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Although numerous musicians have drawn from high fantasy, rarely any have fully embraced the fantasy lifestyle. Sure, they might adorn their record jackets with ghouls, goblins, chained damsels and muscular warriors, but has an artist ever needed to retrieve a missing mythical horn from a snowy field in the heart of winter? Did a performer taken the time peering in the rear of a traveling vehicle, mending their own armor?

Living the Fantasy

Established in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have had to face such situations and others as they live out their heroic dreams. Starting with knightly, memorable songs to eye-popping concerts, costume design, music videos and cover artwork, they’re more than a metal band as a complete sensory journey.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a outfit with characters,” says vocalist, guitarist, sword-carrier and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van travels from a packed show in Cologne to another in another town – they are playing several shows in the UK this week. “We played two shows and received an offer on a spooky event, where I made a last-minute decision to put on an outfit. The entire setup was highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the atmosphere was incredible. It occurred to me, ‘How about if we could have this much fun always?’”

Development of Castle Rat

Since then, the group – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” joined by a pestilence physician (low-end instrumentalist), aristocratic undead (lead guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (drummer) – continued forward. The new record, the group’s sophomore release, conjures visions of famous rock groups collaborating to struggle onward through a mythical painted realm – a heroic opus that places them on the edge of far grander things.

The Bestiary was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her fellow members. “It made it a much better project,” she says of the group work. “I had difficulty at first – I’d always felt a particular degree of satisfaction as a female in music doing everything solo. There have been numerous occasions where after a show and some guy will say, ‘The other members create awesome guitar parts!’ and I’m like, ‘Hey – I created all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As their fame has increased, so has the breadth of their stage presentation. “The saying I live by is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. She was originally on track for a fine art degree before hesitating at the idea of financial burden. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to express artistry,” she says. “Be it making masks, attire creation, mastering post-production music videos … it’s all stuff I am unfamiliar with, but it’s fun to figure it out in the moment.”

As if building the band’s intricate lore (“Everyone’s urging me to record it because everything is stored,” Riley says, tapping her head) and sewing costumes didn’t suffice, the vocalist self-educated how to make chainmail – a difficult task, though she confessedly delegated her brand-new scalemail look to a expert from NYC. “It’s as if actual armour,” she grins.

Fan Response and Obstacles

What about the crowd? They embraced the fake blood, soft weapons and handmade props with equal enthusiasm as the band. “We performed a show in Detroit and it seemed like a Renaissance fair,” recalls Riley fondly. “Everyone was in capes, wool garments, chainmail.”

That’s not to imply, however, that touring existence as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been plain sailing. “Each item is constantly breaking and becomes repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Additionally I get countless concepts as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we are on the move in a vehicle with limited room. It’s a unique problem to give the sense like a larger-than-life story, then pack it down into nothing.”

We’ve encountered further organizational challenges that didn’t affect legendary fantasy heroes. “There was an ‘oh shit’ moment when we performed at a music event in the European country and my luggage – which had my blade in it – went missing,” says Riley. “This became a terrible situation, because there’s not an alternative version of the show where I lack a sword.”

Goals Ahead

In the spirit of a hero, Riley is enthusiastic about the what’s next. “I want to go to the top – I dream of large venues,” she says. “The main aspect that’s deeply meaningful to me is keeping the DIY aesthetic, guaranteeing all elements is handmade. It’s a component I want to remain faithful to, regardless of we scale to. Additionally, I desire to appear on a magical horse each show. Think about how legends use vehicles in concerts? That, but with a unicorn.”