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While many musicians have borrowed from high fantasy, few have truly lived the fantasy way of life. Certainly, they could embellish their record jackets with monsters, imps, chained damsels and strong fighters, but has an artist ever needed to find a lost unicorn horn from a wintry landscape in the midst of winter? Has anyone taken the time squinting in the interior of a tour bus, fixing their own armor?

Immersed in the Legend

Established in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have dealt with these exact challenges and more as they live out their grand tales. From heraldic, memorable anthems to stunning concerts, outfit creation, videos and album art, they’re more than a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a costumed concept band,” explains vocalist, guitar player, blade-handler and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van speeds from a sold-out gig in a German city to one more in another town – they are playing several shows in the UK now. “We played two shows and received an offer on a spooky event, where I decided spontaneously to put on an outfit. It was all highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the energy was unforgettable. I realized, ‘How about if we could have such enjoyment every time?’”

Growth of the Group

From that point on, the ensemble – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” alongside a pestilence physician (low-end instrumentalist), aristocratic undead (lead guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (drummer) – haven’t looked back. The new record, the group’s sophomore release, brings to mind of famous rock groups collaborating to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that sets them on the brink of far grander things.

This album was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her bandmates. “It made it a much better album,” she says of the collaborative process. “I had difficulty at first – I often experienced a particular degree of accomplishment as a woman in music doing everything solo. There’ve been multiple instances where I’ve got off stage and some guy will say, ‘The other members compose cool melodies!’ and I respond, ‘Listen – I wrote all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

With their growing popularity has grown, so has the scale of their stage presentation. “My motto is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. At first, she had been on course for a university studies in art before pulling back at the prospect of financial burden. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to apply creativity,” she says. “Be it creating face coverings, outfit planning, learning how to edit clips … these are all things I have no experience with, but it’s fun to discover as we go.”

Even though developing the ensemble’s complex backstory (“The team is pushing me to document it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, tapping her head) and making clothing wasn’t enough, the singer taught herself how to make chainmail – no mean feat, though she admittedly entrusted her completely original scalemail look to a New York-based specialist. “It seems like actual armour,” she grins.

Fan Response and Obstacles

What about the crowd? They loved the stage blood, soft weapons and handmade props with as much gusto as the group. “We had a gig in Detroit and it looked like a medieval event,” remembers Riley with affection. “Everyone was in capes, animal hides, armor.”

That’s not to imply, however, that life on the road as mythical wanderers has been smooth. “Each item is always failing and becomes repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Moreover I get endless ideas as to how I want things to look, but we are on the move in a van with restricted capacity. It’s a unique problem to make it feel like a grand epic, then compress it into a small space.”

There have been additional practical issues that wouldn’t have troubled legendary fantasy heroes. “We experienced an ‘disastrous’ moment when we appeared at a Portuguese festival in Portugal and my luggage – which had my blade in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “That was a terrible situation, because there is no an backup plan of the concert where I don’t have a sword.”

Upcoming Plans

In the spirit of a hero, Riley is eager about the what’s next. “My goal is all the way – I dream of huge arenas,” she says. “The key element that’s deeply meaningful to me is preserving the self-crafted look, guaranteeing all elements is custom-made. That’s an element I want to stay authentic to, whatever we scale to. Additionally, I want to make an entrance on a mythical beast each show. Remember how some artists do the motorcycle thing? The same idea, but on a mythical creature.”