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Although plenty of artists have borrowed from high fantasy, rarely any have fully embraced the mythical lifestyle. Certainly, they could embellish their album sleeves with ghouls, beasts, chained damsels and brawny barbarians, but has any musician ever have to find a misplaced horn from a unicorn from a snowy field in the depths of winter? Has a performer devoted hours straining their eyes in the rear of a traveling vehicle, mending their own metal mesh?

Embracing the Mythos

Created in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have had to face such situations and additional ones as they embody their heroic dreams. From medieval-inspired, memorable songs to eye-popping concerts, costume design, videos and record designs, they’re more than a metal band as a complete sensory journey.

“It wasn’t planned to be a outfit with characters,” says vocalist, guitarist, sword-wielder and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van travels from a packed show in a German city to another in Aschaffenburg – they have several shows in the UK now. “Initially, we performed twice and received an offer on a October show, where I made a last-minute decision to put on an outfit. It was all highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the atmosphere was unforgettable. I realized, ‘What if we could have such enjoyment every time?’”

Growth of the Group

After that, the group – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” together with a pestilence physician (low-end instrumentalist), haughty vampire (lead guitarist) and mysterious druid (drummer) – never turned back. The Bestiary, the band’s second album, conjures visions of legendary heavy bands uniting to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a epic masterpiece that sets them on the brink of bigger achievements.

The Bestiary was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her fellow members. “This helped a much better record,” she says of the team effort. “It was challenging at first – There was a sense of a certain amount of accomplishment being a woman in music working independently. I’ve had numerous occasions where after a show and a person will say, ‘The other members compose cool melodies!’ and I think, ‘Listen – I composed all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As the band’s stature has expanded, so has the breadth of their production design. “My philosophy is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. She was originally on track for a fine art degree before hesitating at the prospect of so much debt. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to apply artistic expression,” she says. “Be it crafting disguises, costume design, learning how to edit music videos … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to learn on the fly.”

As if creating the band’s intricate lore (“Everyone’s urging me to write it down because all the ideas are,” Riley says, tapping her head) and making clothing didn’t suffice, the singer self-educated how to make chainmail – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly delegated her completely original reptilian-inspired outfit to a professional in the city. “It’s as if actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Fan Response and Obstacles

As for audiences? They loved the stage blood, toy blades and papier-mache rat skulls with equal enthusiasm as the band. “We had a gig in Detroit and it looked like a Renaissance fair,” remembers Riley with affection. “Everyone was in cloaks, wool garments, metal wear.”

That’s not to imply, however, that touring existence as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been plain sailing. “Everything is constantly breaking and ends up duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Moreover I come up with numerous thoughts as to how I desire the presentation, but we are on the move in a bus with restricted capacity. It’s a unique problem to make it feel like a grand epic, then compress it into nothing.”

We’ve encountered additional practical issues that didn’t affect fictional warriors. “There was an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we performed at a Portuguese festival in Portugal and my baggage – which had my blade in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “That was a terrible situation, because there’s not an different option of the show where I lack a sword.”

Upcoming Plans

As a genuine leader, Riley is enthusiastic about the days to come. “My goal is all the way – let’s do large venues,” she says. “The key element that’s truly essential to me is maintaining the self-crafted look, making sure all elements is custom-made. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, regardless of we scale to. Oh, and I want to make an entrance on a mythical beast every night. Think about how famous musicians do the motorcycle thing? That, but using a unicorn.”