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Although many rockers have borrowed from epic fantasy, rarely any have fully embraced the mythical existence. Admittedly, they could decorate their album covers with monsters, goblins, captive women and strong fighters, but has any musician ever needed to retrieve a misplaced horn from a unicorn from a frost-covered ground in the heart of winter? Has a performer spent time straining their eyes in the interior of a road transport, fixing their own armor?

Living the Fantasy

Created in 2019, the Brooklyn-based Castle Rat have encountered such situations and additional ones as they live out their epic fantasies. From medieval-inspired, memorable songs to breathtaking live shows, outfit creation, videos and record designs, they’re more than a rock act as a total artistic immersion.

“The band wasn’t intended to be a themed musical group,” explains vocalist, guitar player, sword-carrier and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van speeds from a sold-out gig in Cologne to a second one in another town – they have multiple performances in the UK now. “After a couple of performances and were scheduled on a spooky event, where I chose at the final moment to dress up. The entire setup was completely self-made, but we had a blast and the atmosphere was electric. I realized, ‘What if we could have this much fun at every show?’”

Growth of the Group

Since then, the ensemble – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Queen Rat” together with a pestilence physician (low-end instrumentalist), haughty vampire (guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (drummer) – continued forward. The Bestiary, the follow-up record, evokes images of famous rock groups joining forces to struggle onward through a heroic art landscape – a grand composition that sets them on the verge of far grander things.

This album was a first for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her fellow members. “This helped a lot stronger project,” she says of the group work. “It was challenging at first – There was a sense of a certain amount of satisfaction as a female in music going it alone. I’ve had numerous occasions where I finished performing and a person will say, ‘The band write great riffs!’ and I respond, ‘Wait – I created all that.’”

Creative Output and Ideas

As their fame has increased, so has the scope of their visual elements. “The saying I live by is always that if something is valuable, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton smiles. At first, she had been on track for a fine art degree before balking at the possibility of heavy loans. “The exciting part about Castle Rat is there’s numerous methods to demonstrate artistry,” she says. “Whether it’s making masks, costume design, figuring out video editing song visuals … these are all things I have no experience with, but it’s fun to learn in the moment.”

As if building the group’s detailed mythology (“The team is pushing me to write it down because it’s all in here,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and stitching garments didn’t suffice, the singer learned on her own how to create armor – a challenging endeavor, though she confessedly entrusted her completely original reptilian-inspired outfit to a professional in the city. “It seems like actual armour,” she grins.

Audience Reaction and Challenges

Regarding the fans? They loved the theatrical gore, foam swords and papier-mache rat skulls with similar excitement as the group. “We performed a gig in the Motor City and it looked like a historical festival,” remembers Riley with affection. “Everyone was in robes, sheepskin, armor.”

However, this doesn’t mean, though, that traveling lifestyle as fantasy adventurers has been plain sailing. “Everything is always failing and becomes duct-taped together,” Riley says. “Additionally I come up with numerous thoughts as to how I desire the presentation, but we tour in a vehicle with restricted capacity. It’s an interesting challenge to give the sense like a larger-than-life story, then compress it into nothing.”

We faced other logistical problems that didn’t affect fictional warriors. “We did have an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we performed at SonicBlast festival in the European country and my baggage – which had my sword in it – got lost,” says Riley. “This became a terrible situation, because there is no an different option of the concert where I lack a blade.”

Upcoming Plans

As a genuine leader, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “I want to go as far as possible – let’s do huge arenas,” she says. “The key element that’s truly essential to me is maintaining the self-crafted look, guaranteeing all elements is handmade. This is a feature I want to stay authentic to, whatever we scale to. Plus, I wish to make an entrance on a mythical beast each show. Think about how some artists ride bikes on stage? Exactly that, but on a mythical creature.”