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While plenty of rockers have drawn from fantasy lore, rarely any have truly lived the fantasy way of life. Admittedly, they may adorn their record jackets with monsters, beasts, manacled maidens and brawny barbarians, but did a member ever needed to recover a lost unicorn horn from a snowy field in the heart of winter? Did anyone devoted hours peering in the rear of a road transport, mending their own armor?

Immersed in the Legend

Formed in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have encountered such situations and others as they embody their heroic dreams. Starting with heraldic, catchy songs to breathtaking concerts, costume design, music videos and cover artwork, they’re not just a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a outfit with characters,” states vocalist, guitarist, sword-wielder and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport speeds from a packed show in a German city to one more in another town – they are playing several shows in the UK currently. “We played two shows and got booked on a Halloween gig, where I made a last-minute decision to wear a costume. It was all highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the atmosphere was electric. I thought, ‘Imagine if we could have this much fun always?’”

Growth of the Group

Since then, the group – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” alongside a pestilence physician (low-end instrumentalist), proud bloodsucker (lead guitarist) and mysterious druid (rhythm keeper) – continued forward. The Bestiary, the group’s sophomore release, conjures visions of famous rock groups collaborating to battle their way through a mythical painted realm – a heroic opus that sets them on the verge of bigger achievements.

The release was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her fellow members. “It made it a more powerful album,” she says of the group work. “I had difficulty at first – I often experienced a specific level of accomplishment as a woman in music going it alone. I’ve had multiple instances where after a show and an audience member will say, ‘Those guys create awesome guitar parts!’ and I think, ‘Listen – I wrote all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As the band’s stature has expanded, so has the scale of their stage presentation. “The saying I live by is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. She was originally on track for a art school education before balking at the idea of so much debt. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to demonstrate artistic expression,” she says. “From making masks, outfit planning, learning how to edit song visuals … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to figure it out as we go.”

As if building the band’s intricate lore (“The team is pushing me to write it down because it’s all in here,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and sewing costumes wasn’t enough, the singer taught herself how to make chainmail – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly entrusted her all-new scale armor design to a New York-based specialist. “It’s as if actual armour,” she grins.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

What about the crowd? They loved the theatrical gore, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with equal enthusiasm as the group. “We had a concert in Detroit and it looked like a medieval event,” remembers Riley with affection. “All attendees was in robes, wool garments, metal wear.”

This isn’t to say, nevertheless, that touring existence as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been easy. “All our gear is frequently damaged and gets fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Plus I get numerous thoughts as to how I desire the presentation, but we’re traveling in a vehicle with limited room. It’s a fascinating test to give the sense like a mythic tale, then compress it into nothing.”

We’ve encountered additional practical issues that didn’t affect mythic characters. “We did have an ‘disastrous’ moment when we appeared at a music event in Portugal and my luggage – which had my weapon in it – got lost,” says Riley. “This became a terrible situation, because we don’t have an different option of the concert where I am without a sword.”

Goals Ahead

As a genuine leader, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “I aim to reach all the way – I dream of huge arenas,” she says. “The only thing that’s deeply meaningful to me is preserving the self-crafted look, making sure everything is crafted by us. This is a feature I want to stay authentic to, whatever we grow into. Plus, I want to ride out on a mythical beast each show. Remember how famous musicians do the motorcycle thing? The same idea, but with a unicorn.”