🔗 Share this article

While plenty of musicians have taken inspiration from fantasy lore, few have fully embraced the mythical way of life. Certainly, they could embellish their album sleeves with monsters, goblins, chained damsels and muscular warriors, but did a member ever needed to retrieve a misplaced horn from a unicorn from a wintry landscape in the depths of winter? Has a guitarist devoted hours squinting in the interior of a traveling vehicle, mending their own armor?

Living the Fantasy

Created in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have encountered both these scenarios and additional ones as they embody their heroic dreams. Starting with heraldic, earworm-heavy tunes to eye-popping concerts, outfit creation, music videos and cover artwork, they’re more than a metal band as a full immersive experience.

“It wasn’t planned to be a outfit with characters,” states vocalist, guitarist, sword-wielder and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van drives from a sold-out gig in Cologne to a second one in Aschaffenburg – they’re also doing several shows in the UK this week. “We played two shows and got booked on a Halloween gig, where I decided spontaneously to put on an outfit. The entire setup was completely self-made, but we had so much fun and the feeling in the room was incredible. It occurred to me, ‘Imagine if we could have so much excitement every time?’”

Growth of the Group

From that point on, the ensemble – which features Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” alongside a plague doctor (bass player), haughty vampire (lead guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (percussionist) – continued forward. Their latest album, the band’s second album, conjures visions of classic metal icons collaborating to fight their path through a heroic art landscape – a epic masterpiece that positions them on the verge of bigger achievements.

The release was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her fellow members. “It made it a more powerful project,” she says of the team effort. “I struggled at first – I’d always felt a certain amount of satisfaction as a woman in music doing everything solo. I’ve had multiple instances where I finished performing and a person 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 breadth of their visual elements. “The saying I live by is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. She was originally on path for a university studies in art before hesitating at the possibility of financial burden. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to apply creativity,” she says. “Whether it’s making masks, outfit planning, learning how to edit song visuals … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s exciting to learn as we go.”

Even though building the ensemble’s complex backstory (“Everyone’s urging me to record it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, indicating her head) and stitching garments didn’t suffice, the vocalist learned on her own how to craft metal mesh – a difficult task, though she admittedly left her brand-new scalemail look to a expert from NYC. “It’s as if actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

As for audiences? They loved the theatrical gore, toy blades and papier-mache rat skulls with similar excitement as the band. “We performed a show in the Motor City and it seemed like a medieval event,” reminisces Riley with affection. “All attendees was in cloaks, wool garments, chainmail.”

This isn’t to say, however, that traveling lifestyle as fantasy adventurers has been easy. “Everything is frequently damaged and gets duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Plus I come up with numerous thoughts as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we are on the move in a vehicle with limited room. It’s a fascinating test to give the sense like a larger-than-life story, then store it into minimal luggage.”

We faced other logistical problems that wouldn’t have troubled mythic characters. “We did have an ‘disastrous’ moment when we appeared at SonicBlast festival in the European country and my luggage – which had my sword in it – went missing,” says Riley. “This became a worst-case scenario, because there’s not an different option of the performance where I am without a weapon.”

Future Ambitions

As a genuine leader, Riley is eager about the days to come. “I want to go all the way – I dream of huge arenas,” she says. “The only thing that’s really important to me is keeping the self-crafted look, guaranteeing everything is handmade. This is a feature I want to remain faithful to, whatever we achieve. Oh, and I wish to make an entrance on a unicorn every night. You know how some artists ride bikes on stage? Exactly that, but on a mythical creature.”