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While many musicians have taken inspiration from epic fantasy, only a handful have genuinely embodied the fantasy lifestyle. Certainly, they could adorn their album sleeves with monsters, goblins, chained damsels and strong fighters, but has an artist ever been forced to recover a missing mythical horn from a frost-covered ground in the depths of winter? Did a performer devoted hours squinting in the back of a traveling vehicle, fixing their own metal mesh?

Embracing the Mythos

Formed in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have encountered such situations and more as they embody their grand tales. Starting with heraldic, memorable tunes to eye-popping performances, costume design, visuals and record designs, they’re not just a metal band as a full immersive experience.

“It wasn’t planned to be a costumed concept band,” says singer, guitar player, sword-carrier and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle travels from a packed show in Cologne to another in another town – they’re also doing multiple performances in the UK currently. “Initially, we performed twice and received an offer on a Halloween gig, where I decided spontaneously to put on an outfit. Everything was super-DIY, but we had a blast and the energy was electric. I realized, ‘What if we could have such enjoyment always?’”

Development of Castle Rat

After that, the ensemble – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” together with a plague doctor (bassist), aristocratic undead (guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (rhythm keeper) – never turned back. Their latest album, the band’s second album, conjures visions of legendary heavy bands collaborating to fight their path through a mythical painted realm – a epic masterpiece that places them on the verge of bigger achievements.

This album was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her collaborators. “This helped a much better record,” she says of the group work. “It was challenging at first – I’d always felt a certain amount of satisfaction as a female in music doing everything solo. There have been multiple instances where I’ve got off stage and a person will say, ‘The band write great riffs!’ and I think, ‘Wait – I wrote all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As the band’s stature has expanded, so has the scale of their visual elements. “My motto is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. At first, she had been on track for a fine art degree before pulling back at the prospect of so much debt. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to express creativity,” she says. “Whether it’s making masks, outfit planning, figuring out video editing music videos … it’s all stuff I have no experience with, but it’s exciting to learn in the moment.”

Even though creating the group’s detailed mythology (“The team is pushing me to document it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, tapping her head) and sewing costumes were insufficient, the vocalist taught herself how to make chainmail – no mean feat, though she admittedly left her completely original scalemail look to a New York-based specialist. “It seems like actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

Regarding the fans? They loved the stage blood, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with similar excitement as the group. “We had a concert in the Motor City and it looked like a Renaissance fair,” reminisces Riley happily. “Everyone was in robes, wool garments, armor.”

That’s not to imply, however, that touring existence as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been easy. “Everything is always failing and gets fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Moreover I’ll have countless concepts as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we are on the move in a bus with limited room. It’s a unique problem to give the sense like a larger-than-life story, then pack it down into a small space.”

There have been additional practical issues that didn’t affect fictional warriors. “There was an ‘oh shit’ moment when we performed at SonicBlast festival in Portugal and my baggage – which had my sword in it – got lost,” says Riley. “That was a worst-case scenario, because we don’t have an backup plan of the performance where I am without a weapon.”

Future Ambitions

In the spirit of a hero, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “I want to go all the way – let’s do large venues,” she says. “The key element that’s really important to me is keeping the handmade style, guaranteeing all elements is custom-made. It’s a component I want to stay authentic to, regardless of we achieve. Additionally, I desire to ride out on a unicorn each show. Think about how legends do the motorcycle thing? That, but using a unicorn.”