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While plenty of musicians have taken inspiration from high fantasy, few have genuinely embodied the enchanted way of life. Sure, they may adorn their record jackets with ghouls, beasts, manacled maidens and brawny barbarians, but did a member ever have to recover a lost unicorn horn from a wintry landscape in the midst of winter? Did a guitarist spent time straining their eyes in the rear of a traveling vehicle, fixing their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Created in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have had to face such situations and more as they live out their epic fantasies. From heraldic, memorable tunes to breathtaking live shows, costume design, visuals and album art, they’re not so much a heavy metal group as a full immersive experience.

“Castle Rat wasn’t meant to be a themed musical group,” explains vocalist, guitarist, sword-carrier and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van travels from a sold-out gig in a German city to a second one in Aschaffenburg – they’re also doing several shows in the UK this week. “Initially, we performed twice and were scheduled on a spooky event, where I chose at the final moment to dress up. It was all super-DIY, but we had an amazing time and the feeling in the room was unforgettable. I thought, ‘Imagine if we could have this much fun every time?’”

Development of Castle Rat

From that point on, the group – which includes Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” together with a medic from history (bassist), proud bloodsucker (guitarist) and secretive shaman (drummer) – never turned back. Their latest album, the group’s sophomore release, conjures visions of legendary heavy bands collaborating to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that places them on the brink of far grander things.

This album was a initial step for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her collaborators. “This helped a lot stronger record,” she says of the team effort. “It was challenging at first – There was a sense of a certain amount of satisfaction as a female in music going it alone. There’ve been multiple instances where I finished performing and some guy will say, ‘The other members compose cool melodies!’ and I respond, ‘Wait – I composed all that.’”

Artistry and Imagination

As their fame has expanded, so has the breadth of their visual elements. “My motto is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. Initially, she was on path for a university studies in art before hesitating at the prospect of so much debt. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s various avenues to express artistry,” she says. “Whether it’s making masks, attire creation, learning how to edit clips … everything is I don’t know how to do, but it’s enjoyable to figure it out on the fly.”

As if developing the group’s detailed mythology (“The team is pushing me to document it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and sewing costumes wasn’t enough, the singer self-educated how to create armor – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly left her brand-new scale armor design to a professional in the city. “It feels like actual armour,” she grins.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

As for audiences? They embraced the stage blood, foam swords and papier-mache rat skulls with similar excitement as the musicians. “We had a gig in Detroit and it seemed like a Renaissance fair,” recalls Riley fondly. “All attendees was in robes, wool garments, metal wear.”

This isn’t to say, though, that traveling lifestyle as sword’n’sorcery vagabonds has been easy. “Each item is constantly breaking and gets repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Plus I’ll have countless concepts as to how I want things to look, but we tour in a vehicle with only so much space. It’s an interesting challenge to give the sense like a grand epic, then store it into nothing.”

There have been other logistical problems that didn’t affect mythic characters. “There was an ‘disastrous’ moment when we played a music event in the European country and my baggage – which had my sword in it – got lost,” says Riley. “This became a terrible situation, because there’s not an alternative version of the performance where I am without a sword.”

Upcoming Plans

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is gung-ho about the days to come. “I aim to reach to the top – I dream of huge arenas,” she says. “The only thing that’s deeply meaningful to me is keeping the handmade style, making sure all elements is custom-made. That’s an element I want to remain faithful to, no matter what we achieve. Additionally, I want to ride out on a unicorn each show. Think about how famous musicians ride bikes on stage? That, but using a unicorn.”