🔗 Share this article

Although many rockers have taken inspiration from epic fantasy, only a handful have fully embraced the mythical way of life. Admittedly, they may adorn their record jackets with monsters, beasts, chained damsels and muscular warriors, but did a member ever have to find a misplaced unicorn horn from a wintry landscape in the midst of winter? Has a performer spent time straining their eyes in the rear of a tour bus, repairing their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Created in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have encountered both these scenarios and additional ones as they act out their epic fantasies. Starting with heraldic, earworm-heavy anthems to stunning performances, attire styling, visuals and cover artwork, they’re more than a heavy metal group as a total artistic immersion.

“It wasn’t planned to be a themed musical group,” states vocalist, guitarist, sword-wielder and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle drives from a packed show in Cologne to one more in another town – they are playing several shows in the UK this week. “We played two shows and got booked on a October show, where I decided spontaneously to wear a costume. Everything was highly handmade, but we had an amazing time and the energy was unforgettable. It occurred to me, ‘How about if we could have such enjoyment at every show?’”

The Band’s Evolution

Since then, the ensemble – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” together with a pestilence physician (low-end instrumentalist), haughty vampire (six-string player) and mysterious druid (rhythm keeper) – continued forward. Their latest album, the group’s sophomore release, evokes images of classic metal icons joining forces to struggle onward through a heroic art landscape – a grand composition that places them on the edge of bigger achievements.

The Bestiary was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her bandmates. “This helped a more powerful project,” she says of the group work. “It was challenging at first – I’d always felt a particular degree of satisfaction as a woman in music doing everything solo. There’ve been multiple instances where after a show and an audience member will say, ‘The band compose cool melodies!’ and I respond, ‘Wait – I created all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As the band’s stature has grown, so has the scope of their production design. “My motto is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. Initially, she was on path for a university studies in art before pulling back at the idea of so much debt. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to express artistry,” she says. “Whether it’s creating face coverings, attire creation, figuring out video editing clips … these are all things I am unfamiliar with, but it’s fun to discover in the moment.”

As if developing 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 sewing costumes were insufficient, the singer self-educated how to make chainmail – a difficult task, though she confessedly entrusted her brand-new scalemail look to a professional in the city. “It seems like actual armour,” she grins.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

What about the crowd? They loved the stage blood, toy blades and crafted rodent bones with equal enthusiasm as the group. “We performed a show in Detroit and it seemed like a historical festival,” remembers Riley with affection. “All attendees was in cloaks, animal hides, chainmail.”

However, this doesn’t mean, though, that traveling lifestyle as fantasy adventurers has been easy. “Everything is constantly breaking and gets repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Additionally I get numerous thoughts as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we tour in a vehicle with restricted capacity. It’s a unique problem to give the sense like a larger-than-life story, then store it into nothing.”

There have been additional practical issues that wouldn’t have troubled legendary fantasy heroes. “There was an ‘oh shit’ moment when we appeared at SonicBlast festival in the European country and my baggage – which had my sword in it – went missing,” says Riley. “This became a nightmare, because there is no an alternative version of the performance where I am without a weapon.”

Future Ambitions

As a genuine leader, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “My goal is to the top – let’s do large venues,” she says. “The main aspect that’s really important to me is maintaining the self-crafted look, guaranteeing each detail is custom-made. This is a feature I want to remain faithful to, whatever we scale to. Additionally, I want to ride out on a magical horse at all performances. Remember how some artists use vehicles in concerts? That, but with a unicorn.”