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Although numerous artists have drawn from epic fantasy, few have genuinely embodied the fantasy lifestyle. Admittedly, they may embellish their album covers with creatures, beasts, manacled maidens and strong fighters, but has any musician ever been forced to retrieve a lost horn from a unicorn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Did anyone spent time squinting in the interior of a tour bus, repairing their own armor?

Living the Fantasy

Established in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have encountered these exact challenges and more as they live out their heroic dreams. From knightly, earworm-heavy tunes to stunning performances, outfit creation, music videos and album art, they’re more than a heavy metal group as a complete sensory journey.

“It wasn’t planned to be a themed musical group,” says singer, guitar player, blade-handler and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle drives from a full-capacity concert in Cologne to another in Aschaffenburg – they’re also doing five gigs in the UK this week. “After a couple of performances and received an offer on a Halloween gig, where I made a last-minute decision to wear a costume. It was all completely self-made, but we had an amazing time and the feeling in the room was electric. I realized, ‘What if we could have so much excitement every time?’”

Growth of the Group

After that, the group – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” joined by a medic from history (low-end instrumentalist), haughty vampire (six-string player) and enigmatic nature priest (drummer) – continued forward. Their latest album, the group’s sophomore release, brings to mind of famous rock groups joining forces to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a epic masterpiece that sets them on the verge of bigger achievements.

The Bestiary was a first for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her collaborators. “This helped a much better record,” she says of the team effort. “I had difficulty at first – I’d always felt a certain amount of satisfaction as a female in music going it alone. There’ve been so many times where I’ve got off stage and a person will say, ‘The band compose cool melodies!’ and I’m like, ‘Listen – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As their fame has increased, so has the scale of their production design. “My philosophy is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. At first, she had been on course for a university studies in art before hesitating at the idea of financial burden. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to express artistry,” she says. “Whether it’s making masks, outfit planning, mastering post-production clips … it’s all stuff I don’t know how to do, but it’s exciting to discover as we go.”

Even though developing the group’s detailed mythology (“Everyone’s urging me to document it because everything is stored,” Riley says, indicating her head) and sewing costumes wasn’t enough, the singer learned on her own how to make chainmail – a difficult task, though she confessedly left her completely original reptilian-inspired outfit to a professional in the city. “It’s as if actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Fan Response and Obstacles

As for audiences? They embraced the theatrical gore, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with similar excitement as the band. “We played a concert in the Motor City and it looked like a Renaissance fair,” reminisces Riley fondly. “Everyone was in robes, sheepskin, armor.”

This isn’t to say, however, that traveling lifestyle as fantasy adventurers has been easy. “Everything is constantly breaking and becomes repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Moreover I’ll have endless ideas as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we are on the move in a vehicle with limited room. It’s a unique problem to create the impression like a mythic tale, then store it into minimal luggage.”

There have been additional practical issues that didn’t affect fictional warriors. “We experienced an ‘oh shit’ moment when we appeared at a Portuguese festival in Portugal and my suitcase – which had my sword in it – went missing,” says Riley. “That was a terrible situation, because there is no an different option of the performance where I am without a sword.”

Goals Ahead

As a genuine leader, Riley is enthusiastic about the future. “My goal is all the way – we should play huge arenas,” she says. “The key element that’s deeply meaningful to me is keeping the DIY aesthetic, making sure everything is crafted by us. That’s an element I want to stay authentic to, no matter what we grow into. Plus, I want to appear on a mythical beast at all performances. Think about how famous musicians ride bikes on stage? The same idea, but on a mythical creature.”