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While plenty of artists have borrowed from epic fantasy, only a handful have fully embraced the enchanted way of life. Sure, they may embellish their album covers with creatures, imps, chained damsels and brawny barbarians, but has an artist ever been forced to recover a misplaced unicorn horn from a wintry landscape in the heart of winter? Has a performer spent time squinting in the back of a traveling vehicle, fixing their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Formed in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have encountered both these scenarios and more as they act out their epic fantasies. From heraldic, memorable tunes to breathtaking performances, costume design, visuals and album art, they’re not just a metal band as a complete sensory journey.

“It wasn’t planned to be a themed musical group,” says vocalist, guitarist, sword-wielder and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle speeds from a packed show in Cologne to one more in Aschaffenburg – they’re also doing five gigs in the UK currently. “We played two shows and received an offer on a October show, where I decided spontaneously to dress up. Everything was super-DIY, but we had so much fun and the feeling in the room was electric. It occurred to me, ‘Imagine if we could have so much excitement always?’”

Growth of the Group

From that point on, the band – which features Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” alongside a plague doctor (bassist), haughty vampire (guitarist) and mysterious druid (rhythm keeper) – never turned back. Their latest album, the band’s second album, brings to mind of famous rock groups uniting to fight their path through a mythical painted realm – a epic masterpiece that positions them on the verge of far grander things.

The release was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her collaborators. “It made it a lot stronger project,” she says of the collaborative process. “I had difficulty at first – There was a sense of a certain amount of accomplishment being a woman in music doing everything solo. There’ve been numerous occasions where I finished performing and some guy will say, ‘The band write great riffs!’ and I respond, ‘Listen – I wrote all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

With their growing popularity has grown, so has the scope of their stage presentation. “My philosophy is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. She was originally on course for a art school education before balking at the prospect of heavy loans. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to demonstrate artistic expression,” she says. “Whether it’s crafting disguises, outfit planning, figuring out video editing clips … it’s all stuff I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to learn as we go.”

As if building the ensemble’s complex backstory (“The team is pushing me to write it down because all the ideas are,” Riley says, indicating her head) and making clothing were insufficient, the vocalist taught herself how to craft metal mesh – no mean feat, though she admittedly 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

What about the crowd? They loved the fake blood, toy blades and crafted rodent bones with as much gusto as the band. “We had a gig in the Motor City and it looked like a medieval event,” remembers Riley fondly. “Everyone was in capes, wool garments, metal wear.”

That’s not to imply, however, that life on the road as fantasy adventurers has been smooth. “Each item is always failing and becomes repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Plus I’ll have numerous thoughts as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we are on the move in a bus with restricted capacity. It’s an interesting challenge to make it feel like a larger-than-life story, then pack it down into minimal luggage.”

There have been additional practical issues that didn’t affect legendary fantasy heroes. “We experienced an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we played SonicBlast festival in Portugal and my luggage – which had my blade in it – went missing,” says Riley. “This became a worst-case scenario, because there’s not an alternative version of the show where I don’t have a blade.”

Upcoming Plans

As a genuine leader, Riley is enthusiastic about the future. “My goal is as far as possible – we should play huge arenas,” she says. “The only thing that’s truly essential to me is preserving the self-crafted look, guaranteeing all elements is custom-made. This is a feature I want to keep true to, whatever we achieve. Plus, I wish to make an entrance on a mythical beast each show. You know how some artists do the motorcycle thing? Exactly that, but using a unicorn.”