invent them.

SNQLX: You’ve had growing success across streaming charts this year. How are you balancing momentum with maintaining creative control?

MAGNUS: It’s easy now, ‘cause no one else but us wants creative control. And no wonder — it’s a pain in the ass. You have to make every decision!

SNQLX: When you look ahead to Black Petals Fallen, what does this record say that your past songs couldn’t yet express?

MAGNUS: Everything is next level on Black Petals. The playing, the songwriting. The lyrics go much, much deeper. We write a lot about love and death, and this album is 64 percent more deathy and lovey.

SNQLX: Finally, if we were to capture one image that defines Voltaire’s Ghost — not posed, but real — what moment would it be?

MAGNUS: Ruby reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales aloud to us as the tour van rolls across the Southwest desert.

SNQLX: Just kidding, a bonus question for you! I was out walking my dogs and listening to Voltaire’s Ghost on Apple Music and it made me wonder, did the 2023 version of Spirt Animal (instrumental) naturally evolve to your latest release Spirit Animal (2025), or was it more intentional than that?

MAGNUS: Great question! I had written the music and produced and released that demo before I met Josh and Ruby.

As soon as we got together though I was keen to record a version with them. Ruby got the theme right away and wrote those killer lyrics, and of course Josh absolutely slays on the drums. The (new) band version is much much closer to what I had originally envisioned, but better!

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There’s something timeless about Voltaire’s Ghost — a band unafraid to marry beauty with dread, intellect with instinct. They don’t just play songs; they conjure worlds. As Black Petals Fallen approaches, their message feels clear: love and death aren’t opposites — they’re echoes of the same haunting refrain.

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