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While plenty of artists have drawn from high fantasy, few have fully embraced the fantasy existence. Admittedly, they could adorn their album covers with monsters, imps, manacled maidens and strong fighters, but did a member ever needed to find a misplaced mythical horn from a snowy field in the heart of winter? Did a performer spent time squinting in the interior of a road transport, mending their own metal mesh?

Immersed in the Legend

Established in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have had to face such situations and more as they embody their heroic dreams. Starting with medieval-inspired, earworm-heavy songs to stunning performances, attire styling, videos 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,” says singer, guitar player, sword-wielder and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van speeds from a packed show in a German city to a second one in Aschaffenburg – they have five gigs in the UK now. “We played two shows and were scheduled on a October show, where I decided spontaneously to put on an outfit. It was all highly handmade, but we had a blast and the feeling in the room was electric. I realized, ‘What if we could have so much excitement at every show?’”

The Band’s Evolution

From that point on, the band – which features Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” together with a plague doctor (low-end instrumentalist), haughty vampire (guitarist) and secretive shaman (drummer) – haven’t looked back. Their latest album, the band’s second album, evokes images of classic metal icons joining forces to fight their path through a heroic art landscape – a grand composition that sets them on the brink of far grander things.

This album was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her fellow members. “That contributed to a lot stronger record,” she says of the team effort. “It was challenging at first – There was a sense of a particular degree of pride as a woman in music working independently. I’ve had multiple instances where I finished performing and a person will say, ‘The band compose cool melodies!’ and I think, ‘Hey – I composed all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As their fame has increased, so has the scope of their production design. “My motto is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. Initially, she was on track for a university studies in art before hesitating at the prospect of financial burden. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to demonstrate artistic expression,” she says. “Be it creating face coverings, attire creation, learning how to edit song visuals … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s fun to figure it out on the fly.”

Even though creating the ensemble’s complex backstory (“The team is pushing me to document it because everything is stored,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and stitching garments didn’t suffice, the vocalist self-educated how to make chainmail – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly delegated her completely original scale armor design to a New York-based specialist. “It seems like actual armour,” she grins.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

As for audiences? They embraced the fake blood, soft weapons and papier-mache rat skulls with as much gusto as the band. “We performed a show in the Motor City and it resembled a historical festival,” recalls Riley with affection. “Everyone was in capes, sheepskin, metal wear.”

This isn’t to say, nevertheless, that life on the road as mythical wanderers has been smooth. “All our gear is always failing and becomes duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Additionally I get endless ideas as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we’re traveling in a bus with limited room. It’s an interesting challenge to make it feel like a grand epic, then store it into a small space.”

We’ve encountered additional practical issues that didn’t affect legendary fantasy heroes. “There was an ‘oh shit’ moment when we played SonicBlast festival in the European country and my luggage – which had my blade in it – went missing,” says Riley. “This became a nightmare, because we don’t have an backup plan of the concert where I don’t have a sword.”

Future Ambitions

In the spirit of a hero, Riley is gung-ho about the days to come. “I aim to reach all the way – I dream of large venues,” she says. “The only thing that’s really important to me is keeping the DIY aesthetic, guaranteeing everything is handmade. That’s an element I want to stay authentic to, whatever we scale to. Plus, I wish to ride out on a magical horse at all performances. Remember how famous musicians do the motorcycle thing? Exactly that, but with a unicorn.”