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While plenty of artists have borrowed from epic fantasy, rarely any have genuinely embodied the fantasy way of life. Admittedly, they could decorate their album sleeves with ghouls, goblins, captive women and strong fighters, but has any musician ever been forced to retrieve a missing mythical horn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Has a guitarist devoted hours straining their eyes in the back of a road transport, mending their own metal mesh?

Living the Fantasy

Created in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have had to face both these scenarios and additional ones as they act out their grand tales. Starting with medieval-inspired, earworm-heavy songs to breathtaking concerts, costume design, music videos and cover artwork, they’re not so much a metal band as a full immersive experience.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a costumed concept band,” says vocalist, guitar player, blade-handler and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van travels from a packed show in Cologne to another in Aschaffenburg – they are playing multiple performances in the UK this week. “We played two shows and got booked on a spooky event, where I chose at the final moment to put on an outfit. Everything was super-DIY, but we had an amazing time and the atmosphere was incredible. I thought, ‘Imagine if we could have so much excitement every time?’”

Development of Castle Rat

After that, the band – which features Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” joined by a plague doctor (bassist), proud bloodsucker (lead guitarist) and secretive shaman (drummer) – never turned back. The new record, the band’s second album, evokes images of legendary heavy bands uniting to fight their path through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a epic masterpiece that sets them on the edge of greater success.

The release was a first for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her collaborators. “It made it a lot stronger record,” she says of the team effort. “I struggled at first – I’d always felt a particular degree of satisfaction as a woman in music doing everything solo. I’ve had multiple instances where I’ve got off stage and a person will say, ‘The band write great riffs!’ and I think, ‘Wait – I created all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As the band’s stature has grown, so has the scope of their production design. “My motto is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. Initially, she was on course for a art school education before hesitating at the idea of so much debt. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to apply creativity,” she says. “Be it crafting disguises, attire creation, figuring out video editing clips … everything is I have no experience with, but it’s fun to figure it out in the moment.”

Even though building the group’s detailed mythology (“The team is pushing me to record it because everything is stored,” Riley says, indicating her head) and sewing costumes wasn’t enough, the singer taught herself how to make chainmail – a difficult task, though she admittedly delegated her all-new scalemail look to a expert from NYC. “It’s as if actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

Regarding the fans? They loved the stage blood, toy blades and papier-mache rat skulls with equal enthusiasm as the band. “We played a concert in the Motor City and it seemed like a Renaissance fair,” remembers Riley happily. “Everyone was in robes, wool garments, chainmail.”

However, this doesn’t mean, nevertheless, that traveling lifestyle as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been plain sailing. “Each item is constantly breaking and becomes fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Moreover I get countless concepts as to how I want things to look, but we tour in a vehicle with only so much space. It’s a fascinating test to create the impression like a grand epic, then compress it into a small space.”

We faced additional practical issues that wouldn’t have troubled mythic characters. “We experienced an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we played a music event in Portugal and my luggage – which had my sword in it – went missing,” says Riley. “That was a worst-case scenario, because there is no an alternative version of the performance where I don’t have a blade.”

Goals Ahead

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is eager about the days to come. “I want to go all the way – I dream of huge arenas,” she says. “The main aspect that’s truly essential to me is preserving the self-crafted look, ensuring each detail is crafted by us. It’s a component I want to keep true to, no matter what we achieve. Plus, I want to appear on a unicorn every night. Remember how some artists ride bikes on stage? Exactly that, but using a unicorn.”