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While many artists have drawn from fantasy lore, few have genuinely embodied the enchanted way of life. Sure, they might embellish their record jackets with ghouls, beasts, manacled maidens and strong fighters, but has an artist ever been forced to find a lost unicorn horn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Did a guitarist spent time squinting in the rear of a road transport, mending their own armor?

Living the Fantasy

Created in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have dealt with these exact challenges and more as they act out their grand tales. Starting with medieval-inspired, earworm-heavy anthems to eye-popping performances, outfit creation, visuals and cover artwork, they’re more than a rock act as a total artistic immersion.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a outfit with characters,” explains vocalist, guitar player, blade-handler and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van 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 now. “After a couple of performances and got booked on a Halloween gig, where I chose at the final moment to put on an outfit. Everything was highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the atmosphere was unforgettable. I thought, ‘What if we could have such enjoyment always?’”

Growth of the Group

Since then, the band – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” together with a pestilence physician (bassist), haughty vampire (lead guitarist) and secretive shaman (drummer) – haven’t looked back. The new record, the follow-up record, evokes images of classic metal icons collaborating to fight their path through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a epic masterpiece that places them on the brink of bigger achievements.

This album was a first for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her fellow members. “That contributed to a more powerful project,” she says of the team effort. “I struggled at first – I’d always felt a specific level of pride as a woman in music doing everything solo. I’ve had numerous occasions where after a show and a person will say, ‘The band compose cool melodies!’ and I respond, ‘Hey – I created all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

As the band’s stature has grown, so has the breadth of their visual elements. “The saying I live by is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. Initially, she was on track for a university studies in art before balking at the prospect of financial burden. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to express artistry,” she says. “Whether it’s crafting disguises, costume design, figuring out video editing song visuals … it’s all stuff I don’t know how to do, but it’s fun to figure it out on the fly.”

As if developing the ensemble’s complex backstory (“Everyone’s urging me to document it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, tapping her head) and making clothing didn’t suffice, the singer self-educated how to make chainmail – a difficult task, though she confessedly delegated her all-new scale armor design to a New York-based specialist. “It’s as if actual armour,” she beams.

Fan Response and Obstacles

What about the crowd? They loved the stage blood, soft weapons and crafted rodent bones with equal enthusiasm as the group. “We played a gig in Detroit and it resembled a medieval event,” reminisces Riley with affection. “The whole crowd was in cloaks, animal hides, chainmail.”

This isn’t to say, however, that life on the road as mythical wanderers has been plain sailing. “Each item is frequently damaged and becomes fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Additionally I come up with endless ideas as to how I desire the presentation, but we’re traveling in a vehicle with restricted capacity. It’s an interesting challenge to make it feel like a grand epic, then pack it down into a small space.”

There have been further organizational challenges that didn’t affect mythic characters. “We experienced an ‘oh shit’ moment when we appeared at a music event in the European country and my suitcase – which had my sword in it – got lost,” says Riley. “It was a nightmare, because we don’t have an different option of the performance where I am without a sword.”

Upcoming Plans

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “I want to go to the top – we should play stadiums,” she says. “The key element that’s truly essential to me is keeping the self-crafted look, making sure everything is handmade. It’s a component I want to keep true to, whatever we scale to. Oh, and I wish to make an entrance on a unicorn at all performances. Remember how famous musicians ride bikes on stage? Exactly that, but with a unicorn.”