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While plenty of artists have drawn from high fantasy, few have fully embraced the mythical lifestyle. Sure, they might embellish their album sleeves with ghouls, imps, chained damsels and muscular warriors, but has any musician ever needed to recover a missing mythical horn from a wintry landscape in the heart of winter? Did anyone taken the time peering in the interior of a road transport, fixing their own chainmail?

Immersed in the Legend

Established in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have had to face such situations and more as they embody their epic fantasies. Starting with heraldic, earworm-heavy anthems to breathtaking concerts, outfit creation, visuals and cover artwork, they’re not so much a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“It wasn’t planned to be a costumed concept band,” explains vocalist, guitar player, sword-wielder and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van travels from a sold-out gig in Cologne to one more in another town – they have five gigs in the UK now. “We played two shows and got booked on a Halloween gig, where I made a last-minute decision to dress up. The entire setup was completely self-made, but we had an amazing time and the atmosphere was incredible. I realized, ‘What if we could have such enjoyment every time?’”

The Band’s Evolution

After that, the group – which features Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” together with a plague doctor (low-end instrumentalist), proud bloodsucker (lead guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (drummer) – never turned back. The Bestiary, the follow-up record, evokes images of classic metal icons collaborating to fight their path through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a grand composition that sets them on the verge of far grander things.

The release was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her fellow members. “It made it a much better album,” she says of the group work. “I had difficulty at first – I’d always felt a particular degree of pride being a woman in music doing everything solo. There have been numerous occasions where I’ve got off stage and some guy will say, ‘The band write great riffs!’ and I think, ‘Listen – I composed all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

As their fame has increased, so has the breadth of their visual elements. “My philosophy is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. At first, she had been on path for a university studies in art before pulling back at the possibility of heavy loans. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to demonstrate creativity,” she says. “Be it crafting disguises, outfit planning, learning how to edit music videos … it’s all stuff I don’t know how to do, but it’s exciting to learn on the fly.”

Even though creating the ensemble’s complex backstory (“Everyone’s urging me to record it because everything is stored,” Riley says, tapping her head) and making clothing were insufficient, the singer learned on her own how to craft metal mesh – no mean feat, though she confessedly entrusted her brand-new scalemail look to a New York-based specialist. “It feels like actual armour,” she beams.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

What about the crowd? They took to the theatrical gore, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with similar excitement as the band. “We played a gig in Detroit and it resembled a Renaissance fair,” remembers Riley fondly. “Everyone was in cloaks, sheepskin, armor.”

That’s not to imply, however, that traveling lifestyle as mythical wanderers has been easy. “Each item is frequently damaged and becomes repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Plus I’ll have endless ideas as to how I desire the presentation, but we are on the move in a van with limited room. It’s an interesting challenge to create the impression like a mythic tale, then pack it down into a small space.”

We faced further organizational challenges that would never have plagued fictional warriors. “We did have an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we appeared at SonicBlast festival in the European country and my baggage – which had my weapon in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “This became a worst-case scenario, because there is no an different option of the performance where I don’t have a weapon.”

Upcoming Plans

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “I want to go to the top – I dream of large venues,” she says. “The only thing that’s truly essential to me is preserving the handmade style, making sure each detail is custom-made. It’s a component I want to stay authentic to, no matter what we achieve. Oh, and I desire to make an entrance on a unicorn at all performances. Remember how some artists do the motorcycle thing? That, but with a unicorn.”