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Although many musicians have drawn from epic fantasy, rarely any have fully embraced the mythical lifestyle. Certainly, they might embellish their record jackets with monsters, goblins, captive women and brawny barbarians, but has any musician ever needed to recover a misplaced unicorn horn from a frost-covered ground in the depths of winter? Did a guitarist taken the time straining their eyes in the rear of a traveling vehicle, fixing their own metal mesh?

Living the Fantasy

Established in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have had to face both these scenarios and additional ones as they act out their heroic dreams. From medieval-inspired, earworm-heavy anthems to eye-popping performances, costume design, visuals and album art, they’re not just a rock act as a complete sensory journey.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a costumed concept band,” explains singer, guitarist, sword-wielder and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport travels from a packed show in Cologne to another in another town – they have several shows in the UK currently. “After a couple of performances and got booked on a Halloween gig, where I decided spontaneously to wear a costume. The entire setup was highly handmade, but we had a blast and the feeling in the room was unforgettable. It occurred to me, ‘What if we could have this much fun every time?’”

The Band’s Evolution

From that point on, the group – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” joined by a pestilence physician (bassist), haughty vampire (lead guitarist) and secretive shaman (rhythm keeper) – haven’t looked back. The Bestiary, the group’s sophomore release, evokes images of legendary heavy bands uniting to fight their path through a heroic art landscape – a grand composition that places them on the brink of far grander things.

The Bestiary was a first for Pinkerton in that she opened the floor to her collaborators. “It made it a more powerful project,” 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. There have been so many times where I’ve got off stage and some guy will say, ‘The band write great riffs!’ and I think, ‘Listen – I composed all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

With their growing popularity has grown, so has the scope of their stage presentation. “My motto is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. Initially, she was on path for a fine art degree before pulling back at the prospect of financial burden. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to demonstrate artistic expression,” she says. “Be it making masks, costume design, mastering post-production music videos … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s fun to discover in the moment.”

As if building the ensemble’s complex backstory (“Everyone’s urging me to record it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, indicating her head) and sewing costumes were insufficient, the vocalist self-educated how to craft metal mesh – no mean feat, though she confessedly delegated her brand-new scale armor design to a professional in the city. “It feels like actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Fan Response and Obstacles

As for audiences? They loved the theatrical gore, soft weapons and handmade props with similar excitement as the musicians. “We played a gig in the Motor City and it looked like a medieval event,” recalls Riley with affection. “The whole crowd was in robes, animal hides, armor.”

However, this doesn’t mean, nevertheless, that traveling lifestyle as fantasy adventurers has been smooth. “Everything is always failing and gets repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Additionally I come up with numerous thoughts as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we’re traveling in a vehicle with only so much space. It’s a fascinating test to give the sense like a grand epic, then pack it down into a small space.”

There have been other logistical problems that didn’t affect legendary fantasy heroes. “We experienced an ‘disastrous’ moment when we performed at a Portuguese festival in Portugal and my suitcase – which had my weapon in it – went missing,” says Riley. “It was a terrible situation, because we don’t have an different option of the performance where I am without a blade.”

Upcoming Plans

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is enthusiastic about the days to come. “I want to go to the top – let’s do stadiums,” she says. “The only thing that’s truly essential to me is maintaining the DIY aesthetic, guaranteeing everything is handmade. That’s an element I want to keep true to, whatever we scale to. Additionally, I wish to ride out on a magical horse every night. You know how legends use vehicles in concerts? That, but with a unicorn.”