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Although plenty of artists have drawn from epic fantasy, only a handful have truly lived the mythical existence. Admittedly, they may adorn their record jackets with monsters, imps, captive women and muscular warriors, but has an artist ever have to find a lost unicorn horn from a snowy field in the heart of winter? Has a guitarist devoted hours peering in the rear of a road transport, mending their own armor?

Embracing the Mythos

Formed in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have encountered these exact challenges and additional ones as they live out their heroic dreams. From medieval-inspired, memorable tunes to stunning concerts, attire styling, videos and cover artwork, they’re not just a heavy metal group as a full immersive experience.

“It wasn’t planned to be a themed musical group,” says singer, guitar player, sword-wielder and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport travels from a sold-out gig in a German city to a second one in another town – they are playing five gigs in the UK currently. “Initially, we performed twice and were scheduled on a Halloween gig, where I made a last-minute decision to dress up. Everything was highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the feeling in the room was electric. It occurred to me, ‘How about if we could have this much fun every time?’”

The Band’s Evolution

Since then, the group – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” alongside a medic from history (bass player), aristocratic undead (six-string player) and enigmatic nature priest (drummer) – continued forward. The Bestiary, the group’s sophomore release, evokes images of legendary heavy bands uniting to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that sets them on the brink of greater success.

The Bestiary was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her bandmates. “That contributed to a much better album,” she says of the group work. “I had difficulty at first – I’d always felt a certain amount of pride being a woman in music working independently. I’ve had numerous occasions where I finished performing and an audience member will say, ‘The band create awesome guitar parts!’ and I’m like, ‘Hey – I created all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

With their growing popularity has grown, so has the scope of their visual elements. “My philosophy is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. At first, she had been on path for a fine art degree before pulling back at the possibility of so much debt. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to express artistic expression,” she says. “Be it creating face coverings, attire creation, mastering post-production music videos … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s exciting to discover in the moment.”

As if creating the group’s detailed mythology (“People are encouraging me to record it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, tapping her head) and stitching garments didn’t suffice, the vocalist learned on her own how to make chainmail – a difficult task, though she confessedly entrusted her all-new scalemail look to a professional in the city. “It seems like actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

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

That’s not to imply, though, that life on the road as fantasy adventurers has been easy. “Each item is constantly breaking and becomes duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Additionally I come up with countless concepts as to how I desire the presentation, but we are on the move in a vehicle with restricted capacity. It’s a fascinating test to give the sense like a larger-than-life story, then compress it into minimal luggage.”

There have been additional practical issues that would never have plagued legendary fantasy heroes. “We did have an ‘disastrous’ moment when we played a Portuguese festival in the European country and my suitcase – which had my blade in it – went missing,” says Riley. “This became a worst-case scenario, because there is no an different option of the concert where I am without a sword.”

Upcoming Plans

As a genuine leader, Riley is gung-ho about the what’s next. “I aim to reach all the way – we should play large venues,” she says. “The only thing that’s deeply meaningful to me is maintaining the handmade style, ensuring all elements is crafted by us. It’s a component I want to keep true to, regardless of we scale to. Additionally, I desire to appear on a magical horse at all performances. Remember how legends use vehicles in concerts? That, but using a unicorn.”