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Although many artists have borrowed from epic fantasy, few have genuinely embodied the mythical lifestyle. Certainly, they might decorate their album covers with monsters, imps, captive women and strong fighters, but has any musician ever needed to retrieve a lost horn from a unicorn from a snowy field in the heart of winter? Has a performer taken the time straining their eyes in the back of a traveling vehicle, mending their own metal mesh?

Living the Fantasy

Created in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have had to face both these scenarios and additional ones as they live out their grand tales. Starting with knightly, earworm-heavy songs to eye-popping concerts, costume design, music 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 vocalist, guitarist, sword-carrier and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport travels from a full-capacity concert in a German city to a second one in another town – they are playing multiple performances in the UK this week. “After a couple of performances and received an offer on a Halloween gig, where I chose at the final moment to wear a costume. Everything was highly handmade, but we had an amazing time and the energy was electric. It occurred to me, ‘What if we could have so much excitement always?’”

Growth of the Group

From that point on, the ensemble – which features Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” together with a medic from history (low-end instrumentalist), haughty vampire (six-string player) and secretive shaman (rhythm keeper) – haven’t looked back. Their latest album, the band’s second album, evokes images of legendary heavy bands uniting to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that sets them on the edge of greater success.

The release was a first for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her collaborators. “That contributed to a more powerful album,” she says of the collaborative process. “I had difficulty at first – There was a sense of a particular degree of satisfaction as a woman in music doing everything solo. I’ve had numerous occasions where I’ve got off stage and a person will say, ‘The band compose cool melodies!’ and I respond, ‘Listen – I created all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

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 smiles. She was originally on path for a art school education before balking at the possibility of financial burden. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to demonstrate creativity,” she says. “Be it creating face coverings, attire creation, mastering post-production clips … it’s all stuff I don’t know how to do, but it’s exciting to discover on the fly.”

As if building the band’s intricate lore (“Everyone’s urging me to record it because everything is stored,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and stitching garments were insufficient, the singer self-educated how to create armor – a difficult task, though she confessedly left her completely original scalemail look to a expert from NYC. “It feels like actual armour,” she beams.

Fan Response and Obstacles

What about the crowd? They took to the theatrical gore, soft weapons and papier-mache rat skulls with as much gusto as the musicians. “We had a gig in the Motor City and it resembled a medieval event,” reminisces Riley happily. “Everyone was in capes, wool garments, metal wear.”

However, this doesn’t mean, though, that traveling lifestyle as mythical wanderers has been easy. “Each item is always failing and becomes duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Plus I come up with endless ideas as to how I want things to look, but we are on the move in a vehicle with limited room. It’s an interesting challenge to make it feel like a larger-than-life story, then compress it into minimal luggage.”

There have been other logistical problems that didn’t affect fictional warriors. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we appeared at a music event in Portugal and my luggage – which had my blade in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “It was a nightmare, because we don’t have an different option of the concert where I am without a weapon.”

Upcoming Plans

As a genuine leader, Riley is gung-ho about the days to come. “I want to go to the top – let’s do stadiums,” she says. “The only thing that’s deeply meaningful to me is maintaining the handmade style, making sure all elements is handmade. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, whatever we scale to. Additionally, I wish to make an entrance on a unicorn at all performances. Think about how some artists use vehicles in concerts? Exactly that, but on a mythical creature.”