🔗 Share this article

While many musicians have drawn from fantasy lore, few have fully embraced the enchanted way of life. Admittedly, they might embellish their album covers with monsters, imps, manacled maidens and brawny barbarians, but did a member ever needed to find a lost horn from a unicorn from a snowy field in the depths of winter? Has a guitarist spent time squinting in the rear of a traveling vehicle, fixing their own chainmail?

Immersed in the Legend

Created in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have dealt with these exact challenges and others as they live out their epic fantasies. From heraldic, catchy songs to stunning live shows, attire styling, visuals and album art, they’re not so much a rock act as a total artistic immersion.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a themed musical group,” states singer, guitarist, sword-wielder and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle drives from a sold-out gig in Cologne to one more in Aschaffenburg – they have several shows in the UK now. “Initially, we performed twice and received an offer on a Halloween gig, where I decided spontaneously to wear a costume. Everything was super-DIY, but we had so much fun and the atmosphere was incredible. I realized, ‘How about if we could have this much fun every time?’”

The Band’s Evolution

Since then, the group – which features Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” alongside a medic from history (bassist), haughty vampire (six-string player) and secretive shaman (percussionist) – continued forward. The Bestiary, the group’s sophomore release, brings to mind of classic metal icons collaborating to fight their path through a heroic art landscape – a epic masterpiece that sets them on the brink of bigger achievements.

The release was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her bandmates. “It made it a more powerful album,” she says of the team effort. “I struggled at first – There was a sense of a particular degree of pride as a female in music doing everything solo. I’ve had multiple instances where after a show and a person will say, ‘The band compose cool melodies!’ and I respond, ‘Listen – I wrote all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As their fame has increased, so has the scale of their stage presentation. “The saying I live by is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. At first, she had been on course for a university studies in art before balking at the idea of financial burden. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to apply creativity,” she says. “Be it creating face coverings, outfit planning, mastering post-production song visuals … it’s all stuff I have no experience with, but it’s enjoyable to figure it out in the moment.”

As if developing the group’s detailed mythology (“People are encouraging me to write it down because all the ideas are,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and stitching garments wasn’t enough, the singer taught herself how to craft metal mesh – a challenging endeavor, though she admittedly left her brand-new reptilian-inspired outfit to a New York-based specialist. “It feels like actual armour,” she grins.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

As for audiences? They took to the stage blood, foam swords and papier-mache rat skulls with equal enthusiasm as the musicians. “We played a show in Detroit and it resembled a historical festival,” remembers Riley with affection. “The whole crowd was in cloaks, wool garments, armor.”

That’s not to imply, though, that life on the road as mythical wanderers has been easy. “Everything is constantly breaking and ends up duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Moreover I’ll have countless concepts as to how I want things to look, but we’re traveling in a van with restricted capacity. It’s a fascinating test to create the impression like a larger-than-life story, then compress it into minimal luggage.”

We faced other logistical problems that didn’t affect mythic characters. “We did have an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we appeared at a music event in the European country and my luggage – which had my weapon in it – went missing,” says Riley. “It was a worst-case scenario, because there is no an alternative version of the concert where I lack a sword.”

Goals Ahead

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is eager about the days to come. “My goal is to the top – we should play stadiums,” she says. “The key element that’s really important to me is preserving the DIY aesthetic, guaranteeing each detail is crafted by us. It’s a component I want to remain faithful to, regardless of we scale to. Oh, and I desire to ride out on a magical horse each show. You know how famous musicians do the motorcycle thing? Exactly that, but on a mythical creature.”