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While numerous artists have taken inspiration from fantasy lore, only a handful have truly lived the mythical way of life. Certainly, they might embellish their album covers with monsters, beasts, captive women and muscular warriors, but has any musician ever have to find a lost mythical horn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Has a guitarist devoted hours straining their eyes in the rear of a tour bus, repairing their own metal mesh?

Immersed in the Legend

Created in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have encountered these exact challenges and more as they act out their heroic dreams. Starting with heraldic, memorable tunes to stunning live shows, costume design, visuals and record designs, they’re more than a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“It wasn’t planned to be a outfit with characters,” states singer, guitarist, sword-wielder and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van speeds from a full-capacity concert in a German city to another in another town – they have multiple performances in the UK this week. “After a couple of performances and got booked on a Halloween gig, 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 energy was electric. I thought, ‘Imagine if we could have such enjoyment every time?’”

Growth of the Group

From that point on, the band – which features Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” alongside a medic from history (bass player), aristocratic undead (six-string player) and secretive shaman (percussionist) – haven’t looked back. Their latest album, the group’s sophomore release, evokes images of famous rock groups uniting to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a grand composition that positions them on the edge of far grander things.

The release was a first for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her collaborators. “That contributed to a much better album,” she says of the collaborative process. “I struggled at first – I often experienced a specific level of satisfaction as a woman in music doing everything solo. I’ve had so many times where I finished performing and some guy will say, ‘Those guys create awesome guitar parts!’ and I’m like, ‘Wait – I wrote all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

With their growing popularity has expanded, so has the breadth of their stage presentation. “My philosophy is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. Initially, she was on path for a fine art degree before hesitating at the idea of financial burden. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to demonstrate artistry,” she says. “Whether it’s making masks, outfit planning, figuring out video editing clips … it’s all stuff I am unfamiliar with, but it’s enjoyable to figure it out in the moment.”

Even though building the ensemble’s complex backstory (“People are encouraging me to write it down because everything is stored,” Riley says, indicating her head) and sewing costumes were insufficient, the singer taught herself how to craft metal mesh – no mean feat, though she confessedly entrusted her brand-new scalemail look to a expert from NYC. “It feels like actual armour,” she grins.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

As for audiences? They loved the theatrical gore, toy blades and papier-mache rat skulls with similar excitement as the group. “We played a gig in Detroit and it resembled a Renaissance fair,” reminisces Riley fondly. “All attendees was in capes, wool garments, chainmail.”

However, this doesn’t mean, though, that traveling lifestyle as mythical wanderers has been smooth. “Everything is constantly breaking and ends up duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Plus I’ll have countless concepts as to how I desire the presentation, but we are on the move in a van with limited room. It’s a unique problem to give the sense like a mythic tale, then compress it into minimal luggage.”

We faced other logistical problems that didn’t affect legendary fantasy heroes. “We did have an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we appeared at SonicBlast festival in Portugal and my baggage – which had my sword in it – went missing,” says Riley. “This became a terrible situation, because there is no an alternative version of the show where I lack a blade.”

Future Ambitions

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is enthusiastic about the what’s next. “My goal is as far as possible – we should play stadiums,” she says. “The key element that’s really important to me is preserving the self-crafted look, ensuring all elements is custom-made. This is a feature I want to keep true to, regardless of we scale to. Oh, and I desire to appear on a magical horse at all performances. Remember how legends do the motorcycle thing? The same idea, but using a unicorn.”