🔗 Share this article

While plenty of rockers have taken inspiration from high fantasy, few have fully embraced the enchanted way of life. Certainly, they may embellish their album covers with creatures, goblins, manacled maidens and brawny barbarians, but has an artist ever needed to retrieve a lost mythical horn from a wintry landscape in the heart of winter? Has a performer devoted hours peering in the rear of a traveling vehicle, mending their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Established in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have dealt with such situations and others as they live out their grand tales. Starting with knightly, catchy songs to breathtaking performances, costume design, visuals and record designs, they’re more than a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a outfit with characters,” explains singer, guitarist, sword-wielder and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport speeds from a full-capacity concert in Cologne to a second one in another town – they have several shows in the UK now. “After a couple of performances and received an offer on a October show, where I chose at the final moment to put on an outfit. Everything was completely self-made, but we had so much fun and the feeling in the room was unforgettable. I thought, ‘What if we could have so much excitement every time?’”

The Band’s Evolution

Since then, the group – which features Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” joined by a pestilence physician (low-end instrumentalist), haughty vampire (six-string player) and mysterious druid (percussionist) – continued forward. Their latest album, the group’s sophomore release, brings to mind of classic metal icons uniting to battle their way through a heroic art landscape – a heroic opus that places them on the verge of greater success.

The release was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her bandmates. “This helped a much better project,” she says of the group work. “It was challenging at first – There was a sense of a specific level of accomplishment as a female in music working independently. There have been multiple instances where I finished performing and some guy will say, ‘Those guys compose cool melodies!’ and I think, ‘Listen – I wrote all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As their fame has increased, so has the scale of their stage presentation. “My philosophy is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. Initially, she was on path for a fine art degree before hesitating at the possibility of heavy loans. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to apply creativity,” she says. “From creating face coverings, attire creation, learning how to edit music videos … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to discover in the moment.”

As if building the group’s detailed mythology (“The team is pushing me to document it because everything is stored,” Riley says, indicating her head) and sewing costumes were insufficient, the singer learned on her own how to create armor – no mean feat, though she confessedly delegated her completely original reptilian-inspired outfit to a New York-based specialist. “It’s as if actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Fan Response and Obstacles

Regarding the fans? They embraced the stage blood, toy blades and crafted rodent bones with as much gusto as the group. “We played a gig in the Motor City and it looked like a Renaissance fair,” reminisces Riley with affection. “Everyone was in capes, animal hides, metal wear.”

However, this doesn’t mean, however, that life on the road as mythical wanderers has been smooth. “All our gear is always failing and ends up fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Moreover I’ll have endless ideas as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we’re traveling in a van with only so much space. It’s an interesting challenge to create the impression like a larger-than-life story, then pack it down into nothing.”

We faced further organizational challenges that didn’t affect mythic characters. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we played SonicBlast festival in Portugal and my suitcase – which had my weapon in it – got lost,” says Riley. “This became a nightmare, because we don’t have an different option of the show where I don’t have a sword.”

Future Ambitions

As a genuine leader, Riley is enthusiastic about the future. “I want to go as far as possible – we should play stadiums,” she says. “The only thing that’s deeply meaningful to me is maintaining the DIY aesthetic, ensuring everything is handmade. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, whatever we achieve. Plus, I desire to ride out on a magical horse each show. You know how some artists do the motorcycle thing? That, but using a unicorn.”