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While plenty of rockers have borrowed from fantasy lore, few have fully embraced the fantasy way of life. Admittedly, they might decorate their album sleeves with ghouls, beasts, captive women and muscular warriors, but has any musician ever needed to find a misplaced unicorn horn from a snowy field in the heart of winter? Did a guitarist devoted hours straining their eyes in the rear of a traveling vehicle, repairing their own metal mesh?

Living the Fantasy

Established in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have dealt with these exact challenges and others as they embody their heroic dreams. From medieval-inspired, memorable anthems to breathtaking concerts, attire styling, music videos and record designs, they’re more than a heavy metal group as a complete sensory journey.

“It wasn’t planned to be a outfit with characters,” states vocalist, guitarist, blade-handler and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport travels from a sold-out gig in Cologne to a second one in Aschaffenburg – they’re also doing multiple performances in the UK currently. “We played two shows and were scheduled on a Halloween gig, where I chose at the final moment to wear a costume. The entire setup was super-DIY, but we had so much fun and the feeling in the room was electric. I realized, ‘Imagine if we could have this much fun at every show?’”

Development of Castle Rat

From that point on, the group – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” alongside a plague doctor (bassist), haughty vampire (lead guitarist) and secretive shaman (drummer) – never turned back. The Bestiary, the follow-up record, brings to mind of legendary heavy bands joining forces to battle their way through a mythical painted realm – a epic masterpiece that positions them on the edge of greater success.

This album was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her collaborators. “That contributed to a more powerful project,” she says of the group work. “It was challenging at first – I often experienced a particular degree of pride being a woman in music doing everything solo. There’ve been numerous occasions where I’ve got off stage and an audience member will say, ‘The band compose cool melodies!’ and I think, ‘Wait – I wrote all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

As the band’s stature has expanded, so has the scale of their stage presentation. “My philosophy is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. Initially, she was on course for a university studies in art before pulling back at the possibility of heavy loans. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to express creativity,” she says. “Be it making masks, costume design, learning how to edit clips … everything is I have no experience with, but it’s enjoyable to discover on the fly.”

As if building the group’s detailed mythology (“People are encouraging me to write it down because all the ideas are,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and stitching garments didn’t suffice, the vocalist taught herself how to make chainmail – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly delegated her completely original scalemail look to a expert from NYC. “It’s as if actual armour,” she beams.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

As for audiences? They took to the stage blood, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with equal enthusiasm as the band. “We had a gig in the Motor City and it resembled a medieval event,” remembers Riley fondly. “The whole crowd was in robes, animal hides, metal wear.”

However, this doesn’t mean, nevertheless, that touring existence as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been smooth. “Each item is constantly breaking and gets duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Moreover I get numerous thoughts as to how I desire the presentation, but we are on the move in a vehicle with only so much space. It’s a unique problem to make it feel like a mythic tale, then store it into minimal luggage.”

We faced additional practical issues that didn’t affect fictional warriors. “We experienced an ‘disastrous’ moment when we appeared at SonicBlast festival in the European country and my baggage – which had my weapon in it – got lost,” says Riley. “That was a terrible situation, because we don’t have an alternative version of the performance where I don’t have a weapon.”

Upcoming Plans

As a genuine leader, Riley is eager about the future. “I want to go all the way – let’s do large venues,” she says. “The only thing that’s really important to me is keeping the DIY aesthetic, guaranteeing everything is crafted by us. This is a feature I want to keep true to, no matter what we achieve. Oh, and I desire to appear on a unicorn every night. Think about how some artists ride bikes on stage? Exactly that, but on a mythical creature.”