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While many rockers have taken inspiration from high fantasy, rarely any have genuinely embodied the mythical lifestyle. Certainly, they might adorn their album covers with monsters, beasts, captive women and strong fighters, but did a member ever have to retrieve a misplaced unicorn horn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Has anyone spent time peering in the back of a tour bus, repairing their own chainmail?

Immersed in the Legend

Created in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have encountered these exact challenges and additional ones as they embody their grand tales. Starting with heraldic, memorable songs to breathtaking concerts, outfit creation, videos and album art, they’re more than a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“It wasn’t planned to be a outfit with characters,” explains singer, guitarist, blade-handler and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van drives from a full-capacity concert in a German city to another in another town – they are playing several shows in the UK now. “After a couple of performances and got booked on a October show, where I chose at the final moment to wear a costume. It was all super-DIY, but we had a blast and the energy was electric. I thought, ‘Imagine if we could have such enjoyment always?’”

Growth of the Group

Since then, the band – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” together with a plague doctor (bass player), haughty vampire (guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (drummer) – haven’t looked back. The new record, the follow-up record, conjures visions of legendary heavy bands joining forces to battle their way through a mythical painted realm – a epic masterpiece that places them on the edge of bigger achievements.

The release was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her collaborators. “This helped a much better album,” she says of the collaborative process. “It was challenging at first – I often experienced a specific level of pride as a female in music going it alone. There have been numerous occasions where I’ve got off stage and some guy will say, ‘The band write great riffs!’ and I respond, ‘Hey – I created all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As the band’s stature has grown, so has the scope of their visual elements. “My philosophy is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. At first, she had been on course for a art school education before hesitating at the possibility of heavy loans. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to demonstrate creativity,” she says. “Be it creating face coverings, costume design, figuring out video editing music videos … it’s all stuff I don’t know how to do, but it’s fun to learn as we go.”

Even though building the band’s intricate lore (“The team is pushing me to document it because everything is stored,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and making clothing didn’t suffice, the singer learned on her own how to make chainmail – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly entrusted her all-new scale armor design to a expert from NYC. “It feels like actual armour,” she grins.

Fan Response and Obstacles

As for audiences? They embraced the stage blood, soft weapons and handmade props with equal enthusiasm as the musicians. “We played a concert in Detroit and it resembled a medieval event,” remembers Riley with affection. “All attendees was in robes, sheepskin, chainmail.”

This isn’t to say, nevertheless, that life on the road as mythical wanderers has been smooth. “Each item is constantly breaking and ends up repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Plus I’ll have countless concepts as to how I desire the presentation, but we are on the move in a vehicle with only so much space. It’s a fascinating test to make it feel like a larger-than-life story, then compress it into nothing.”

We faced additional practical issues that wouldn’t have troubled mythic characters. “We experienced an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we performed at a Portuguese festival in Portugal and my luggage – which had my sword in it – went missing,” says Riley. “It was a nightmare, because there is no an different option of the performance where I lack a blade.”

Goals Ahead

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is enthusiastic about the days to come. “I want to go to the top – we should play large venues,” she says. “The only thing that’s truly essential to me is keeping the handmade style, guaranteeing everything is custom-made. It’s a component I want to remain faithful to, regardless of we achieve. Plus, I wish to appear on a mythical beast at all performances. Think about how some artists ride bikes on stage? The same idea, but using a unicorn.”