🔗 Share this article

While plenty of rockers have taken inspiration from high fantasy, rarely any have genuinely embodied the mythical lifestyle. Sure, they might embellish their album sleeves with ghouls, beasts, manacled maidens and muscular warriors, but has any musician ever been forced to find a lost horn from a unicorn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Has anyone devoted hours squinting in the interior of a road transport, fixing their own chainmail?

Immersed in the Legend

Created in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have dealt with both these scenarios and additional ones as they embody their epic fantasies. From medieval-inspired, catchy songs to eye-popping live shows, outfit creation, music videos and cover artwork, they’re not so much a heavy metal group as a total artistic immersion.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a themed musical group,” says singer, guitar player, sword-carrier and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle speeds from a sold-out gig in a German city to one more in another town – they are playing five gigs in the UK this week. “After a couple of performances and were scheduled on a October show, where I made a last-minute decision to dress up. It was all highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the atmosphere was unforgettable. I thought, ‘How about if we could have this much fun every time?’”

The Band’s Evolution

From that point on, the ensemble – which features Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” joined by a medic from history (bass player), haughty vampire (lead guitarist) and mysterious druid (drummer) – continued forward. Their latest album, the follow-up record, conjures visions of legendary heavy bands collaborating to struggle onward through a mythical painted realm – a heroic opus that sets them on the brink of bigger achievements.

The Bestiary was a first for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her collaborators. “That contributed to a much better project,” she says of the group work. “I had difficulty at first – There was a sense of a specific level of accomplishment as a female in music doing everything solo. There’ve been numerous occasions where I’ve got off stage and some guy will say, ‘Those guys write great riffs!’ and I respond, ‘Hey – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

With their growing popularity has expanded, so has the scope of their visual elements. “The saying I live by is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. At first, she had been on path for a university studies in art before hesitating at the possibility of heavy loans. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to demonstrate artistic expression,” she says. “From creating face coverings, outfit planning, mastering post-production song visuals … it’s all stuff I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to figure it out as we go.”

Even though creating the ensemble’s complex backstory (“The team is pushing me to record it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, indicating her head) and sewing costumes were insufficient, the vocalist taught herself how to craft metal mesh – a challenging endeavor, though she admittedly delegated her completely original reptilian-inspired outfit to a professional in the city. “It feels like actual armour,” she grins.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

What about the crowd? They loved the fake blood, foam swords and handmade props with equal enthusiasm as the group. “We played a gig in Detroit and it looked like a medieval event,” recalls Riley happily. “Everyone was in cloaks, wool garments, metal wear.”

However, this doesn’t mean, though, that touring existence as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been plain sailing. “Everything is constantly breaking and becomes repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Moreover I’ll have endless ideas as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we’re traveling in a vehicle with only so much space. It’s an interesting challenge to create the impression like a larger-than-life story, then compress it into minimal luggage.”

We’ve encountered further organizational challenges that would never have plagued mythic characters. “We did have an ‘disastrous’ moment when we played SonicBlast festival in the European country and my baggage – which had my blade in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “That was a terrible situation, because there’s not an different option of the concert where I am without a sword.”

Upcoming Plans

In the spirit of a hero, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “I aim to reach as far as possible – I dream of huge arenas,” she says. “The key element that’s really important to me is maintaining the self-crafted look, ensuring everything is handmade. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, regardless of we scale to. Plus, I wish to appear on a magical horse at all performances. You know how legends do the motorcycle thing? The same idea, but on a mythical creature.”