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While many musicians have borrowed from fantasy lore, rarely any have truly lived the fantasy lifestyle. Sure, they might decorate their album sleeves with creatures, goblins, manacled maidens and brawny barbarians, but has any musician ever needed to find a misplaced horn from a unicorn from a wintry landscape in the heart of winter? Has a performer spent time peering in the rear of a tour bus, repairing their own metal mesh?

Living the Fantasy

Established in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have had to face such situations and more as they live out their grand tales. From medieval-inspired, catchy songs to eye-popping concerts, attire styling, music videos and cover artwork, they’re more than a metal band as a full immersive experience.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a costumed concept band,” states singer, guitar player, sword-carrier and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport drives from a sold-out gig in a German city to one more in Aschaffenburg – they’re also doing several shows in the UK this week. “After a couple of performances and got booked on a spooky event, where I made a last-minute decision to wear a costume. The entire setup was completely self-made, but we had a blast and the atmosphere was incredible. I thought, ‘Imagine if we could have such enjoyment at every show?’”

Development of Castle Rat

Since then, the group – which features Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” together with a medic from history (low-end instrumentalist), haughty vampire (guitarist) and mysterious druid (percussionist) – 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 Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a grand composition that sets them on the brink of greater success.

The release was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her collaborators. “That contributed to a much better album,” she says of the team effort. “It was challenging at first – I’d always felt a certain amount of pride as a woman in music doing everything solo. I’ve had multiple instances where after a show and some guy will say, ‘The band create awesome guitar parts!’ and I think, ‘Listen – I composed all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

As their fame has grown, so has the breadth of their production design. “The saying I live by is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. Initially, she was on path for a university studies in art before balking at the possibility of heavy loans. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to demonstrate artistry,” she says. “From making masks, attire creation, learning how to edit song visuals … it’s all stuff I have no experience with, but it’s enjoyable to figure it out in the moment.”

Even though building the band’s intricate lore (“The team is pushing me to record it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, tapping her head) and stitching garments wasn’t enough, the singer taught herself how to craft metal mesh – a difficult task, though she admittedly entrusted her all-new scalemail look to a expert from NYC. “It feels like actual armour,” she beams.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

As for audiences? They embraced the stage blood, toy blades and papier-mache rat skulls with equal enthusiasm as the group. “We played a gig in the Motor City and it looked like a Renaissance fair,” remembers Riley happily. “The whole crowd was in cloaks, wool garments, metal wear.”

That’s not to imply, however, that traveling lifestyle as fantasy adventurers has been smooth. “All our gear is constantly breaking and ends up fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Plus I get numerous thoughts as to how I desire the presentation, but we tour in a van with restricted capacity. It’s a fascinating test to give the sense like a larger-than-life story, then pack it down into minimal luggage.”

We’ve encountered further organizational challenges that wouldn’t have troubled mythic characters. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we played a music event in the European country and my suitcase – which had my blade in it – went missing,” says Riley. “That was a terrible situation, because there is no an alternative version of the show where I am without a blade.”

Future Ambitions

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is eager about the future. “I aim to reach to the top – we should play stadiums,” she says. “The only thing that’s deeply meaningful to me is preserving the handmade style, guaranteeing all elements is custom-made. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, regardless of we scale to. Plus, I desire to ride out on a magical horse each show. You know how some artists ride bikes on stage? Exactly that, but with a unicorn.”