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Although many rockers have borrowed from fantasy lore, rarely any have genuinely embodied the enchanted way of life. Sure, they might decorate their album sleeves with monsters, beasts, captive women and strong fighters, but did a member ever have to retrieve a lost horn from a unicorn from a snowy field in the heart of winter? Did a performer devoted hours straining their eyes in the interior of a traveling vehicle, mending their own metal mesh?

Living the Fantasy

Established in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have dealt with such situations and others as they live out their grand tales. From medieval-inspired, catchy tunes to stunning live shows, outfit creation, videos and record designs, they’re more than a rock act as a full immersive experience.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a outfit with characters,” explains vocalist, guitar player, blade-handler and artistic leader Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport speeds from a sold-out gig in a German city to another in Aschaffenburg – they have several shows in the UK now. “After a couple of performances and got booked on a October show, where I made a last-minute decision to put on an outfit. Everything was completely self-made, but we had a blast and the feeling in the room was incredible. I realized, ‘What if we could have such enjoyment at every show?’”

Development of Castle Rat

After that, the ensemble – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” together with a pestilence physician (bassist), aristocratic undead (six-string player) and mysterious druid (drummer) – continued forward. The Bestiary, the group’s sophomore release, conjures visions of famous rock groups joining forces to battle their way through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that positions them on the brink of bigger achievements.

The Bestiary was a first for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her collaborators. “This helped a much better project,” she says of the team effort. “I had difficulty at first – I’d always felt a particular degree of accomplishment as a female in music working independently. There have been multiple instances where I’ve got off stage and a person will say, ‘The band create awesome guitar parts!’ and I think, ‘Hey – I wrote all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

With their growing popularity has expanded, so has the scale of their visual elements. “The saying I live by is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. At first, she had been on course 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 demonstrate artistic expression,” she says. “From creating face coverings, costume design, learning how to edit song visuals … it’s all stuff I don’t know how to do, but it’s exciting to figure it out in the moment.”

As if building the band’s intricate lore (“People are encouraging me to record it because everything is stored,” Riley says, tapping her head) and stitching garments wasn’t enough, the singer learned on her own how to craft metal mesh – a difficult task, though she admittedly left her completely original scale armor design to a professional in the city. “It’s as if actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

Regarding the fans? They took to the fake blood, soft weapons and handmade props with similar excitement as the band. “We performed a concert in the Motor City and it seemed like a medieval event,” recalls Riley with affection. “The whole crowd was in cloaks, animal hides, metal wear.”

That’s not to imply, nevertheless, that life on the road as mythical wanderers has been smooth. “Everything is frequently damaged and gets fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Additionally I’ll have countless concepts as to how I want things to look, but we’re traveling in a bus with restricted capacity. It’s a fascinating test to create the impression like a grand epic, then store it into nothing.”

We faced other logistical problems that didn’t affect legendary fantasy heroes. “We did have an ‘disastrous’ moment when we played SonicBlast festival in the European country and my suitcase – which had my weapon in it – went missing,” says Riley. “It was a nightmare, because there’s not an alternative version of the show where I am without a blade.”

Goals Ahead

As a genuine leader, Riley is enthusiastic about the future. “I want to go as far as possible – we should play large venues,” she says. “The key element that’s really important to me is maintaining the handmade style, guaranteeing each detail is custom-made. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, regardless of we achieve. Plus, I desire to ride out on a magical horse each show. Think about how some artists do the motorcycle thing? That, but with a unicorn.”