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Although many artists have borrowed from fantasy lore, rarely any have truly lived the mythical existence. Sure, they might embellish their album sleeves with creatures, goblins, captive women and muscular warriors, but has an artist ever needed to retrieve a misplaced mythical horn from a snowy field in the heart of winter? Did anyone spent time peering in the back of a road transport, fixing their own armor?

Immersed in the Legend

Formed in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have encountered both these scenarios and others as they embody their epic fantasies. Starting with heraldic, catchy songs to breathtaking live shows, attire styling, visuals and record designs, they’re not just a rock act as a full immersive experience.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a costumed concept band,” says vocalist, guitarist, blade-handler and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport travels from a full-capacity concert in a German city to another in Aschaffenburg – they are playing multiple performances in the UK this week. “After a couple of performances and got booked on a spooky event, where I chose at the final moment to dress up. It was all super-DIY, but we had an amazing time and the feeling in the room was unforgettable. It occurred to me, ‘Imagine if we could have this much fun always?’”

Growth of the Group

After that, the band – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” alongside a plague doctor (bassist), proud bloodsucker (guitarist) and mysterious druid (drummer) – haven’t looked back. Their latest album, the band’s second album, brings to mind of classic metal icons uniting to fight their path through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that sets them on the verge of far grander things.

The release was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her collaborators. “This helped a much better project,” she says of the group work. “I struggled at first – There was a sense of a certain amount of pride being a woman in music doing everything solo. I’ve had multiple instances where I finished performing and an audience member will say, ‘The other members write great riffs!’ and I’m like, ‘Listen – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

With their growing popularity has expanded, so has the scale of their stage presentation. “My philosophy is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. She was originally on path for a university studies in art before pulling back at the prospect of heavy loans. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to demonstrate artistic expression,” she says. “From crafting disguises, costume design, learning how to edit clips … these are all things I am unfamiliar with, but it’s exciting to figure it out in the moment.”

Even though building the group’s detailed mythology (“Everyone’s urging me to record it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, indicating her head) and sewing costumes didn’t suffice, the singer taught herself how to craft metal mesh – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly left her completely original reptilian-inspired outfit to a expert from NYC. “It feels like actual armour,” she beams.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

What about the crowd? They took to the fake blood, soft weapons and handmade props with similar excitement as the group. “We performed a concert in Detroit and it seemed like a Renaissance fair,” reminisces Riley fondly. “All attendees was in robes, animal hides, chainmail.”

This isn’t to say, nevertheless, that traveling lifestyle as fantasy adventurers has been plain sailing. “Everything is constantly breaking and ends up repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Additionally I get numerous thoughts as to how I want things to look, but we’re traveling in a van with restricted capacity. It’s an interesting challenge to create the impression like a grand epic, then compress it into a small space.”

We faced other logistical problems that would never have plagued mythic characters. “We experienced an ‘oh shit’ moment when we played a Portuguese festival in the European country and my luggage – which had my blade in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “This became a nightmare, because there is no an alternative version of the show where I don’t have a sword.”

Goals Ahead

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is eager about the days to come. “My goal is as far as possible – I dream of huge arenas,” she says. “The key element that’s deeply meaningful to me is preserving the handmade style, ensuring each detail is handmade. It’s a component I want to keep true to, no matter what we scale to. Additionally, I wish to appear on a magical horse at all performances. You know how some artists do the motorcycle thing? That, but using a unicorn.”