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Although many artists have drawn from high fantasy, rarely any have truly lived the fantasy existence. Admittedly, they could adorn their album sleeves with creatures, beasts, chained damsels and muscular warriors, but has any musician ever have to find a missing unicorn horn from a snowy field in the heart of winter? Did a performer taken the time squinting in the rear of a traveling vehicle, fixing their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Formed in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have dealt with both these scenarios and more as they live out their grand tales. From knightly, catchy tunes to stunning concerts, costume design, visuals and album art, they’re more than a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a costumed concept band,” states singer, guitarist, sword-carrier and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the musicians’ transport speeds from a full-capacity concert in a German city to another in Aschaffenburg – they have five gigs in the UK this week. “We played two shows and were scheduled on a Halloween gig, where I made a last-minute decision to wear a costume. The entire setup was completely self-made, but we had an amazing time and the energy was electric. I realized, ‘How about if we could have this much fun every time?’”

The Band’s Evolution

After that, the group – which includes Pinkerton as the “Rat Queen” together with a pestilence physician (bass player), proud bloodsucker (guitarist) and secretive shaman (drummer) – never turned back. The new record, the follow-up record, evokes images of classic metal icons joining forces to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a epic masterpiece 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. “This helped a much better project,” she says of the team effort. “It was challenging at first – I often experienced a particular degree of pride as a female in music going it alone. There have been so many times where I finished performing and a person will say, ‘The band write great riffs!’ and I’m like, ‘Wait – I composed all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

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 chuckles. She was originally on track for a university studies in art before pulling back at the possibility of so much debt. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to express artistry,” she says. “Be it crafting disguises, costume design, mastering post-production clips … these are all things I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to discover on the fly.”

Even though developing the ensemble’s complex backstory (“The team is pushing me to record it because it’s all in here,” Riley says, indicating her head) and stitching garments didn’t suffice, the vocalist learned on her own how to make chainmail – no mean feat, though she admittedly entrusted her completely original scale armor design to a New York-based specialist. “It seems like actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Fan Response and Obstacles

What about the crowd? They took to the stage blood, toy blades and papier-mache rat skulls with similar excitement as the band. “We performed a show in the Motor City and it seemed like a medieval event,” reminisces Riley fondly. “Everyone was in robes, wool garments, metal wear.”

This isn’t to say, though, that traveling lifestyle as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been smooth. “All our gear is constantly breaking and ends up fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Moreover I come up with numerous thoughts as to how I envision the aesthetics, but we tour in a van with restricted capacity. It’s a unique problem to create the impression like a grand epic, then compress it into a small space.”

We faced other logistical problems that wouldn’t have troubled legendary fantasy heroes. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we appeared at a Portuguese festival in the European country and my baggage – which had my weapon in it – got lost,” says Riley. “That was a worst-case scenario, because we don’t have an different option of the show where I am without a blade.”

Goals Ahead

As a genuine leader, Riley is gung-ho about the days to come. “My goal is as far as possible – I dream of stadiums,” she says. “The key element that’s deeply meaningful to me is keeping the handmade style, ensuring all elements is handmade. That’s an element I want to keep true to, no matter what we achieve. Oh, and I wish to ride out on a magical horse each show. Think about how some artists do the motorcycle thing? That, but on a mythical creature.”