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While numerous musicians have drawn from fantasy lore, few have truly lived the fantasy way of life. Sure, they could embellish their album covers with ghouls, beasts, captive women and brawny barbarians, but has an artist ever needed to recover a misplaced horn from a unicorn from a wintry landscape in the midst of winter? Has a performer taken the time straining their eyes in the rear of a traveling vehicle, mending their own chainmail?

Living the Fantasy

Created in 2019, Brooklyn’s Castle Rat have had to face such situations and more as they act out their heroic dreams. From heraldic, earworm-heavy anthems to eye-popping concerts, costume design, videos and cover artwork, they’re not just a heavy metal group as a full immersive experience.

“It wasn’t planned to be a themed musical group,” states vocalist, guitar player, sword-wielder and creative overlord Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van drives from a packed show in Cologne to one more in Aschaffenburg – they are playing multiple performances in the UK currently. “Initially, we performed twice and got booked on a October show, where I chose at the final moment to put on an outfit. It was all super-DIY, but we had an amazing time and the feeling in the room was unforgettable. I realized, ‘What if we could have so much excitement always?’”

The Band’s Evolution

After that, the band – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” alongside a plague doctor (bass player), haughty vampire (six-string player) and mysterious druid (drummer) – haven’t looked back. The new record, the band’s second album, conjures visions of classic metal icons joining forces to struggle onward through a mythical painted realm – a grand composition that places them on the brink of greater success.

The Bestiary was a first for Pinkerton in that she invited input to her collaborators. “It made it a more powerful project,” she says of the group work. “It was challenging at first – I often experienced a specific level of accomplishment being a woman in music working independently. There have been multiple instances where I finished performing and a person will say, ‘Those guys create awesome guitar parts!’ and I respond, ‘Wait – I wrote all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As their fame has expanded, so has the breadth of their production design. “The saying I live by is always that if an effort matters, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton laughs. She was originally on track for a university studies in art before pulling back at the prospect of financial burden. “What’s enjoyable about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to demonstrate creativity,” she says. “From crafting disguises, outfit planning, figuring out video editing music videos … everything is I am unfamiliar with, but it’s exciting to learn on the fly.”

As if creating the ensemble’s complex backstory (“People are encouraging me to record it because all the ideas are,” Riley says, pointing to her head) and making clothing wasn’t enough, the singer learned on her own how to create armor – no mean feat, though she admittedly entrusted her brand-new scale armor design to a expert from NYC. “It feels like actual armour,” she grins.

Fan Response and Obstacles

What about the crowd? They took to the stage blood, foam swords and crafted rodent bones with as much gusto as the musicians. “We performed a concert in the Motor City and it looked like a Renaissance fair,” recalls Riley fondly. “Everyone was in cloaks, animal hides, chainmail.”

This isn’t to say, however, that touring existence as fantasy adventurers has been plain sailing. “Each item is frequently damaged and ends up repaired with tape,” Riley says. “Additionally I get endless ideas as to how I desire the presentation, but we tour in a bus with restricted capacity. It’s an interesting challenge to make it feel like a larger-than-life story, then compress it into minimal luggage.”

There have been further organizational challenges that would never have plagued fictional warriors. “There was an ‘uh-oh’ moment when we performed at a Portuguese festival in Portugal and my suitcase – which had my blade in it – went missing,” says Riley. “This became a nightmare, because there is no an backup plan of the performance where I don’t have a weapon.”

Future Ambitions

As a genuine leader, Riley is gung-ho about the future. “I aim to reach all the way – I dream of large venues,” she says. “The key element that’s really important to me is preserving the DIY aesthetic, guaranteeing each detail is custom-made. This is a feature I want to stay authentic to, regardless of we grow into. Oh, and I want to appear on a mythical beast at all performances. Think about how legends use vehicles in concerts? The same idea, but on a mythical creature.”