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While plenty of artists have drawn from high fantasy, rarely any have genuinely embodied the mythical lifestyle. Certainly, they may decorate their album covers with ghouls, beasts, manacled maidens and strong fighters, but has an artist ever been forced to retrieve a lost horn from a unicorn from a snowy field in the heart of winter? Did anyone taken the time straining their eyes in the interior of a traveling vehicle, fixing their own chainmail?

Embracing the Mythos

Formed in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have dealt with these exact challenges and more as they live out their heroic dreams. Starting with knightly, memorable anthems to breathtaking live shows, outfit creation, music videos and album art, they’re not just a metal band as a total artistic immersion.

“It wasn’t planned to be a themed musical group,” explains singer, guitarist, sword-wielder and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the group’s vehicle drives from a full-capacity concert in Cologne to a second one in another town – they are playing multiple performances in the UK now. “After a couple of performances and received an offer on a October show, where I chose at the final moment to put on an outfit. The entire setup was super-DIY, but we had so much fun and the energy was unforgettable. I realized, ‘Imagine if we could have so much excitement at every show?’”

Growth of the Group

Since then, the ensemble – which features Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” together with a pestilence physician (bass player), proud bloodsucker (lead guitarist) and mysterious druid (drummer) – continued forward. Their latest album, the group’s sophomore release, evokes images of famous rock groups collaborating to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that positions them on the edge of bigger achievements.

This album was a first for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her collaborators. “That contributed to a lot stronger album,” she says of the team effort. “It was challenging at first – I often experienced a specific level of satisfaction being a woman in music going it alone. There’ve been numerous occasions where I finished performing and an audience member will say, ‘The other members write great riffs!’ and I respond, ‘Listen – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As their fame has grown, so has the breadth of their stage presentation. “The saying I live by is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. Initially, she was on track for a university studies in art before hesitating at the idea of so much debt. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to express creativity,” she says. “Be it making masks, attire creation, figuring out video editing music videos … it’s all stuff I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to learn in the moment.”

Even though creating the ensemble’s complex backstory (“The team is pushing me to write it down because everything is stored,” Riley says, tapping her head) and stitching garments didn’t suffice, the vocalist taught herself how to create armor – no mean feat, though she confessedly entrusted her brand-new reptilian-inspired outfit to a expert from NYC. “It feels like actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

As for audiences? They loved the fake blood, soft weapons and crafted rodent bones with equal enthusiasm as the band. “We had a concert in the Motor City and it resembled a historical festival,” recalls Riley with affection. “All attendees was in robes, wool garments, armor.”

This isn’t to say, however, that touring existence as fantasy adventurers has been easy. “Each item is always failing and gets duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Moreover I come up with endless ideas as to how I want things to look, but we tour in a bus with only so much space. It’s an interesting challenge to give the sense like a larger-than-life story, then store it into a small space.”

We faced further organizational challenges that would never have plagued mythic characters. “There was an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we played SonicBlast festival in the European country and my luggage – which had my sword in it – was misplaced,” says Riley. “This became a terrible situation, because we don’t have an backup plan of the show where I don’t have a blade.”

Upcoming Plans

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is eager about the future. “I want to go all the way – I dream of huge arenas,” she says. “The key element that’s truly essential to me is keeping the DIY aesthetic, making sure everything is crafted by us. This is a feature I want to keep true to, no matter what we grow into. Additionally, I desire to appear on a magical horse each show. You know how some artists ride bikes on stage? That, but on a mythical creature.”