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While many musicians have borrowed from high fantasy, only a handful have truly lived the mythical existence. Sure, they could decorate their album sleeves with creatures, imps, captive women and muscular warriors, but did a member ever have to recover a misplaced mythical horn from a wintry landscape in the heart of winter? Did anyone taken the time straining their eyes in the rear of a traveling vehicle, fixing their own armor?

Living the Fantasy

Formed in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have had to face these exact challenges and additional ones as they live out their heroic dreams. Starting with knightly, catchy songs to breathtaking concerts, costume design, videos and cover artwork, they’re not just a metal band as a full immersive experience.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a themed musical group,” states vocalist, guitarist, blade-handler and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle travels from a sold-out gig in a German city to one more in another town – they have five gigs in the UK now. “We played two shows and received an offer on a spooky event, where I chose at the final moment to dress up. Everything was highly handmade, but we had an amazing time and the energy was unforgettable. I realized, ‘What if we could have this much fun at every show?’”

Development of Castle Rat

After that, the ensemble – which features Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” together with a medic from history (bassist), proud bloodsucker (guitarist) and secretive shaman (drummer) – haven’t looked back. The Bestiary, the follow-up record, brings to mind of classic metal icons joining forces to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that places them on the brink of greater success.

The Bestiary was a first for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her fellow members. “This helped a lot stronger project,” she says of the group work. “I had difficulty at first – I’d always felt a specific level of satisfaction as a female in music doing everything solo. I’ve had so many times where I finished performing and a person will say, ‘The band write great riffs!’ and I respond, ‘Listen – I wrote all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

As their fame has grown, so has the scale of their stage presentation. “The saying I live by is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. She was originally on track for a university studies in art before balking at the prospect of heavy loans. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to express artistic expression,” she says. “Whether it’s making masks, attire creation, learning how to edit music videos … it’s all stuff I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to learn on the fly.”

As if developing the group’s detailed mythology (“People are encouraging me to write it down because everything is stored,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and sewing costumes wasn’t enough, the vocalist self-educated how to make chainmail – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly delegated her completely original scale armor design to a expert from NYC. “It seems like actual armour,” she grins.

Fan Response and Obstacles

Regarding the fans? They loved the fake blood, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with similar excitement as the group. “We performed a gig in Detroit and it looked like a historical festival,” recalls Riley fondly. “All attendees was in robes, sheepskin, armor.”

That’s not to imply, though, that traveling lifestyle as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been smooth. “Each item is constantly breaking and becomes duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Additionally I come up with endless ideas as to how I want things to look, but we’re traveling in a vehicle with restricted capacity. It’s a unique problem to give the sense like a mythic tale, then compress it into nothing.”

There have been other logistical problems that wouldn’t have troubled mythic characters. “We experienced an ‘oh shit’ moment when we appeared at a music event in Portugal and my luggage – which had my blade in it – got lost,” says Riley. “That was a nightmare, because there is no an backup plan of the performance where I lack a sword.”

Future Ambitions

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is eager about the days to come. “I want to go as far as possible – let’s do huge arenas,” she says. “The key element that’s really important to me is keeping the handmade style, making sure everything is custom-made. It’s a component I want to remain faithful to, regardless of we achieve. Additionally, I want to appear on a magical horse each show. Think about how famous musicians ride bikes on stage? Exactly that, but with a unicorn.”