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While many rockers have borrowed from epic fantasy, rarely any have truly lived the fantasy existence. Sure, they could embellish their album covers with monsters, imps, chained damsels and strong fighters, but has any musician ever been forced to recover a missing mythical horn from a wintry landscape in the depths of winter? Has a guitarist devoted hours peering in the rear of a traveling vehicle, mending their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Created in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have encountered both these scenarios and additional ones as they live out their heroic dreams. Starting with heraldic, catchy songs to breathtaking concerts, attire styling, videos and cover artwork, they’re more than a heavy metal group as a complete sensory journey.

“It wasn’t planned to be a themed musical group,” explains singer, guitar player, sword-carrier and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van speeds from a sold-out gig in a German city to a second one in another town – they’re also doing multiple performances in the UK currently. “Initially, we performed twice and received an offer on a spooky event, where I decided spontaneously to dress up. It was all super-DIY, but we had a blast and the energy was electric. It occurred to me, ‘Imagine if we could have this much fun at every show?’”

Development of Castle Rat

From that point on, the band – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” joined by a pestilence physician (bass player), aristocratic undead (six-string player) and mysterious druid (drummer) – never turned back. Their latest album, the band’s second album, brings to mind of famous rock groups joining forces to battle their way through a heroic art landscape – a heroic opus that positions them on the verge of far grander things.

The release was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her bandmates. “That contributed to a much better project,” she says of the group work. “I had difficulty at first – I often experienced a specific level of accomplishment as a female in music doing everything solo. I’ve had multiple instances where after a show and some guy will say, ‘Those guys create awesome guitar parts!’ and I think, ‘Hey – I composed all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As their fame has expanded, so has the breadth of their stage presentation. “My motto is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. At first, she had been on track for a university studies in art before balking at the possibility of heavy loans. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to apply creativity,” she says. “Whether it’s crafting disguises, attire creation, learning how to edit song visuals … everything is I don’t know how to do, but it’s fun to learn in the moment.”

As if creating the group’s detailed mythology (“The team is pushing me to record it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, tapping her head) and stitching garments didn’t suffice, the singer self-educated how to make chainmail – no mean feat, though she admittedly entrusted her brand-new scale armor design to a professional in the city. “It seems like actual armour,” she beams.

Fan Response and Obstacles

Regarding the fans? They took to the stage blood, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with as much gusto as the musicians. “We performed a concert in Detroit and it looked like a historical festival,” reminisces Riley with affection. “The whole crowd was in robes, wool garments, chainmail.”

However, this doesn’t mean, nevertheless, that life on the road as mythical wanderers has been smooth. “Each item is frequently damaged and ends up duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Plus I’ll have numerous thoughts as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we’re traveling in a vehicle with limited room. It’s an interesting challenge to create the impression like a larger-than-life story, then pack it down into a small space.”

We faced further organizational challenges that wouldn’t have troubled fictional warriors. “We experienced an ‘oh shit’ moment when we played a Portuguese festival in the European country and my luggage – which had my sword in it – got lost,” says Riley. “That was a worst-case scenario, because we don’t have an alternative version of the show where I don’t have a blade.”

Goals Ahead

As a genuine leader, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “I want to go to the top – I dream of huge arenas,” she says. “The only thing that’s truly essential to me is preserving the handmade style, guaranteeing each detail is crafted by us. That’s an element I want to keep true to, regardless of we grow into. Oh, and I desire to ride out on a magical horse at all performances. Remember how some artists do the motorcycle thing? Exactly that, but using a unicorn.”