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While plenty of musicians have drawn from high fantasy, only a handful have fully embraced the mythical existence. Certainly, they may embellish their album covers with creatures, imps, captive women and brawny barbarians, but has any musician ever needed to retrieve a lost mythical horn from a frost-covered ground in the depths of winter? Did a guitarist taken the time straining their eyes in the rear of a tour bus, mending their own metal mesh?

Immersed in the Legend

Formed in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have dealt with both these scenarios and others as they act out their grand tales. From medieval-inspired, earworm-heavy anthems to eye-popping live shows, costume design, visuals 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 vocalist, guitar player, sword-carrier and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle travels from a full-capacity concert in Cologne to one more in another town – they’re also doing several shows in the UK currently. “We played two shows and received an offer on a Halloween gig, where I chose at the final moment to put on an outfit. Everything was highly handmade, but we had a blast and the feeling in the room was incredible. I thought, ‘What if we could have this much fun at every show?’”

Development of Castle Rat

From that point on, the band – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” together with a medic from history (low-end instrumentalist), proud bloodsucker (guitarist) and secretive shaman (rhythm keeper) – haven’t looked back. Their latest album, the group’s sophomore release, evokes images of famous rock groups uniting to fight their path through a mythical painted realm – a heroic opus that sets them on the verge of greater success.

The Bestiary was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her bandmates. “That contributed to a much better album,” 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 finished performing and an audience member will say, ‘The band create awesome guitar parts!’ and I respond, ‘Hey – I composed all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

With their growing popularity has increased, so has the scope of their production design. “My motto is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. At first, she had been on course for a art school education before hesitating at the possibility of so much debt. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to demonstrate artistry,” she says. “From creating face coverings, attire creation, learning how to edit music videos … these are all things I have no experience with, but it’s fun to discover as we go.”

As if developing the group’s detailed mythology (“The team is pushing me to record it because everything is stored,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and sewing costumes didn’t suffice, the singer self-educated how to craft metal mesh – no mean feat, though she admittedly left her completely original scalemail look to a New York-based specialist. “It feels like actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

As for audiences? They embraced the fake blood, toy blades and crafted rodent bones with equal enthusiasm as the group. “We had a show in the Motor City and it looked like a historical festival,” remembers Riley with affection. “The whole crowd was in capes, sheepskin, metal wear.”

However, this doesn’t mean, though, that touring existence as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been plain sailing. “All our gear is always failing and gets repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Additionally 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 a unique problem to create the impression like a grand epic, then store it into a small space.”

There have been further organizational challenges that didn’t affect legendary fantasy heroes. “We did have an ‘oh shit’ moment when we performed at a music event in the European country and my baggage – which had my sword in it – got lost,” says Riley. “It was a terrible situation, because there’s not an backup plan of the show where I don’t have a sword.”

Future Ambitions

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is gung-ho about the days to come. “I aim to reach to the top – let’s do stadiums,” she says. “The main aspect that’s really important to me is preserving the handmade style, ensuring all elements is crafted by us. It’s a component I want to stay authentic to, whatever we scale to. Oh, and I want to appear on a magical horse each show. Think about how famous musicians use vehicles in concerts? The same idea, but with a unicorn.”