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Although many artists have borrowed from fantasy lore, only a handful have truly lived the mythical lifestyle. Admittedly, they could decorate their record jackets with ghouls, goblins, chained damsels and muscular warriors, but did a member ever have to recover a lost mythical horn from a wintry landscape in the depths of winter? Has anyone spent time peering in the back of a road transport, fixing their own metal mesh?

Immersed in the Legend

Created in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have dealt with both these scenarios and additional ones as they embody their grand tales. Starting with heraldic, catchy songs to eye-popping concerts, costume design, visuals and album art, they’re more than a metal band as a full immersive experience.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a outfit with characters,” says vocalist, guitarist, sword-wielder and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle drives from a sold-out gig in a German city to a second one in Aschaffenburg – they have multiple performances in the UK this week. “Initially, we performed twice and were scheduled on a October show, where I decided spontaneously to wear a costume. It was all highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the energy was electric. I realized, ‘What if we could have so much excitement every time?’”

The Band’s Evolution

From that point on, the band – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” alongside a pestilence physician (bass player), proud bloodsucker (lead guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (drummer) – never turned back. Their latest album, the follow-up record, conjures visions of famous rock groups collaborating to battle their way through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that sets them on the brink of greater success.

This album was a first for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her collaborators. “That contributed to a lot stronger project,” she says of the team effort. “It was challenging at first – There was a sense of a specific level of satisfaction being a woman in music doing everything solo. There have been so many times where I’ve got off stage and a person will say, ‘The other members create awesome guitar parts!’ and I’m like, ‘Hey – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As the band’s stature has increased, so has the scale of their stage presentation. “My motto is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. She was originally on path for a art school education before pulling back at the possibility of so much debt. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to apply artistic expression,” she says. “Whether it’s making masks, costume design, mastering post-production clips … everything is I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to discover on the fly.”

Even though developing the group’s detailed mythology (“People are encouraging me to document it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, tapping her head) and making clothing wasn’t enough, the singer learned on her own how to make chainmail – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly delegated her all-new scale armor design to a expert from NYC. “It’s as if actual armour,” she beams.

Fan Response and Obstacles

What about the crowd? They loved the theatrical gore, toy blades and handmade props with similar excitement as the band. “We played a gig in the Motor City and it seemed like a Renaissance fair,” recalls Riley happily. “Everyone was in cloaks, sheepskin, armor.”

That’s not to imply, however, that life on the road as fantasy adventurers has been easy. “All our gear is constantly breaking and ends up fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Plus I’ll have countless concepts as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we tour in a bus with limited room. It’s a unique problem to give the sense like a grand epic, then compress it into a small space.”

We faced other logistical problems that would never have plagued fictional warriors. “There was an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we appeared at a Portuguese festival in the European country and my suitcase – which had my blade in it – went missing,” says Riley. “That was a terrible situation, because there’s not an different option of the performance where I don’t have a sword.”

Goals Ahead

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is enthusiastic about the what’s next. “My goal is all the way – I dream of huge arenas,” she says. “The main aspect that’s deeply meaningful to me is preserving the handmade style, making sure each detail is crafted by us. This is a feature I want to remain faithful to, whatever we grow into. Plus, I wish to make an entrance on a unicorn every night. You know how famous musicians use vehicles in concerts? The same idea, but using a unicorn.”