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While plenty of artists have taken inspiration from fantasy lore, rarely any have truly lived the mythical lifestyle. Certainly, they might decorate their record jackets with ghouls, beasts, captive women and strong fighters, but did a member ever been forced to recover a missing unicorn horn from a snowy field in the depths of winter? Has anyone devoted hours peering in the rear of a tour bus, fixing their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Established in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have encountered both these scenarios and others as they live out their epic fantasies. From heraldic, memorable anthems to stunning live shows, attire styling, videos and record designs, they’re more than a metal band as a full immersive experience.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a themed musical group,” says singer, guitarist, blade-handler and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle speeds from a packed show in a German city to another in another town – they have several shows in the UK currently. “Initially, we performed twice and got booked on a spooky event, where I decided spontaneously to dress up. The entire setup was completely self-made, but we had so much fun and the feeling in the room was unforgettable. I realized, ‘What if we could have such enjoyment every time?’”

Development of Castle Rat

After that, the band – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” alongside a plague doctor (low-end instrumentalist), haughty vampire (guitarist) and mysterious druid (drummer) – continued forward. Their latest album, the band’s second album, brings to mind of classic metal icons uniting to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a epic masterpiece that positions them on the brink of greater success.

The release was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her bandmates. “It made it a much better project,” she says of the collaborative process. “I struggled at first – I often experienced a certain amount of satisfaction being a woman in music going it alone. There have been numerous occasions where I finished performing and a person will say, ‘The band create awesome guitar parts!’ and I think, ‘Listen – I wrote all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

With their growing popularity has increased, so has the breadth of their production design. “My motto is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. Initially, she was on track for a fine art degree before balking at the possibility of heavy loans. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to demonstrate artistry,” she says. “Whether it’s making masks, costume design, learning how to edit clips … it’s all stuff I have no experience with, but it’s fun to learn in the moment.”

Even though creating the group’s detailed mythology (“The team is pushing me to write it down because all the ideas are,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and making clothing were insufficient, the vocalist self-educated how to create armor – no mean feat, though she confessedly entrusted her brand-new reptilian-inspired outfit to a professional in the city. “It feels like actual armour,” she beams.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

As for audiences? They took to the theatrical gore, toy blades and handmade props with equal enthusiasm as the musicians. “We performed a concert in Detroit and it seemed like a Renaissance fair,” recalls Riley happily. “All attendees was in cloaks, animal hides, chainmail.”

This isn’t to say, nevertheless, that traveling lifestyle as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been smooth. “Each item is always failing and becomes duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Additionally I get countless concepts as to how I desire the presentation, but we are on the move in a van with restricted capacity. It’s an interesting challenge to create the impression like a grand epic, then compress it into nothing.”

We’ve encountered other logistical problems that would never have plagued mythic characters. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we appeared at SonicBlast festival in Portugal and my suitcase – which had my weapon in it – went missing,” says Riley. “It was a terrible situation, because we don’t have an different option of the performance where I lack a blade.”

Goals Ahead

As a genuine leader, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “I want to go as far as possible – we should play stadiums,” she says. “The key element that’s truly essential to me is maintaining the DIY aesthetic, making sure each detail is handmade. This is a feature I want to remain faithful to, whatever we scale to. Additionally, I wish to ride out on a mythical beast each show. You know how famous musicians use vehicles in concerts? The same idea, but with a unicorn.”