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While plenty of musicians have drawn from fantasy lore, few have genuinely embodied the mythical way of life. Admittedly, they could decorate their album sleeves with ghouls, imps, manacled maidens and strong fighters, but has an artist ever have to find a lost horn from a unicorn from a frost-covered ground in the midst of winter? Has a guitarist devoted hours squinting in the back of a tour bus, fixing their own metal mesh?

Living the Fantasy

Created in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have encountered such situations and more as they live out their heroic dreams. Starting with medieval-inspired, catchy anthems to eye-popping performances, outfit creation, videos and album art, they’re not so much a heavy metal group as a complete sensory journey.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a costumed concept band,” states singer, guitar player, sword-carrier and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle speeds from a full-capacity concert in a German city to one more in Aschaffenburg – they have several shows in the UK now. “We played two shows and got booked on a October show, where I chose at the final moment to put on an outfit. The entire setup was highly handmade, but we had an amazing time and the energy was electric. I realized, ‘Imagine if we could have such enjoyment at every show?’”

Growth of the Group

From that point on, the ensemble – which features Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” together with a medic from history (low-end instrumentalist), haughty vampire (lead guitarist) and mysterious druid (drummer) – haven’t looked back. The new record, the group’s sophomore release, brings to mind of classic metal icons collaborating to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a epic masterpiece that places 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. “This helped a more powerful project,” she says of the group work. “It was challenging at first – I often experienced a certain amount of pride as a woman in music doing everything solo. I’ve had so many times where I finished performing and an audience member will say, ‘Those guys write great riffs!’ and I’m like, ‘Hey – I created all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

With their growing popularity has expanded, so has the scope of their production design. “The saying I live by is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. Initially, she was on course for a university studies in art before hesitating at the prospect of financial burden. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to demonstrate artistry,” she says. “Be it creating face coverings, attire creation, mastering post-production song visuals … it’s all stuff I am unfamiliar with, but it’s exciting to discover in the moment.”

As if building the band’s intricate lore (“People are encouraging me to write it down because everything is stored,” Riley says, indicating her head) and sewing costumes were insufficient, the vocalist self-educated how to create armor – a difficult task, though she confessedly delegated her all-new scalemail look to a professional in the city. “It feels like actual armour,” she beams.

Fan Response and Obstacles

Regarding the fans? They embraced the fake blood, foam swords and papier-mache rat skulls with equal enthusiasm as the band. “We played a concert in Detroit and it seemed like a medieval event,” reminisces Riley with affection. “All attendees was in robes, wool garments, armor.”

This isn’t to say, however, that life on the road as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been smooth. “Everything is frequently damaged and gets fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Plus I come up with countless concepts as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we are on the move in a vehicle with restricted capacity. It’s a fascinating test to give the sense like a mythic tale, then store it into nothing.”

We faced further organizational challenges that wouldn’t have troubled mythic characters. “We did have an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we played a Portuguese festival in Portugal and my baggage – which had my sword in it – went missing,” says Riley. “This became a worst-case scenario, because there’s not an backup plan of the performance where I lack a weapon.”

Upcoming Plans

In the spirit of a hero, Riley is enthusiastic about the days to come. “I aim to reach as far as possible – we should play huge arenas,” she says. “The key element that’s truly essential to me is preserving the self-crafted look, making sure all elements is crafted by us. This is a feature I want to keep true to, whatever we scale to. Oh, and I wish to appear on a mythical beast every night. Think about how legends ride bikes on stage? That, but with a unicorn.”