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While plenty of musicians have taken inspiration from fantasy lore, only a handful have fully embraced the enchanted lifestyle. Certainly, they may embellish their record jackets with monsters, imps, captive women and brawny barbarians, but did a member ever needed to retrieve a missing unicorn horn from a snowy field in the midst of winter? Did a guitarist taken the time squinting in the rear of a road transport, mending their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Created in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have had to face such situations and more as they act out their grand tales. From medieval-inspired, earworm-heavy songs to breathtaking live shows, costume design, visuals and album art, they’re more than a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a outfit with characters,” states singer, guitar player, sword-carrier and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van drives from a sold-out gig in a German city to a second one in another town – they have five gigs in the UK now. “After a couple of performances and were scheduled on a October show, where I chose at the final moment to dress up. Everything was highly handmade, but we had a blast and the atmosphere was incredible. I thought, ‘Imagine if we could have so much excitement at every show?’”

The Band’s Evolution

Since then, the band – which features Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” alongside a medic from history (bassist), haughty vampire (lead guitarist) and secretive shaman (rhythm keeper) – haven’t looked back. The new record, the follow-up record, evokes images of famous rock groups collaborating to struggle onward through a heroic art landscape – a epic masterpiece that positions them on the verge of far grander things.

The release was a first for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her fellow members. “It made it a more powerful record,” she says of the collaborative process. “I had difficulty at first – I often experienced a certain amount of accomplishment as a woman in music doing everything solo. I’ve had multiple instances where I’ve got off stage and an audience member will say, ‘Those guys write great riffs!’ and I think, ‘Listen – I composed all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

As the band’s stature has grown, so has the breadth of their stage presentation. “My philosophy is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. She was originally on track for a university studies in art before hesitating at the idea of heavy loans. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to express creativity,” she says. “Whether it’s creating face coverings, attire creation, learning how to edit music videos … it’s all stuff I have no experience with, but it’s enjoyable to figure it out on the fly.”

As if building the ensemble’s complex backstory (“The team is pushing me to record it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, tapping her head) and sewing costumes wasn’t enough, the vocalist self-educated how to craft metal mesh – a difficult task, though she confessedly left her all-new reptilian-inspired outfit to a New York-based specialist. “It’s as if actual armour,” she beams.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

What about the crowd? They embraced the stage blood, toy blades and crafted rodent bones with similar excitement as the band. “We performed a show in Detroit and it looked like a Renaissance fair,” remembers Riley happily. “The whole crowd was in robes, wool garments, chainmail.”

That’s not to imply, nevertheless, that touring existence as fantasy adventurers has been plain sailing. “Everything is constantly breaking and ends up duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Additionally I come up with countless concepts as to how I desire the presentation, but we’re traveling in a vehicle with only so much space. It’s a fascinating test to create the impression like a larger-than-life story, then compress it into nothing.”

We’ve encountered other logistical problems that wouldn’t have troubled legendary fantasy heroes. “We did have an ‘disastrous’ moment when we performed at SonicBlast festival in Portugal and my luggage – which had my weapon in it – went missing,” says Riley. “That was a worst-case scenario, because there is no an different option of the show where I don’t have a weapon.”

Future Ambitions

As a genuine leader, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “My goal is as far as possible – let’s do stadiums,” she says. “The main aspect that’s really important to me is maintaining the handmade style, guaranteeing each detail is crafted by us. This is a feature I want to keep true to, no matter what we achieve. Oh, and I desire to ride out on a mythical beast every night. Remember how some artists do the motorcycle thing? That, but with a unicorn.”