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While plenty of musicians have borrowed from high fantasy, rarely any have fully embraced the mythical way of life. Certainly, they might adorn their record jackets with monsters, goblins, captive women and muscular warriors, but has any musician ever been forced to retrieve a misplaced horn from a unicorn from a wintry landscape in the depths of winter? Did a guitarist spent time straining their eyes in the interior of a tour bus, fixing their own metal mesh?

Embracing the Mythos

Formed in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have encountered these exact challenges and more as they embody their epic fantasies. Starting with knightly, earworm-heavy songs to eye-popping performances, costume design, visuals and album art, they’re more than a rock act as a full immersive experience.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a themed musical group,” explains singer, guitarist, sword-carrier and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle drives from a sold-out gig in Cologne to one more in another town – they’re also doing multiple performances in the UK now. “We played two shows and received an offer on a spooky event, where I decided spontaneously to wear a costume. Everything was completely self-made, but we had a blast and the energy was incredible. It occurred to me, ‘Imagine if we could have such enjoyment at every show?’”

Development of Castle Rat

From that point on, the group – which features Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” together with a pestilence physician (bassist), haughty vampire (six-string player) and mysterious druid (percussionist) – never turned back. The Bestiary, the band’s second album, evokes images of classic metal icons joining forces to fight their path through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that sets them on the brink of greater success.

The release was a first for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her fellow members. “This helped a lot stronger album,” she says of the team effort. “I struggled at first – There was a sense of a certain amount of accomplishment being a woman in music doing everything solo. There have been numerous occasions where after a show and an audience member will say, ‘The band write great riffs!’ and I think, ‘Wait – I composed all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As the band’s stature has increased, so has the scope of their production design. “My philosophy is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. At first, she had been on course for a art school education before hesitating at the idea of heavy loans. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to express artistic expression,” she says. “From making masks, costume design, learning how to edit clips … everything is I don’t know how to do, but it’s fun to learn as we go.”

Even though creating the band’s intricate lore (“Everyone’s urging me to record it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and making clothing were insufficient, the vocalist taught herself how to make chainmail – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly entrusted her completely original reptilian-inspired outfit to a expert from NYC. “It feels like actual armour,” she grins.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

Regarding the fans? They loved the fake blood, foam swords and handmade props with as much gusto as the musicians. “We performed a gig in the Motor City and it resembled a historical festival,” reminisces Riley happily. “The whole crowd was in capes, animal hides, chainmail.”

This isn’t to say, though, that life on the road as mythical wanderers has been plain sailing. “Each item is always failing and ends up duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Plus I’ll have endless ideas as to how I want things to look, but we are on the move in a bus with limited room. It’s an interesting challenge to give the sense like a mythic tale, then store it into a small space.”

We’ve encountered further organizational challenges that would never have plagued legendary fantasy heroes. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we played SonicBlast festival in the European country and my luggage – which had my sword in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “This became a worst-case scenario, because there is no an backup plan of the show where I lack a sword.”

Future Ambitions

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is eager about the future. “I aim to reach to the top – we should play huge arenas,” she says. “The only thing that’s deeply meaningful to me is keeping the self-crafted look, making sure everything is handmade. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, whatever we achieve. Plus, I wish to ride out on a magical horse every night. Think about how some artists do the motorcycle thing? That, but on a mythical creature.”