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While plenty of musicians have borrowed from epic fantasy, few have truly lived the enchanted existence. Admittedly, they could embellish their album sleeves with creatures, imps, chained damsels and strong fighters, but has any musician ever needed to find a misplaced unicorn horn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Has a guitarist spent time squinting in the rear of a road transport, mending their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Established in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have dealt with such situations and more as they act out their grand tales. Starting with medieval-inspired, catchy anthems to eye-popping live shows, attire styling, visuals and album art, they’re more than a rock act as a full immersive experience.

“It wasn’t planned to be a themed musical group,” explains singer, guitarist, sword-carrier and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport speeds from a sold-out gig in a German city to a second one in Aschaffenburg – they’re also doing five gigs in the UK currently. “Initially, we performed twice and got booked on a October show, where I decided spontaneously to dress up. Everything was highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the atmosphere was electric. I realized, ‘Imagine if we could have so much excitement every time?’”

The Band’s Evolution

Since then, the band – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” together with a plague doctor (low-end instrumentalist), aristocratic undead (lead guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (rhythm keeper) – haven’t looked back. The new record, the band’s second album, evokes images of classic metal icons uniting to fight their path through a heroic art landscape – a epic masterpiece that sets them on the edge of bigger achievements.

The Bestiary was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her fellow members. “This helped a lot stronger album,” she says of the collaborative process. “It was challenging at first – There was a sense of a particular degree of pride as a female in music doing everything solo. I’ve had multiple instances where after a show and a person will say, ‘The band compose cool melodies!’ and I respond, ‘Listen – I composed all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

As their fame has expanded, so has the breadth of their visual elements. “My philosophy is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. At first, she had been on track for a university studies in art before balking at the prospect of so much debt. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to express artistic expression,” she says. “Be it creating face coverings, costume design, mastering post-production song visuals … everything is I don’t know how to do, but it’s fun to discover as we go.”

As if developing the ensemble’s complex backstory (“The team is pushing me to write it down because it’s all in here,” Riley says, indicating her head) and making clothing were insufficient, the singer learned on her own how to make chainmail – no mean feat, though she admittedly left her all-new scale armor design to a professional in the city. “It seems like actual armour,” she grins.

Fan Response and Obstacles

What about the crowd? They embraced the fake blood, foam swords and handmade props with as much gusto as the band. “We had a concert in the Motor City and it seemed like a medieval event,” reminisces Riley happily. “Everyone was in capes, animal hides, chainmail.”

However, this doesn’t mean, though, that life on the road as mythical wanderers has been smooth. “Everything is always failing and becomes repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Moreover I get numerous thoughts as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we’re traveling in a van with only so much space. It’s an interesting challenge to give the sense like a mythic tale, then store it into minimal luggage.”

We’ve encountered additional practical issues that didn’t affect legendary fantasy heroes. “There was an ‘oh shit’ moment when we appeared at a music event in Portugal and my suitcase – which had my blade in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “This became a terrible situation, because there is no an different option of the performance where I am without a blade.”

Goals Ahead

In the spirit of a hero, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “I want to go to the top – let’s do huge arenas,” she says. “The main aspect that’s deeply meaningful to me is keeping the DIY aesthetic, making sure all elements is crafted by us. That’s an element I want to stay authentic to, regardless of we scale to. Plus, I desire to ride out on a mythical beast every night. You know how legends do the motorcycle thing? That, but on a mythical creature.”