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Although plenty of artists have taken inspiration from epic fantasy, rarely any have fully embraced the enchanted lifestyle. Admittedly, they could adorn their album covers with creatures, goblins, chained damsels and strong fighters, but has an artist ever been forced to retrieve a lost horn from a unicorn from a frost-covered ground in the midst of winter? Has a performer taken the time straining their eyes in the rear of a traveling vehicle, mending their own chainmail?

Immersed in the Legend

Created in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have had to face both these scenarios and more as they embody their epic fantasies. From medieval-inspired, catchy anthems to stunning live shows, outfit creation, music videos and cover artwork, they’re more than a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a costumed concept band,” explains singer, guitar player, blade-handler and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport travels from a sold-out gig in a German city to another in another town – they are playing multiple performances in the UK this week. “After a couple of performances and got booked on a October show, where I decided spontaneously to dress up. Everything was super-DIY, but we had an amazing time and the feeling in the room was incredible. I realized, ‘How about if we could have so much excitement at every show?’”

Growth of the Group

After that, the group – which features Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” together with a pestilence physician (bassist), haughty vampire (lead guitarist) and secretive shaman (drummer) – haven’t looked back. The Bestiary, the band’s second album, evokes images of famous rock groups uniting to fight their path through a mythical painted realm – a epic masterpiece that sets them on the brink of greater success.

The Bestiary was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her bandmates. “This helped a lot stronger project,” she says of the group work. “I had difficulty at first – I often experienced a certain amount of pride as a woman in music working independently. There’ve been multiple instances where after a show and an audience member will say, ‘Those guys compose cool melodies!’ and I think, ‘Wait – I created all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

As the band’s stature has grown, so has the breadth of their visual elements. “My motto is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. At first, she had been on path for a art school education before hesitating at the possibility of financial burden. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to apply artistic expression,” she says. “Be it crafting disguises, costume design, figuring out video editing clips … it’s all stuff I am unfamiliar with, but it’s fun to figure it out as we go.”

As if developing the band’s intricate lore (“The team is pushing me to document it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, tapping her head) and sewing costumes were insufficient, the singer taught herself how to make chainmail – a difficult task, though she admittedly delegated her brand-new reptilian-inspired outfit to a expert from NYC. “It’s as if actual armour,” she grins.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

As for audiences? They took to the fake blood, soft weapons and papier-mache rat skulls with similar excitement as the band. “We performed a gig in the Motor City and it looked like a historical festival,” reminisces Riley fondly. “Everyone was in cloaks, sheepskin, metal wear.”

This isn’t to say, though, that touring existence as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been smooth. “Each item is always failing and gets fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Additionally I’ll have countless concepts as to how I desire the presentation, but we tour 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 faced other logistical problems that wouldn’t have troubled fictional warriors. “We experienced an ‘disastrous’ moment when we appeared at a Portuguese festival in the European country and my baggage – which had my weapon in it – got lost,” says Riley. “This became a nightmare, because there’s not an backup plan of the performance where I lack a blade.”

Upcoming Plans

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is enthusiastic about the days to come. “I aim to reach to the top – let’s do large venues,” she says. “The key element that’s deeply meaningful to me is preserving the self-crafted look, making sure each detail is custom-made. This is a feature I want to keep true to, whatever we scale to. Plus, I want to ride out on a magical horse each show. Remember how legends ride bikes on stage? Exactly that, but using a unicorn.”