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While plenty of artists have borrowed from fantasy lore, rarely any have fully embraced the mythical lifestyle. Certainly, they could decorate their album covers with monsters, goblins, chained damsels and strong fighters, but has any musician ever been forced to recover a lost mythical horn from a snowy field in the depths of winter? Did anyone spent time peering in the interior of a traveling vehicle, fixing their own metal mesh?

Immersed in the Legend

Created in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have encountered such situations and others as they live out their heroic dreams. From heraldic, catchy anthems to stunning live shows, costume design, visuals and album art, they’re more than a heavy metal group as a full immersive experience.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a costumed concept band,” says vocalist, guitar player, sword-wielder and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van speeds from a full-capacity concert in a German city to a second one in another town – they’re also doing five gigs in the UK now. “We played two shows and got booked on a Halloween gig, where I made a last-minute decision to wear a costume. It was all completely self-made, but we had a blast and the energy was electric. I thought, ‘Imagine if we could have this much fun always?’”

The Band’s Evolution

After that, the ensemble – which features Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” together with a plague doctor (bass player), aristocratic undead (six-string player) and mysterious druid (drummer) – haven’t looked back. The Bestiary, the follow-up record, brings to mind of famous rock groups joining forces to battle their way through a mythical painted realm – a grand composition that positions them on the verge of greater success.

The Bestiary was a first for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her collaborators. “That contributed to a more powerful album,” she says of the collaborative process. “I struggled at first – I often experienced a specific level of satisfaction being a woman in music doing everything solo. I’ve had multiple instances where after a show and a person will say, ‘The band create awesome guitar parts!’ and I think, ‘Listen – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As the band’s stature has grown, so has the breadth of their stage presentation. “The saying I live by is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. At first, she had been on track for a art school education before balking at the possibility of heavy loans. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to express artistic expression,” she says. “Be it creating face coverings, attire creation, learning how to edit music videos … everything is I don’t know how to do, but it’s exciting to figure it out as we go.”

Even though developing the band’s intricate lore (“The team is pushing me to record it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, indicating her head) and making clothing were insufficient, the vocalist learned on her own how to create armor – a challenging endeavor, though she admittedly left her completely original reptilian-inspired outfit to a New York-based specialist. “It seems like actual armour,” she beams.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

Regarding the fans? They embraced the fake blood, soft weapons and crafted rodent bones with similar excitement as the group. “We played a gig in the Motor City and it seemed like a historical festival,” reminisces Riley happily. “The whole crowd was in cloaks, wool garments, armor.”

This isn’t to say, nevertheless, that traveling lifestyle as mythical wanderers has been smooth. “Everything is frequently damaged and gets duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Additionally I’ll have endless ideas as to how I want things to look, but we are on the move in a vehicle with only so much space. It’s a unique problem to make it feel like a larger-than-life story, then compress it into nothing.”

There have been other logistical problems that wouldn’t have troubled legendary fantasy heroes. “There was an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we played SonicBlast festival in the European country and my luggage – which had my blade in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “It was a terrible situation, because we don’t have an different option of the show where I am without a sword.”

Future Ambitions

As a genuine leader, Riley is enthusiastic about the days to come. “My goal is all the way – I dream of large venues,” she says. “The only thing that’s really important to me is preserving the handmade style, guaranteeing each detail is custom-made. This is a feature I want to stay authentic to, regardless of we scale to. Plus, I wish to ride out on a unicorn every night. Remember how famous musicians ride bikes on stage? That, but on a mythical creature.”