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While many musicians have borrowed from fantasy lore, few have genuinely embodied the enchanted existence. Admittedly, they could adorn their album covers with ghouls, beasts, captive women and muscular warriors, but has an artist ever needed to find a missing horn from a unicorn from a snowy field in the midst of winter? Has a performer spent time squinting in the rear of a tour bus, mending their own chainmail?

Embracing the Mythos

Created in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have dealt with such situations and additional ones as they live out their grand tales. From knightly, catchy songs to eye-popping live shows, costume design, videos and cover artwork, they’re more than a rock act as a total artistic immersion.

“It wasn’t planned to be a outfit with characters,” says vocalist, guitar player, sword-wielder and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle travels from a packed show in Cologne to a second one in Aschaffenburg – they are playing multiple performances in the UK currently. “We played two shows and got booked on a spooky event, where I decided spontaneously to put on an outfit. Everything was highly handmade, but we had so much fun and the feeling in the room was electric. It occurred to me, ‘What if we could have this much fun always?’”

Growth of the Group

Since then, the group – which features Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” together with a medic from history (low-end instrumentalist), proud bloodsucker (guitarist) and mysterious druid (rhythm keeper) – continued forward. The Bestiary, the group’s sophomore release, conjures visions of famous rock groups collaborating to battle their way through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that sets them on the edge of far grander things.

This album was a first for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her fellow members. “That contributed to a more powerful project,” she says of the collaborative process. “I had difficulty at first – There was a sense of a specific level of pride being a woman in music going it alone. I’ve had so many times where I’ve got off stage and some guy will say, ‘The band compose cool melodies!’ and I think, ‘Hey – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As their fame has grown, so has the scale of their visual elements. “My philosophy is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. She was originally on path for a fine art degree before balking at the possibility of financial burden. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to express creativity,” she says. “Whether it’s making masks, attire creation, figuring out video editing clips … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to learn in the moment.”

Even though creating the ensemble’s complex backstory (“Everyone’s urging me to document it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, indicating her head) and making clothing wasn’t enough, the vocalist self-educated how to craft metal mesh – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly entrusted her completely original reptilian-inspired outfit to a professional in the city. “It’s as if actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

What about the crowd? They loved the stage blood, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with similar excitement as the group. “We played a gig in the Motor City and it seemed like a medieval event,” recalls Riley with affection. “All attendees was in robes, sheepskin, chainmail.”

This isn’t to say, however, that life on the road as mythical wanderers has been plain sailing. “Each item is frequently damaged and ends up repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Additionally I’ll have numerous thoughts as to how I desire the presentation, but we tour in a van with restricted capacity. It’s a unique problem to make it feel like a grand epic, then compress it into a small space.”

We faced other logistical problems that didn’t affect legendary fantasy heroes. “We experienced an ‘oh shit’ moment when we played a Portuguese festival in Portugal and my luggage – which had my blade in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “That was a nightmare, because there’s not an different option of the concert where I am without a blade.”

Goals Ahead

As a genuine leader, Riley is eager about the what’s next. “I want to go all the way – let’s do stadiums,” she says. “The main aspect that’s deeply meaningful to me is keeping the handmade style, guaranteeing everything is custom-made. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, whatever we grow into. Plus, I desire to appear on a mythical beast at all performances. Remember how famous musicians use vehicles in concerts? That, but using a unicorn.”