🔗 Share this article

Although numerous rockers have borrowed from fantasy lore, only a handful have fully embraced the mythical existence. Certainly, they may adorn their album covers with monsters, imps, chained damsels and brawny barbarians, but did a member ever been forced to retrieve a lost unicorn horn from a wintry landscape in the depths of winter? Did a performer spent time straining their eyes in the back of a road transport, repairing their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Formed in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have encountered these exact challenges and more as they act out their epic fantasies. Starting with medieval-inspired, earworm-heavy anthems to breathtaking performances, costume design, music videos and record designs, they’re not just a rock act as a full immersive experience.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a costumed concept band,” explains vocalist, guitar player, sword-wielder and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport drives from a sold-out gig in Cologne to another in Aschaffenburg – they are playing five gigs in the UK currently. “We played two shows and were scheduled on a spooky event, where I chose at the final moment to dress up. The entire setup was completely self-made, but we had a blast and the feeling in the room was unforgettable. It occurred to me, ‘What if we could have so much excitement at every show?’”

The Band’s Evolution

After that, the band – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” joined by a pestilence physician (bassist), haughty vampire (six-string player) and enigmatic nature priest (drummer) – never turned back. Their latest album, the band’s second album, evokes images of classic metal icons uniting to fight their path through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a epic masterpiece that sets them on the verge of far grander things.

The release was a first for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her collaborators. “It made it a much better project,” she says of the collaborative process. “It was challenging at first – There was a sense of a certain amount of accomplishment as a woman in music working independently. There have been numerous occasions where after a show and some guy will say, ‘The band create awesome guitar parts!’ and I respond, ‘Listen – I composed all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

With their growing popularity has grown, so has the scope of their stage presentation. “My motto is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. Initially, she was on course for a fine art degree before pulling back at the idea of financial burden. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to demonstrate artistic expression,” she says. “Whether it’s crafting disguises, outfit planning, figuring out video editing song visuals … it’s all stuff I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to figure it out on the fly.”

Even though developing the band’s intricate lore (“The team is pushing me to record it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, indicating her head) and making clothing wasn’t enough, the singer taught herself how to make chainmail – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly entrusted her brand-new scale armor design to a expert from NYC. “It seems like actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

As for audiences? They embraced the fake blood, soft weapons and crafted rodent bones with as much gusto as the band. “We performed a show in the Motor City and it resembled a historical festival,” recalls Riley fondly. “The whole crowd was in cloaks, sheepskin, metal wear.”

That’s not to imply, however, that traveling lifestyle as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been easy. “All our gear is constantly breaking and gets repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Additionally I come up with endless ideas as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we’re traveling in a bus with restricted capacity. It’s an interesting challenge to give the sense like a grand epic, then pack it down into minimal luggage.”

We’ve encountered further organizational challenges that wouldn’t have troubled fictional warriors. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we appeared at a Portuguese festival in Portugal and my suitcase – which had my weapon in it – went missing,” says Riley. “This became a nightmare, because there’s not an different option of the concert where I don’t have a sword.”

Upcoming Plans

As a genuine leader, Riley is gung-ho about the days to come. “I want to go all the way – we should play huge arenas,” she says. “The main aspect that’s really important to me is maintaining the DIY aesthetic, making sure all elements is handmade. It’s a component I want to stay authentic to, regardless of we scale to. Additionally, I wish to make an entrance on a mythical beast every night. Remember how some artists ride bikes on stage? Exactly that, but on a mythical creature.”