🔗 Share this article

While plenty of musicians have borrowed from fantasy lore, rarely any have truly lived the enchanted existence. Sure, they could adorn their album covers with monsters, beasts, captive women and brawny barbarians, but has an artist ever needed to recover a lost horn from a unicorn from a wintry landscape in the depths of winter? Has a performer devoted hours peering in the back of a road transport, repairing their own metal mesh?

Immersed in the Legend

Formed in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have encountered such situations and others as they embody their grand tales. Starting with heraldic, earworm-heavy tunes to breathtaking live shows, outfit creation, visuals and record designs, they’re not just a rock act as a complete sensory journey.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a themed musical group,” states singer, guitarist, blade-handler and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van drives from a full-capacity concert in Cologne to another in Aschaffenburg – they’re also doing multiple performances in the UK currently. “Initially, we performed twice and got booked on a Halloween gig, where I chose at the final moment to dress up. Everything was completely self-made, but we had so much fun and the atmosphere was incredible. I realized, ‘What if we could have so much excitement every time?’”

The Band’s Evolution

Since then, the group – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” alongside a pestilence physician (bass player), aristocratic undead (lead guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (percussionist) – haven’t looked back. Their latest album, the band’s second album, conjures visions of classic metal icons joining forces to battle their way through a mythical painted realm – a heroic opus that sets them on the brink of greater success.

The Bestiary was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her fellow members. “It made it a much better album,” she says of the collaborative process. “I had difficulty at first – I often experienced a certain amount of accomplishment as a female in music working independently. I’ve had so many times where I finished performing and some guy will say, ‘Those guys write great riffs!’ and I think, ‘Listen – I composed all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As the band’s stature has grown, so has the scale of their visual elements. “The saying I live by is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. At first, she had been on course for a university studies in art before pulling back at the idea of heavy loans. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to express creativity,” she says. “Be it crafting disguises, costume design, learning how to edit song visuals … it’s all stuff I am unfamiliar with, but it’s enjoyable to learn on the fly.”

Even though creating the ensemble’s complex backstory (“Everyone’s urging me to write it down because all the ideas are,” Riley says, indicating her head) and sewing costumes didn’t suffice, the vocalist taught herself how to craft metal mesh – no mean feat, though she confessedly delegated her completely original scalemail look to a expert from NYC. “It’s as if actual armour,” she beams.

Fan Response and Obstacles

Regarding the fans? They took to the stage blood, soft weapons and papier-mache rat skulls with similar excitement as the group. “We played a concert in Detroit and it seemed like a historical festival,” reminisces Riley fondly. “Everyone was in cloaks, sheepskin, metal wear.”

That’s not to imply, nevertheless, that traveling lifestyle as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been easy. “Everything is always failing and ends up repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Additionally I come up with endless ideas as to how I want things to look, but we are on the move in a van with limited room. It’s a fascinating test to give the sense like a mythic tale, then compress it into a small space.”

We’ve encountered other logistical problems that wouldn’t have troubled mythic characters. “We experienced an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we played a Portuguese festival in the European country and my baggage – which had my blade in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “It was a nightmare, because we don’t have an backup plan of the performance where I don’t have a sword.”

Goals Ahead

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is enthusiastic about the days to come. “My goal is to the top – let’s do large venues,” she says. “The main aspect that’s really important to me is preserving the DIY aesthetic, guaranteeing each detail is custom-made. This is a feature I want to stay authentic to, no matter what we scale to. Additionally, I want to make an entrance on a magical horse each show. You know how legends do the motorcycle thing? The same idea, but with a unicorn.”