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While plenty of musicians have borrowed from epic fantasy, only a handful have genuinely embodied the enchanted lifestyle. Admittedly, they might embellish their record jackets with creatures, beasts, captive women and brawny barbarians, but did a member ever have to find a misplaced unicorn horn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Has a performer spent time squinting in the interior of a tour bus, fixing their own chainmail?

Embracing the Mythos

Formed in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have dealt with these exact challenges and additional ones as they live out their heroic dreams. From knightly, catchy anthems to breathtaking concerts, costume design, videos and record designs, they’re more than a heavy metal group as a complete sensory journey.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a outfit with characters,” states singer, guitar player, blade-handler and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle drives from a packed show in a German city to one more in Aschaffenburg – they’re also doing multiple performances in the UK now. “After a couple of performances and received an offer on a Halloween gig, where I made a last-minute decision to put on an outfit. Everything was highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the atmosphere was incredible. I realized, ‘How about if we could have such enjoyment at every show?’”

Growth of the Group

After that, the group – which features Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” joined by a plague doctor (bassist), haughty vampire (guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (rhythm keeper) – never turned back. The Bestiary, the group’s sophomore release, conjures visions of famous rock groups collaborating to fight their path through a heroic art landscape – a heroic opus that sets them on the brink of greater success.

This album was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her bandmates. “This helped a lot stronger project,” she says of the collaborative process. “I struggled at first – There was a sense of a specific level of pride as a woman in music doing everything solo. There have been numerous occasions where I finished performing and a person will say, ‘The other members create awesome guitar parts!’ and I respond, ‘Wait – I created all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

As the band’s stature has increased, so has the scale of their visual elements. “My philosophy is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. She was originally on track for a fine art degree before balking at the idea of so much debt. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to express artistic expression,” she says. “From making masks, costume design, mastering post-production clips … it’s all stuff I don’t know how to do, but it’s fun to discover in the moment.”

As if developing the band’s intricate lore (“People are encouraging me to record it because everything is stored,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and stitching garments didn’t suffice, the vocalist taught herself how to craft metal mesh – a difficult task, though she admittedly delegated her brand-new scalemail look to a New York-based specialist. “It feels like actual armour,” she grins.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

As for audiences? They loved the fake blood, soft weapons and crafted rodent bones with as much gusto as the group. “We had a concert in Detroit and it resembled a Renaissance fair,” reminisces Riley happily. “Everyone was in capes, animal hides, armor.”

However, this doesn’t mean, nevertheless, that life on the road as mythical wanderers has been easy. “Everything is constantly breaking and gets repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Moreover I come up with endless ideas as to how I desire the presentation, but we are on the move in a vehicle with only so much space. It’s a unique problem to give the sense like a mythic tale, then store it into nothing.”

We’ve encountered further organizational challenges that didn’t affect legendary fantasy heroes. “We did have an ‘oh shit’ moment when we played a music event in the European country and my suitcase – which had my sword in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “This became a terrible situation, because there’s not an different option of the show where I don’t have a sword.”

Future Ambitions

In the spirit of a hero, Riley is enthusiastic about the days to come. “I want to go all the way – we should play huge arenas,” she says. “The key element that’s really important to me is maintaining the handmade style, making sure everything is handmade. This is a feature I want to keep true to, whatever we scale to. Additionally, I desire to appear on a mythical beast at all performances. Think about how legends use vehicles in concerts? That, but on a mythical creature.”