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While plenty of rockers have borrowed from fantasy lore, few have fully embraced the mythical existence. Sure, they might embellish their record jackets with monsters, goblins, manacled maidens and brawny barbarians, but has an artist ever have to recover a lost unicorn horn from a frost-covered ground in the midst of winter? Did a performer spent time straining their eyes in the rear of a tour bus, mending their own armor?

Immersed in the Legend

Formed in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have dealt with these exact challenges and additional ones as they live out their epic fantasies. From knightly, catchy anthems to stunning concerts, outfit creation, music videos and record designs, they’re not so much a heavy metal group as a complete sensory journey.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a outfit with characters,” says vocalist, guitar player, blade-handler and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport speeds from a full-capacity concert in Cologne to another in Aschaffenburg – they have five gigs in the UK this week. “We played two shows and got booked on a spooky event, where I chose at the final moment to wear a costume. The entire setup was completely self-made, but we had an amazing time and the feeling in the room was electric. I realized, ‘Imagine if we could have so much excitement always?’”

The Band’s Evolution

After that, the ensemble – which includes Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” alongside a plague doctor (bass player), aristocratic undead (lead guitarist) and secretive shaman (rhythm keeper) – haven’t looked back. Their latest album, the follow-up record, brings to mind of classic metal icons uniting to fight their path through a heroic art landscape – a epic masterpiece that places them on the edge of far grander things.

The release was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her fellow members. “That contributed to a more powerful project,” she says of the group work. “I had difficulty at first – There was a sense of a certain amount of accomplishment as a woman in music doing everything solo. I’ve had numerous occasions where after a show and some guy will say, ‘The other members create awesome guitar parts!’ and I’m like, ‘Hey – I composed all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As the band’s stature has increased, so has the breadth of their stage presentation. “The saying I live by is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. She was originally on course for a art school education before pulling back at the possibility of so much debt. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to apply artistry,” she says. “Be it crafting disguises, costume design, learning how to edit song visuals … these are all things I am unfamiliar with, but it’s enjoyable to figure it out as we go.”

Even though building the ensemble’s complex backstory (“Everyone’s urging me to write it down because all the ideas are,” Riley says, indicating her head) and sewing costumes wasn’t enough, the singer self-educated how to create armor – no mean feat, though she confessedly 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 embraced the stage blood, toy blades and papier-mache rat skulls with equal enthusiasm as the musicians. “We performed a show in the Motor City and it looked like a medieval event,” recalls Riley with affection. “Everyone was in cloaks, animal hides, chainmail.”

That’s not to imply, though, that life on the road as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been plain sailing. “Everything is constantly breaking and becomes fixed temporarily,” 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 a unique problem to give the sense like a grand epic, then store it into nothing.”

We faced other logistical problems that wouldn’t have troubled fictional warriors. “We did have an ‘disastrous’ moment when we appeared at SonicBlast festival in the European country and my baggage – which had my weapon in it – got lost,” says Riley. “It was a nightmare, because there is no an different option of the concert where I am without a weapon.”

Future Ambitions

In the spirit of a hero, Riley is enthusiastic about the days to come. “My goal is as far as possible – I dream of stadiums,” she says. “The only thing that’s really important to me is preserving the DIY aesthetic, guaranteeing all elements is handmade. That’s an element I want to keep true to, whatever we grow into. Oh, and I desire to make an entrance on a magical horse each show. Remember how legends use vehicles in concerts? The same idea, but using a unicorn.”