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While plenty of rockers have taken inspiration from fantasy lore, only a handful have genuinely embodied the mythical existence. Admittedly, they might adorn their album covers with creatures, goblins, captive women and muscular warriors, but has any musician ever been forced to retrieve a missing unicorn horn from a snowy field in the midst of winter? Has a performer devoted hours squinting in the rear of a traveling vehicle, fixing their own chainmail?

Embracing the Mythos

Established in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have had to face such situations and others as they live out their grand tales. From knightly, memorable anthems to eye-popping live shows, costume design, music videos and album art, they’re not so much a heavy metal group as a complete sensory journey.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a themed musical group,” explains singer, guitar player, blade-handler and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van travels from a full-capacity concert in Cologne to one more in Aschaffenburg – they have several shows in the UK this week. “After a couple of performances and got booked on a spooky event, where I made a last-minute decision to put on an outfit. Everything was super-DIY, but we had an amazing time and the feeling in the room was electric. It occurred to me, ‘How about if we could have such enjoyment every time?’”

Growth of the Group

Since then, the ensemble – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” alongside a pestilence physician (low-end instrumentalist), haughty vampire (guitarist) and mysterious druid (percussionist) – haven’t looked back. Their latest album, the group’s sophomore release, evokes images of legendary heavy bands collaborating to battle their way through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that sets them on the edge of far grander things.

The release was a first for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her bandmates. “That contributed to a more powerful project,” she says of the team effort. “I had difficulty at first – There was a sense of a particular degree of accomplishment as a woman in music going it alone. There’ve been multiple instances where I’ve got off stage and some guy will say, ‘The band compose cool melodies!’ and I think, ‘Wait – I created all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

With their growing popularity has grown, so has the scope of their stage presentation. “The saying I live by is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. She was originally on path for a fine art degree before pulling back at the possibility of heavy loans. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to apply creativity,” she says. “Whether it’s creating face coverings, attire creation, learning how to edit clips … everything is I am unfamiliar with, but it’s fun to discover on the fly.”

Even though creating the band’s intricate lore (“The team is pushing me to document it because everything is stored,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and stitching garments were insufficient, the vocalist taught herself how to craft metal mesh – a difficult task, though she confessedly entrusted her all-new scale armor design to a expert from NYC. “It seems like actual armour,” she beams.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

Regarding the fans? They took to the stage blood, toy blades and handmade props with as much gusto as the band. “We played a concert in Detroit and it seemed like a historical festival,” remembers Riley happily. “All attendees was in cloaks, sheepskin, armor.”

This isn’t to say, nevertheless, that traveling lifestyle as mythical wanderers has been easy. “Each item is always failing and becomes fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Plus I come up with countless concepts as to how I want things to look, but we are on the move in a vehicle with limited room. It’s a unique problem to make it feel like a mythic tale, then pack it down into minimal luggage.”

We faced additional practical issues that wouldn’t have troubled fictional warriors. “We did have an ‘oh shit’ moment when we appeared at a music event in the European country and my suitcase – which had my sword in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “That was a terrible situation, because we don’t have an alternative version of the concert where I am without 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 – we should play stadiums,” she says. “The only thing that’s truly essential to me is keeping the DIY aesthetic, making sure everything is crafted by us. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, whatever we achieve. Oh, and I desire to appear on a magical horse at all performances. Think about how legends ride bikes on stage? The same idea, but using a unicorn.”